Mere days after the presidential election, the honeymoon is still on for the winners. That includes agencies such as OSHA, MSHA and EPA, whose top leaders were political appointments made after Obama’s 2008 win.

Monday morning October 22 at the National Safety Congress in Orlando, we had the opportunity for an exclusive one-on-one, sit-down  interview with Chesley Sullenberger III. Captain “Sully” successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River with no loss of life after its initial climb out of New York City on January 15, 2009, was disabled due to striking a flock of Canada geese.

The National Safety Council has recognized the Honorable Elizabeth Dole with the Council’s Flame of Life Award as one of the century’s foremost leaders in safety. The award, which recognizes significant lifesaving contributions to safety, has only been awarded three times.

Here is what session topics, keynote speeches, and conversations are about at this year’s NSC Congress and Expo:

The American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) upcoming symposium will take a look at how  occupational safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals can have a greater impact on workplace safety and their organizations through effective leadership.

The EHS Professionals LinkedIn group recently conducted a canvassing on what constitutes the greatest challenge face pros in 2012: management leadership, building safety cultures, or obtaining and maintaining technical knowledge. Here are some of the posted comments:

I hear a lot of complaints from safety professionals. Chief among them is that they are held accountable when other people get hurt. It’s a fair bone of contention.

The safety world is so fragmented into small, medium and large employers, and into so many different vertical industries – construction, mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, healthcare, services, etc. – it is difficult to get a reading on what are the issues of the day.