Tom Lawrence is a principal in the St. Louis, Missouri office of Risk, Reliability and Safety Engineering, LLC (RRS) where he provides safety consulting services to clients in safety management and OSHA safety compliance. He has 36 years experience in occupational safety. He earlier retired from the Monsanto Company after a 27 - year plant and corporate career in safety and OSHA compliance management. He received BS and MS degrees in Chemical Engineering from Auburn University.
Lawrence has been a Professional Member of ASSE since 1973. He currently serves as Vice President, Council on Professional Affairs (CoPA) and is a former Regional Vice President. Lawrence is a past member of the Government Affairs Committee and chaired CoPA’s Certification and Licensing Task Force. He currently serves on accreditation review teams for university degree programs in safety and health.
Lawrence has held all of the offices of the St. Louis Chapter, leading the chapter, as its president, to receive the Chapter Achievement Award. He continues to serve the chapter as its government affairs chair publishing a regulatory update article monthly in the chapter newsletter.
Lawrence is a Fellow of ASSE and an ASSE Safety Professional of the Year. He received the Distinguished Service to Safety Award from the National Safety Council.
He served on the Board of Certified Safety Professionals and the National Safety Council’s Business and Industry Division and Board of Directors. Lawrence is currently a member of Board of Directors of the Safety Council of Greater St. Louis.
There is a significant need for ASSE to manage how the profession and ASSE will maintain its visibility, influence and perceived value to employer customers in the future.
For over 35 years, the safety profession, its professionals and ASSE have benefited from the actions and visibility of OSHA. While OSHA will continue as a significant safety influence and will have strong ASSE support, OSHA’s visibility is maturing, particularly in standards setting which, predictably, generates high interest. ASSE must position itself to lead the profession and ASSE for future value, irrespective of OSHA’s direction.
It is unlikely that our employer customers will continue to assign value to us as staff SH&E professionals and provide increased economic rewards to us if their perception of us remains largely that our strongest contribution is providing assistance with compliance management. That view, in effect, is that we are essentially an extension of OSHA.
Influencing this perception of the value of this profession will not likely be accomplished solely by ASSE offering educational opportunities for individual members in how to change perceptions of their individual employer customers. That is certainly an important element. However, the effort must also include managed actions by ASSE promoting the value of this profession to the general population of employer customers.
ASSE promotion of the value of our profession to our employer customers should be a significant element of the Strategic Plan. It should be a major benefit that members receive for our dues dollars.
Promotion of the value of our profession has been and will, if I am reelected, be a continuing emphasis in my leadership of the Council of Professional Affairs and in my initiatives with the Board of Directors.
I sincerely ask for your support and your vote in this election.