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131: Live From ASSP Safety 2025
96 Plays7 hours ago
For the third year in a row, Jill sat down with EHS professionals who were attending this year's ASSP’s Safety Conference and Expo in Orlando, FL. Jill had the pleasure of asking short form questions to EHS professionals who shared their thoughts on the future of EHS, attending conferences and making connections, how they found the profession, their favorite parts of the job, and more! Thank you to all who participated in this year's episode. We'll see you again soon at the NSC Safety Congress & Expo, September 15 - 17 in Denver, Colorado. Be sure to stop by the HSI booth, #3549, and say hi to Jill and others from HSI.
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Transcript
Introduction and Overview
00:00:08
Speaker
This is the Accidental Safety Pro brought to you by HSI. My name is Jill James, HSI's Chief Safety Officer. This episode was recorded live at the 2025 American Society of Safety Professionals Annual Conference in Orlando, Florida.
EHS Professionals: Insights and Advice
00:00:24
Speaker
I had the pleasure of asking short-form questions to several yeah EHS professionals who graciously shared their thoughts on their favorite part of being a safety professional, how they found the profession, advice for other professionals, and their success stories, and what the future of EHS looks like for them.
00:00:43
Speaker
Enjoy. I'm with Dr. Todd Lusheen today who also happens to be on the ASSP Board of Directors. Dr. Todd, curious, why should people come to the ASSP conference? What is in it for them? Well, there is there's a little bit of everything and a lot of the important things, but I think more importantly, if you are going to be in the practice of safety or you're thinking of getting into this profession, you should be part of a professional organization, not only for the educational offerings, but more importantly, and why I think people need to come here is for the networking.
00:01:21
Speaker
We can't do this alone, and there is too much information, too many information, sources to really track what's going on. And so coming here and, you know, visiting the expo hall, visiting HSI, which has some great products, you guys. Thanks for the shameless plug. the shameless Hashtag shameless
Conference Benefits: Networking and Learning
00:01:41
Speaker
plug. um it makes life a little bit easier makes your job a little bit easier and i think practicing in the ehs field is so much better when you have friends yeah people you can rely on and you're like you and i are board of directors and so that's why i think it's so important to come here i Everybody here is in such a great mood. They're so inspired. Jill and I gave a presentation yesterday, standing room only, 300 plus people. And all we've been getting is great feedback from people.
00:02:14
Speaker
i In terms of how it helps the profession. Exactly. yeah and when And when Todd just mentioned that we're on one another's board of directors, we mean not the ASSP board of directors, of which Todd has a seat, but rather we are on our own personal board of directors, meaning we're we're mentors and peers to one another. We ask one another hard questions during our careers.
Accessibility of Conferences
00:02:36
Speaker
And those are the things that you can gain and people that you can meet when you come to conferences like this and and ask for people to be on your board of directors to help you with your career. Right. So anybody listening, if you haven't come to this conference, it's a must. You know, it may seem intimidating. Don't worry. You'll make friends.
00:02:55
Speaker
Bring really comfortable walking shoes. This is an enormous expo. There's a lot of sessions going on. It's it's it's. you can't miss all the different opportunities that are here. i mean, they come to you. ah And if and if um cost is a barrier, there's always the regional ASSP conferences, so if you're looking to come but you're like, gosh, I don't think I'm going to get approval to come to the national conference.
00:03:24
Speaker
Find out where your regional one is and when that is. Or even your local chapter meetings. yeah oh That's a good place to start. You can go to ASSP.org, check you out um you know it out. This is the start of
Career Journeys into Safety
00:03:36
Speaker
a big journey. and Leadership opportunities are here. Learning opportunities plentiful. Networking is where this is at. Thank you, Todd. Thank you, Jill.
00:03:48
Speaker
Welcome to ASSP Safety 2025. say Thanks, it's great to be here. You're welcome. So tell me your name and your industry. My name is Ryan Price. I work in the ah insurance industry for a workers' comp insurance carrier.
00:04:07
Speaker
So, you know, mainly we are trying to prevent the accidents that a lot of our policyholders may have, you know, trending accident types for. important work important work so how did you get into the So that is ah a bit of a long story. I certainly didn't mean to get into safety.
00:04:29
Speaker
went to college for ah geology, and as soon as I graduated, I tried to get a job along those lines. So I wound up in the oil field for one year.
00:04:40
Speaker
that Along with that came lot of training that is necessary for any kind of oil flowed personnel to work on rigs safely when you're in. And I was eventually laid off and then I tried to ah swing into it.
00:05:02
Speaker
in adjacent industry and still use my degree but i ended up in environmental remediation so there's a lot of cleaning up environmental spills of hazardous materials and with that came a lot of additional safety training and Hazwhopper 40-hour training and what a lot of PPE use of at all levels and i only could take about a year of that before I realized that I did not want to do that.
00:05:31
Speaker
and At the time, my my father who works in insurance knew of ah some positions that were going to be opening up for a large Texas-based carrier that was going to be safety-oriented. And I was ah was a good fit for it, apparently, with all of the safety certifications and background I had gotten up to at that point. and So I ended up working at that carrier and I really love the the industry and the difference that working in safety makes and then know now and I'm working for a different carrier for but I've been here for close to four years now and it's
00:06:13
Speaker
It's where I can see myself working for foreseeable future. So your safety climb started in the ground the rocks and geology and worked your way up. Thank you for coming and enjoy the show. Awesome.
00:06:24
Speaker
Thank you. What's your name and what's your position? My name my name is Eric Nakera, field safety specialist, and I'm based out of Colorado.
00:06:34
Speaker
Is this your first time at at ASSP? Yes, it is. Cool. Well, welcome. Thank you. OK. So how did you get into the safety profession? uh... just out of the blue really um i was actually utility locating beforehand and i was told about the position at my company where i am now put in my application didn't hear anything for two two weeks after being told i was gonna hear something so then yeah definitely i was ready to quit where i was at so it was just very weird time i reached out to the
00:07:10
Speaker
a recruiter and him being the only recruiter at the time really kind of postponed my further interviews. But interviewed well, I think, or good enough.
00:07:23
Speaker
ah Or maybe they just needed a bilingual speaker. who I don't know, but I'm here now and it's been great so far. What's your favorite part so far? um I mean, just everyday learning something new, um my coworkers, just great peers and stuff.
00:07:40
Speaker
Okay, so what is your what is your name and what industry do you represent? Yeah, my name is Rolando and I represent the healthcare industry at Maffa Cancer Center. Oh, wonderful, thank you. So how did you choose this career? How did you get into it? Yeah, so I started off wanting to be in healthcare in general. I absolutely loved it. I loved working with the people, but with a lot of healthcare care jobs, they're very individualized, so you're helping one person at a time. And I wanted to have a little bit more of a broad
00:08:13
Speaker
range of being able to help people. And so went into public health and went to University of South Florida and shout out to them. And basically there was this program through NIOSH I believe it was yeah that was pretty much advertising about industrial hygiene. yeah and when I went into it, I absolutely loved it. And that's kind of how I got my start. And then from there, the cool thing about safety is there's just so much you could do and so many ways you could help people. Yeah, wonderful. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for being on the show. Have a great show. You're welcome.
00:08:50
Speaker
name's Andrew Perkins and I work in manufacturing. So how did I get into this profession? I did not even know safety was a thing. Started working for a company. I've been an EMT and a firefighter for a while and someone asked would you like to get involved in the safety committee and said sure and went to some meetings and after about a year they asked if I'd like to lead the safety committee and you know the more I got into it the more I enjoyed it That's how it always goes. They suck you in. I know, and I didn't have a chance to get out, so started doing it and went to school for it. Now I've been officially in like a safety capacity for over 10 years.
00:09:26
Speaker
Wow, congratulations. Thanks. That's amazing. Yeah, it's been a been a great time. I will jump to another question. What's the best thing about your job? Yes. I work with an awesome team of people, and I get to hang out with them all the time. Love. And like see them grow My success comes from their success. Absolutely. 100%. Great answer.
00:09:47
Speaker
What is your name and where are you from, person I know so well? My name's Greg Guerrero. I work for an industrial gas company. I'm from Minnesota.
00:09:57
Speaker
And you and I actually know one another because we worked together at OSHA many, many years ago. Many years ago, yeah. It's hard to believe you that it's been that long. Yeah. But tell me your story, Greg. How did you get into the profession? All right. So...
00:10:10
Speaker
Back in the day when I was in college, I got a degree in chemical engineering and I was working for a large medical company at the time as an intern and I got laid off after I i got done. So I was looking for jobs that use a chemical engineering degree and I put out a bunch of resumes and one of them was with the state of Minnesota.
00:10:36
Speaker
I hired chemical engineers, right? And didn't hear anything. ended up in a job in quality for a year. And then about six months into that job, I got a call from Alden, our old boss at OSHA. Our old boss, yes. And he says, yeah, you know, we're looking for chemical engineers to do process safety inspections for OSHA. And also, I probably got... The hardest of hard, well, a very hard standard. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, so no word from them for another three months, and then finally three months later I hear from them again and they say, hey, you know, we're still hiring. Would you be interested in taking on this job? So I came into safety with zero experience, zero knowledge, just thinking that it was something that would be interesting to do for a little while and maybe to find something else to do with my degree. Yeah. the future and here now I am almost 30 years later. All 30 years later as an industrial hygienist. Definitely.
00:11:40
Speaker
Well, the chemical engineering degree has yeah gotten me to where I am, but never ever actually been a chemical engineer at this point. so That's a perfect accidental safety professional story. Thank you, Greg, for sharing it. No problem. Thank you.
00:11:55
Speaker
um So welcome to your first ever ASSP conference as a student. What is your name? are you name is Victoria and I'm from Butler, Pennsylvania. Wonderful. And what is your university? Want to give a shout out? Slip Rock University of Pennsylvania. Okay. And what is, what made you decide on this degree? Well, I came from blue-collar family and my grandpa actually injured his back. Well, it well he broke his back. Wow. Back in like 1980-something. He was going into a skid loader and missed the step of the hand grip. Yes. And then he fell and broke his L4 and L3. Oh. and they didn't know he was ever going to be able to walk again. But fortunately enough, he was yeah able to walk.
00:12:42
Speaker
But I grew up with them, they raised me. yeah And every single day, it's like a constant struggle because some days he cannot move, yeah other days he can. It just really depends. But he really has to like walk with a cane just for stability. But yeah, he had to retire when he was 30. So you're motivated to keep people safe at work so it's not what your grandpa experienced? Yeah, so they don't have to live like him.
00:13:07
Speaker
That's wonderful. That's wonderful. That was a good mentor to have. That was a good mentor to have. And what's the name of your degree? Safety Management. Wonderful. Thank you for being on the show and thanks for coming to ASSP. What is your name and where are you from? My name is Emily Henthorne and I'm from Slippery Rock, PA.
00:13:26
Speaker
Slippery Rock, PA. And you are pursuing a degree, is that what I hear? Yes. What is your degree pursuit? Safety management. Wonderful. And why did you decide to pick that? I decided to pick it because my dad is in the blue collar industry and he comes home safe every single day and i would like to do that for someone else so they don't have to struggle the way that we are taught that people can struggle in yeah the blue collar field. Yeah. So tell us, tell me about, because you said this a little earlier before we started recording, tell me about how you have learned how to build a rapport with people and to be a little thick skinned, which sometimes is required in this industry.
00:14:07
Speaker
So this summer i have an internship because in our major you have to have an internship before you graduate. Yeah. and I've learned that if you're, you have to talk to people in this career. Yes. And
00:14:23
Speaker
Before having this type of internship, I've been in customer service and I have been at Sheets for five years. yeah And as if anybody knows what Sheets is like, customers yell at you 24-7 if you do something wrong. And it makes you have top tough skin yeah because you have to be able to push back.
00:14:45
Speaker
sometimes yeah because you don't want to be pushed around by those customers. and so that has made me learn to deal with tough incidents. And at the internship, I've had a little experience with that, but I know how to deal with it because of my past experiences. In customer service. That's wonderful. And unfortunately, you experienced workplace violence, which is another aspect of workplace health and safety.
00:15:10
Speaker
So you'll be a professional in that realm as well. Yes. Well, good luck to you in your pursuit and your career. Thanks for coming.
Mentorship and Future of EHS
00:15:18
Speaker
Thank you for having me. Welcome. Hi, how are you doing? Good. How are you? It's good to be back. Good to have you back. What's your name? My name is Sandra LaVoy. And have you been on the Accidental Safety Pro before? I have. You're a veteran.
00:15:33
Speaker
love this. It's so good to have you back. Have you been enjoying the show? I have been loving the show. This has been such a good year for the PDC. The talent that's here, the subject matter of experts, the the whole event has just come off to next level. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I have a question for you.
00:15:53
Speaker
Who is your EHS hero and why? My EHS hero just happens to be my mentor and his name is Bruce Holcroft. and I had met Bruce in about 2015 and i was stuck. I was stuck as a safety professional and I had failed one of my certification exams.
00:16:22
Speaker
and I could not get out of my head. yeahp that's And he became my mentor and he said, no, you're going to take that exam again and you're going to do it right. You're going to study, you're going to take it and you're going to pass it.
00:16:37
Speaker
And just having somebody with that, that confidence in me and saying I could, everything it it worked. yep It worked. I passed that ASP and was able to move on and keep going forward. Awesome. Awesome. I love that story.
00:16:53
Speaker
it truly does make a difference to have somebody believe in you when you can't believe in yourself. When you just can't get out of that spot and you're stuck. yep I will forever be grateful for his words. Yep.
00:17:05
Speaker
And they'll stick with you for life. Kindness goes a long way. Absolutely. What does the future of yeah EHS look like to you? Oh, isn't that a fun question? That's delicious. Oh my gosh. I think being an EHS professional is probably one of the most secure jobs right now in the world. Interesting tape. i love that. I see we are the subject matter experts and everybody is i worried about AI. Everybody's worried about change
00:17:38
Speaker
We are a people present profession. yeah We need to be the human in the loop. We need to be that person that sees with our eyes, feels with our hands, and you know really gets into it. I always think of it like gardening. You got to get into it with your hands. yeah You got to get dirty. yeah And that's what we are. We are a people present profession.
00:18:07
Speaker
And AI will never take that place. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you, Sandra, for joining the Accidental Safety Podcast. Once again, we appreciate your takes. I'm always happy to be here.
00:18:19
Speaker
What is your name and what industry are you in? My name is Bianca Delgado and I work for Foster Farms. Wonderful! And who is your EHS hero? My EHS heroes, I would say, are Art Trejo and Donovan Frank. They have taught me and mentored me on everything that I know in safety and they continue to show me something new every time and push me to do great things. So I really appreciate them and I look up to them and hopefully I can be like them in the future. Wonderful. Great to have heroes. Thank you, Bianca. Thank you. very My name is Arturo Trejo. I am in the poultry industry. I'm the director of health and safety.
00:18:55
Speaker
And what is your favorite thing about this work? My favorite thing about my job is that I am a servant of those people that have to stand in a conveyor for 40 years and serve them. I want to make sure that they're happy to come to work so that they can go happy, they can go back to their families in a healthy manner.
00:19:16
Speaker
I love that. Thank you. Thank you for your work. My pleasure. What is your name? Donovan Frank. I'm with Foster Farms in California. Wonderful. Welcome to ASSP 2025. What's your favorite thing about this job?
00:19:31
Speaker
The favorite thing about my job is that I get to work with great people, number one. Number two is that every day I get to help somebody to go home. Yes. That is noble good work, isn't it? Thank you. Thank you so much, and thanks for coming here. Thank you, Joe. Please tell me your name and what is your industry?
00:19:50
Speaker
My name is Cole Nance. I work for service insurance. We're a workers' comp carrier. I work in the risk control department. Okay. What state are you based in? I'm based in Texas, predominantly I do a little bit of Oklahoma as well. Wonderful, thank you. So what is the best thing about your job?
00:20:04
Speaker
I think the best thing about my job is we work for a lot of, you know, our policyholders are small to medium sized markets. a lot of them don't have a designated safety professional. ah They need a lot of help with safety. They still experience loss. They still have employees have to take care of. So I get to make an immediate impact on on companies that really need it. I relied on pretty heavily with a lot of our policyholders. So yeah I get to see that distance or that difference that I make over time, looking at their loss history.
00:20:30
Speaker
We see the improvements and these are for industries. that don't have the resources maybe a larger companies have. So it's pretty rewarding to be able to to help those policyholders. Wonderful. Making an impact. Thank you, Cole. Absolutely.
Advice for New EHS Professionals
00:20:42
Speaker
Thank you.
00:20:44
Speaker
My name is Randy Milliron and I am the safety manager for the city of Gillette in Northeast Wyoming. Welcome. And have you been on the podcast before? I have. I think my episode was released in January of this year. I think it was. Yeah. Well, welcome back. Glad to have you. So glad to be here. Yeah. How's your show going so far? ah Really good. It's kind of in my new role as the administrator of the public sector practice specialty. You have a lot more things that you need to be doing.
00:21:11
Speaker
So my time in the expo hall has been limited, which is unfortunate. But overall, the show is going really, really well. Good. Good, good, good. So what advice do you have for a new EHS professional? Man, I am glad you asked that. So in one of my sessions that I've taught on multiple different national conferences, the concept of being a solo safety professional.
00:21:31
Speaker
And I've worked for companies where you have a consortium of trainers and other safety representatives and more of like a team atmosphere. Well, in the city, I'm on my own solo safety island. So one of my biggest advices is when you get to a show like this, when you get to a conference like this, do not be a safety wallflower.
00:21:51
Speaker
Don't just attend the sessions and go back to your hotel. Really introduce yourself to those people that you see. If there's a speaker that you really like what they said, go up and introduce yourself because the one thing you, the best advice I can say for a new safety professional is you need to expand your social safety network. Absolutely. Because you might have an issue that you're running into, let's say CDL training, and maybe you don't have the answer.
00:22:18
Speaker
If you've expanded your safety network, then you have other people that you can reach out to that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. yeah they've They've already have that plan or program in place and they're willing to share. And that's what really safety is all about is sharing that knowledge across all all the different industries. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for sharing that advice. Hey, no problem. Thanks for having me on. Thank you.
00:22:40
Speaker
What is your name? What industry do you represent or where you work? So my name is Rena Goudy. i am a senior risk engineer for an insurance company and my book of business is for general contractors, wrap projects and trade partners or as commonly known as subcontractors. That's wonderful. And you're also part of the WISE Women in Safety by Excellence, right? Yes. i just got I just got started becoming involved with the WISE community, thanks to my mentor, Sandra Lavoie.
00:23:17
Speaker
Yes, and a former a former guest, and an alum of the Accidental Safety Pro podcast. So what advice do you have for... <unk> someone new i mean So that is a great question because it was actually a topic that Sondra and I were talking about. So my advice to somebody coming in is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
00:23:39
Speaker
we have Give a firm handshake, especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry. yeah Because if you don't, how are they going take you seriously? So would it be okay if I shared a story with you? yes please. so my first, one of my first construction jobs, my safety director was a female. And when I started in this industry, oh God, 23 plus years ago, something like that. Congratulations. Yes.
00:24:10
Speaker
she was one of She was the only female safety director that I knew of in the industry. And she says, okay, piece of advice I have for you is you' are going you're going into a male-dominated industry, and being a female, not a lot of superintendents and foremen welcome females on the on the job site. Mm-hmm. So she said, when you meet these superintendents, give them a firm handshake and say, what do you need from me?
00:24:42
Speaker
You know, if you need something, how soon do you need it? And then respond to them, say, that's a great question or that's a great request. How soon do you need it if you can't answer it right now? Right, wonderful. So I got to these projects and about six months later I had guys shaking my hand like really sheepishly and I'm like, bro, why are you shaking my hand like that?
00:25:08
Speaker
And I'm like,
00:25:11
Speaker
shake my hand again. says, I don't want to. And I said, why? says, because the last time you shook my hand, I thought you were going to break it.
00:25:21
Speaker
um So it was a way for you to build a rapport through handshaking. Correct. Wonderful. Correct. wonderful And I was just new in the industry. It worked. It worked. It was a good hack. Yes. Thank you for sharing that. My pleasure. And thanks for being on the podcast.
Conclusion and Call to Action
00:25:36
Speaker
My pleasure.
00:25:38
Speaker
We hope you enjoyed the special episode of the Accidental Safety Pro live from ASSP 2025. If you're attending the National Safety Congress and Expo in September, the 15th through the 17th in Denver, be sure to stop by our booth number 3549 and say hello to those of us from HSI.
00:25:58
Speaker
As always, thank you for listening today. And more importantly, thank you for your contribution toward the common good. making sure your workers, including your temporary workers, make it home safe every day.
00:26:10
Speaker
If you aren't subscribed and want to hear past and future episodes, you can subscribe in iTunes, the Apple podcast app, or any other podcast player you'd like. We'd love it if you could leave a rating and review the show.
00:26:21
Speaker
It helps us connect the show with more and more yeah EHS professionals. Special thanks to Emily Gould, our podcast producer. And until next time, thanks for listening.