Gregory L. Smith, CSP, is president of Construction Safety & Health, Inc. (CSHI) in Austin, Texas, a company that serves areas of safety including consulting, training and education, and auditing. Smith has more than 27 years of experience in the safety field, working in both general industry and construction environments. Prior to joining CSHI, he was operations manager for the Contractors Safety Council of Texas City in Texas City. He holds a B.S. in Industrial Hygiene and Safety from the University of Houston-Clear Lake and is completing a M.S. in that discipline in December of 2006.
An ASSE member since 1996 (prior student member), he is a Professional Member and has held the offices of treasurer, v.p. of communications and president in the Gulf Coast Chapter. Smith’s Region III service includes one term as ARVP (2001-02) and four years on the Region III PDC planning committee. Nationally he served on a task force to gather non-dues revenue generating ideas for the 2002 Leadership Conference, is serving a second term as the Assistant Administrator of the Construction Practice Specialty and was recently appointed the Chair of the ASSE Body of Knowledge.
Smith was named the Gulf Coast Chapter’s “Safety Professional of the Year” in 2001. He is an approved instructor for the University of Cincinnati’s OSHA Education Center, is a member of the Advisory Council for the University of Houston’s Safety Engineering program, and sits on several non-profit boards and committees. Smith has presented at a national PDC, several Region III PDC’s, and numerous local and regional events as well as authoring materials for the Construction Practice Specialty’ textbook project and the in-progress ASSE Safety Professionals’ Handbook.
Greetings Region III Members,
Most platform statements tell you all the things the candidate has done, or will do if elected. I choose a broader approach. For you to judge whether you want me to lead the Region forward for the next two years, you first need to know of my philosophy about Safety, how I define Leadership, and how these relate to Region III.
Safety is something special to each of us, or we wouldn’t be in this profession. To me, its execution revolves around true communication, and then basing my safety decisions on the question, “Will this keep someone from getting hurt?” If the answer is yes, then that is what gets done. I’ll use that same philosophy in my decisions affecting the Region: Communicate and Act for the Betterment of the Group.
Leadership means you set the example of performance and then nurture that in others while simultaneously pushing yourself to grow. Success in that process requires that you seek a balance between your private and professional lives to be effective, but it also requires self-reflection and contemplation to see if you’re growing or just reorganizing. That will be my approach to leading the Region: Set the Example and Create Growth.
What I’ve already done is in my bio. And I’m not going to promise you all the great things I’ll do if you elect me because those will depend on what you want and need. I will promise you I will always do my best to strengthen our voices in the affairs of our Society; to help grow our profession; including the support of Student Leadership events, and to take us farther than we have gone before. How far and where we go is truly…up to us.
Thank you for your support.