The 50 People Who Most Influenced EHS in 2010-11

The past year saw environmental health and safety moved to the front of the nation's — and the world's — consciousness. The Big Creek mine disaster, the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform and subsequent environmental disaster and the death-defying rescue of the Chilean miners put occupational safety and health in the headlines more than many previous years combined.

Last year's list discussed the most influential EHS “leaders.” This year's list includes some folks who probably wouldn't be classified as EHS leaders, but they certainly had an influence on EHS. The list includes government appointees (such as OSHA Administrator David Michaels), academics, a couple of CEOs, union EHS leaders, future leaders, legislators, the presidents of professional associations, litigators, safety industry leaders and safety “gurus.”

THE GURUS

David Weil is professor of economics and Everett W. Lord Distinguished Faculty Scholar at Boston University School of Management. He also serves as co-director (with Archon Fung and Mary Graham) of the Transparency Policy Project at the Ash Institute at Harvard Kennedy School. His research spans regulatory and labor market policy, industrial and labor relations, occupational safety and health, and transparency policy.

Dr. Thomas Krause is chairman of the board for BST, a consulting firm specializing in comprehensive safety solutions, Krause founded BST in 1979, and is a pioneer in the behavioral safety movement.

Dr. E. Scott Geller is a founding partner and co-owner of Safety Performance Solutions whose work focuses on cultivating an actively caring work culture in order to reduce and eliminate injuries. He is alumni distinguished professor at Virginia Tech and director of the Center for Applied Behavior Systems in the Department of Psychology.

Dr. Richard D. Fulwiler, CIH, CSHM, is president of Cincinnati-based Technology Leadership Associates, a consulting firm specializing in increasing individual effectiveness and building organizational capability in the health, safety and environmental arena. He previously spent 28 years working with Procter & Gamble, where he retired as the company's director of health and safety worldwide.

Terry Mathis, an internationally recognized expert in the application of safety culture and behavior-based safety strategies, founded ProAct Safety in 1993. Before founding ProAct, he was a director of training for Coca-Cola.

Frank White is senior vice president of ORC Worldwide, an international human resources firm. White practiced law prior to joining ORC, and also held several senior management positions in the U.S. Department of Labor, including the position of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.

Kathy A. Seabrook, CSP, CMIOSH, is president of Global Solutions Inc., an SH&E management consultancy for multinational companies, and the newly elected senior vice president of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

THE GOVERNMENT APPOINTEES

David Michaels, Ph.D., MPH, assistant secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health, is an epidemiologist and a nationally recognized leader in the scientific community's efforts to protect the integrity of the science on which public health and environmental policies and regulation are based.

Dr. John Howard served as the director of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) from July 2002 through July 2008, when his 6-year term ended without being renewed in a controversial decision that brought criticism from safety and health stakeholders. He was reappointed to the position of NIOSH director on Sept. 3, 2009.

Thomasina V. Rogers is chairman of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission, which adjudicates workplace safety and health disputes between the Department of Labor and employers. Having been confirmed three times to the review commission, Rogers has served the second-longest tenure in the agency's 38-year history.