The Trump administration’s drive to deregulate the American economy and workplaces means the occupational health and safety profession faces an inescapable moment of truth.

According to ISHN’s 2015 EHS State of the Nation subscriber survey, overall, income figures, budget resources and staffing levels, job satisfaction and job security show much more stability, and in a number of cases growth, than reported in ISHN State of the Nation surveys 5-10-15 years ago.

I would look outside the EHS arena, which gets too lost in being OSHA-centric, for answers to some of the questions that confront the future of the EHS profession. I think the world of Risk Management and Insurance and the Liability Environment play a much bigger role in corporate decision-making when it comes to occupational safety.

 A recent study examining ethical reasoning among safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals is expected to help educators determine how to integrate a moral and ethical base within safety curricula to prepare future safety professionals to have an ethics based thought process when they enter the work force.