It’s nearly a half century since President Richard Nixon signed the Occupational Safety and Health Act (1970), in effect creating our modern workplace safety and health world, but it’s clear from the results of ISHN’s recently tabulated Media & Technology Survey of EHS professionals that planet safety has two distinct cultures.
One is populated by Certified Safety Professionals (CSP), Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIH), multinationals with global EHS issues, and so-called high reliability organizations. The language of this culture includes terms such as brand equity, supply chain management, codes of ethics, VPP, Big Data, management systems, thought leadership, engagement, human performance, risk assessment, mindfulness, and beyond compliance. Tools of the trade: laptops, intranets, elearning, smartphone videotaping of hazardous conditions, iPad and tablet devices, instant messaging, GPS vehicle tracking, safety apps, wearable sensors (still in its infancy), wireless gas detection and electronic databases. Cultural characteristics include hierarchical EHS staffs, routine use of consultants, often sizeable EHS annual investments (though no accurate macro measure of spending exists, unfortunately), travel budgets, networking at national conferences, and memberships in vertical industry peer groups and consultancy user groups. This side of the safety and health world is wired and relatively well-connected.