EHS TODAY ROUNDTABLE: Economics, Regulations, Connections and Mentoring

Combine five questions, a group of the most well-respected professionals involved in EHS, the economy and a new administration and what do you get: A lively conversation and some answers that might surprise you.

EHS Today sent our list of questions to some of the most prominent experts in different areas of EHS, including safety professionals who manage onsite safety and industrial hygiene programs, consultants, the presidents of major EHS organizations, attorneys who represent employers in OSHA-related cases, the president of a safety equipment trade association and a leader in organizational safety. Unsurprisingly, their answers were intelligent and carefully considered. Interestingly, they didn't always agree. A key to our participants can be found on the next two pages.

What do you think has had the most impact on EHS in 2009 and why?

Daniel Shipp: Like it or not, economic conditions affect EHS in companies. No one wants to admit that safety and health are scaled back when money is tight, and I doubt that companies would view cost-cutting as endangering EHS. But companies are stretched thin, people are given more responsibilities and inevitably the degree of attention paid to EHS gives way other pressing responsibilities. Companies that do the best in this kind of atmosphere are the ones where there's a pervasive culture of safety, where everyone shares the responsibility of doing the right thing.

Cathy Cole: Obviously the change in administrations has had the most impact on EHS from the regulatory perspective. While it is still early to look at results, it seems as if the credibility of OSHA has been raised by moving several issues forward. Budgets have been raised at OSHA and NIOSH, which adds to this feeling that worker health and safety is receiving some early support.

Zack Mansdorf: The economic crisis has had a significant impact on EHS in 2009. Budget cuts, loss of personnel and delaying major EHS projects that are in the pipeline were common among companies of all sizes and in all locations. This is not to say that EHS was ignored, but certainly advances were delayed.

Mike Blotzer: New leadership at the Department of Labor and the Environmental Protection Agency is having a quiet, yet profound impact on EHS. OSHA's special emphasis inspection program to ensure stimulus projects meet safety and health requirements and the EPA's new greenhouse gas regulations are signs that the agencies will be more focused and engaged moving forward.

Frank White and James Nash: From the perspective of EHS professionals, it would be the growing importance of sustainability, energy conservation and “going green.”

If you tackle this question from the perspective of the practice of EHS as a whole, the answer is the heightened awareness of combustible dust hazards.

What regulation promulgated or under consideration by OSHA or EPA in 2009 will have the most impact on EHS in the future and why?

Cathy Cole: GHS will have a broad impact, as it will affect everyone in OH&S. But there are many others in the pipeline that will impact workers: combustible dust, diacetyl, silica, beryllium and perhaps even ergonomics.

Introduction of a safety and health program standard has the potential of changing the course that OSHA has undertaken in the past with updating standards one by one. This may be the future of OH&S in the regulatory arena.

Cindy Roth: Most likely an ergonomics standard will have a great impact on EHS. With workers' compensation numbers now in the billions of dollars and companies struggling to generate profits, having injuries and lost work time really impacts the bottom line of any organization.

Carl Heinlein: The proposed rule, 29CFR 1926.550 Cranes and Derricks in Construction, aims to protect employees from the hazards associated with hoisting equipment when used to perform construction activities. Cranes are a critical piece of equipment to almost all construction projects, and this proposed rulemaking embraces considerable changes. It will update an almost 40-year-old OSHA standard.

James Lastowka: Given the paucity of OSHA regulatory activity in 2009, slim pickings are available for identifying a regulatory action this year that will impact EHS in the future in a meaningful, positive way.

In fact, I think the question could be asked in a different way: What action by OSHA in 2009 will negatively impact safety and health? I think there is a clear answer: OSHA's expressed intent to de-emphasize safety and health partnerships and alliances with the safety-conscious large employers who commit millions of dollars and tens of thousands of man hours to their safety programs.

Chris Patton: One particular area of interest is HR 2067, the Protecting America's Workers Act. If it is kept intact, it will hopefully include provisions to provide OSH regulatory protection for America's public sector workers.

Achieving OSH coverage for public sector workers long has been a key ASSE goal. ASSE's current efforts to advance the issue were spurred on by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board's (CSB) investigation of the 2006 Daytona Beach municipal water treatment facility that took the lives of two workers. As you know, CSB found Florida's lack of OSH coverage for its public sector workers contributed to those deaths, an unprecedented finding by the CSB.

Frank White and James Nash: David Michaels, the assistant secretary of labor for OSHA nominee, has said he hopes to consider promulgating a safety and health program standard, a standard that could require employers to adapt and implement safety and health management systems. If issued, such a standard could have an enormous impact on EHS in the future. This standard could help shift OSHA away from its current hazard-by-hazard enforcement paradigm to one in which employers are responsible for managing risk.