Mission Statement

ASSE is committed to ensuring that any decision by federal or state government impacting the safety, health and environment of the workplace is based on good science and sound technology. The Society proactively works with legislators and regulators to enhance safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professional qualifications, safety and health program criteria, technical standards and other areas of hazard recognition and control that impact the SH&E profession.

Get Involved in Government Affairs

ASSE’s Florida members are working to give OSH coverage to Florida’s State, country, and municipal workers. Click here to learn what ASSE’s Florida members are doing to protect public sector workers.

Upcoming Events

Safety In Design

On July 8, 2009 at 12:00 PM EDT, ASSE’s Virtual Classroom is offering a webinar on Safety in Design by ASSE member John Mroszczyk. Through ASSE’s Alliance with OSHA and Partnership with NIOSH, John has helped lead those agencies’ efforts to advance Safety in Design, also known as Prevention through Design. John is a leading participant in OSHA’s Alliance Program Construction Roundtable and the Roundtable’s Design for Safety Workgroup and NIOSH’s National Initiative on Prevention through Design.

Current Initiatives

DoL Secretary Solis Helps Open ASSE PDC

Department of Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis spoke to attendees at ASSE's opening General Session on Monday, June 29 in San Antonio, Texas. Secretary Solis praised ASSE members' commitment to workplace safety and health and said she looked forward to working with them and spoke of OSHA's reemphasis on enforcement efforts. She also announced a concentrated effort to prevent injuries and fatalities at construction sites in Texas to address the high number of fatalities in construction in the state.

Read ASSE's press release on the Secretary's appearance.

ASSE President Warren Brown Testifies at Senate Subcommittee Hearing on Introducing Meaningful Incentives for Safe Workplaces and Meaningful Roles for Victims and Their Families

ASSE president Warren Brown testified today, April 28, 2009 at a hearing before the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Policy Committee on the issue of introducing meaningful incentives for safe workplaces. The hearing is being held as the subcommittee considers the introduction of OSHA reform legislation that could drastically alter OSHA enforcement procedures, rulemaking, and cooperative programs. Mr. Brown’s testimony cautions the subcommittee against wholesale changes that will diminish OSHA’s ability to be a the leader of this nation’s occupational safety and health. While ASSE acknowledges in the testimony that some changes to current practices are necessary to create a strong, effective OSHA, enforcement alone will not be enough to keep workers safe on the job. OSHA must prioritize their resources and focus on employers that are known to blatantly disregard employee safety and health.

Watch the testimony on the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions website.

ASSE Protects SH&E Level Playing Field on Mold in Arkansas and Maryland

In Arkansas and Maryland, ASSE is taking a stand for all SH&E professionals by opposing legislation that would inappropriately give preference to one SH&E designation in dealing with possible risks associated with mold. In Arkansas, an ASSE letter objects to a bill that has already passed the House. In Maryland, an ASSE letter states for the record our Maryland members’ opposition to a bill even though the bill has already failed.

To be clear, ASSE does not oppose CIHs doing mold work. What ASSE has consistently objected to over the years are any efforts intended to keep SH&E professionals who may have the experience and training to assess and address mold risks from doing that work. ASSE members agree that nothing in the CIH designation itself determines a unique ability to deal with mold risks. Given ASSE’s wide-ranging membership that includes CIHs, CSPs, CHMMs and every other SH&E designation – as well as members working towards such designations – it is ASSE’s purpose to protect and promote a level playing field among SH&E professionals. ASSE does not seek competitive advantages for any one group of SH&E professionals over other SH&E professionals when such an advantage is not based in professional training and experience.

ASSE TESTIMONY EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER CHANGES TO NIOSH ASBESTOS ROADMAP

ASSE voiced several concerns regarding the focus of the NIOSH Roadmap on Asbestos and other Elongated Particle Minerals at a NIOSH hearing held on March 30, 2009. Adele L. Abrams, Esq., CMSP, Professional member of the Mining and Construction Practice Specialty and co-chair of the NIOSH Mining Sector Council for its National Occupational Research agenda, submitted testimony on behalf of ASSE and expressed that that the revised NIOSH Roadmap has diverted from its ultimate goal in the original draft of developing a unified theory of thoracic-sized fiber toxicity between currently-known and newly identified mineral fibers, synthetic vitreous fibers, and nanofibers. The revised roadmap, Abrams said, downplays the importance of developing a unified theory when in fact, NIOSH representatives stated during a public meeting that the February 2007 Roadmap held the unified theory as the “ultimate goal” of its research. The testimony reflect comments submitted by ASSE in September of 2008 to NIOSH for the record.

HB 1029 Passes Unanimously in the Florida House Government Affairs and Policy Committee

At the 11th hour, after the Florida House said it was not hearing any new bills, ASSE’s lobbyist in Florida was able to get HB 1029, ASSE’s bill to provide OSH coverage to public sector employees in Florida, heard this morning in the House Government Affairs Policy Committee. ASSE member Mark Friend, of Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and member of the Florida Task Force on Workplace Safety, went up to Tallahassee to testify at a hearing this morning. The bill passed unanimously, by a vote of 7-0. Thanks to all of the ASSE members that stepped up to write the members of this committee to urge them to support HB 1029. Passing these bills will still be a tough fight, but this victory could not have been a better beginning.

ASSE Says OSHA Failed to Recognize Leading Standards at Crane Hearing

ASSE expressed a variety of concerns centered on the failure of the OSHA proposed rule Cranes and Derricks in Construction to reference leading national voluntary consensus standards on crane safety in testimony given by ASSE Professional Member Matt Burkart, a crane safety expert from Southampton, PA, a member of the A10 Safety Requirements for Construction and Demolition Operations Standards standard committee and chair of the ASCE Construction Site Safety Committee, at an OSHA public hearing. The testimony reflected comments ASSE submitted in January to OSHA for the record, where ASSE requested a hearing to address concerns that OSHA failed to reference the widely accepted A10 and other national voluntary consensus standards addressing crane and derrick safety. ASSE did support OSHA’s general approach to ensuring that crane operators are qualified or certified to operate the equipment covered here but urged that certifications be accredited by the same nationally recognized accrediting agencies that accredit organizations certifying the professional competence of safety and health professionals. OSHA was urged to look closely at the negotiated rulemaking process used to develop the rule to see if lessons can be learned to help improve the negotiated rulemaking process as a way to engage the safety and health community in rulemaking. (3.18.09)

ASSE Oregon Members Back Employer Right to Set Safety Rules on Marijuana

On behalf of its members in Oregon, ASSE sent a letter to a key Oregon House Committee expressing support for occupational safety and health provisions of bills before the committee to protect an employer’s right to determine safety rules concerning the use of marijuana. The issue is a concern of safety and health professionals due to the legal medical use of marijuana allowed in Oregon. HB 2497(pdf) and HB 3502 (pdf) would clarify that Oregon law does not require an employer to accommodate the medical use of marijuana in any workplace, to allow its possession or consumption, to allow an impaired person in the workplace, to restrict efforts to have a drug-free workforce. (3.16.09)

Related Press Release.

ASSE Moving Ahead on Providing OSH Coverage to Florida's Public Sector Workers

Florida’s ASSE members deserve all the credit in the world for succeeding last year at passing one of the more significant occupational safety and health (OSH) bills in recent years in any state or even at the federal level. The US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) recognized the achievement in its You Tube video at here. At a time when there are few initiatives to advance safety and health, legislation by Senator Lynn and Representative Gibson that ASSE championed created a task force to determine how Florida can provide OSH coverage to its public sector workers. The task force concluded that Florida can begin to do so. ASSE is supporting the task force’s recommendations contained in its full report (PDF).

In the 2009 session of the Florida Legislature, ASSE will work to see these recommendations passed into law. ASSE has engaged the lobbyist who succeeded for us last year. We have a group of dedicated Florida members who have been working on this issue from the beginning and who will lead the effort again this year. Ed Granberry Jr. was instrumental in making sure ASSE pursued this issue. Jim Smith is an ASSE Board member and is long committed to the issue. Mark Friend of Embry-Riddle University as a member of the task force helped see these recommendations through. And Frank Lakotich of Alabama, the new ARVP for Government Affairs for Region IV, is also bringing the Region’s support to the effort.

But we will need your help. We expect this effort to be difficult. There is no guarantee of success. When you are asked to help in ways like contacting your state senator or representative, we would hope that you will take the time and effort to do so. You can also write letters to the editor in your community, make sure your Chapter knows what is going on. The more voices we can bring to this effort, the better chances we have. Please watch for email announcements with more information and requests for help.

A first step in this effort was this response to a recent Florida Trend article (pdf) on “Dangerous Work.”

CSB Urges Florida to Pursue Public Sector OSH Coverage

In 2008, due to the commitment of members in Florida like Ed Granberry, ASSE Board Member Jim Smith and Mark Friend, ASSE pursued passage of a bill that established a task force to determine how to provide occupational safety and health coverage to the state’s state, municipal and county workers. Not only has that been a significant step forward for safety and health and our members in Florida, but our work there has been recognized as a significant step forward on this issue in Washington, DC. In a YouTube Video, US Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) Chairman John Bresland commended the task force urged Florida legislators and governor to pursue its recommendations, which can be found in a final report here (PDF). CSB’s work in investigating the workplace explosion that took two lives at a Daytona Beach water treatment plant started this current effort to provide OSH coverage. CSB’s report on that explosion can be found here.

ASSE Comments on OSHA Cranes in Construction Rule - Asks OSHA for Hearing on Failure to Reference A10

ASSE in a comment for the record has asked OSHA for a hearing to determine how OSHA failed to include one reference to A10 Safety Requirements for Construction and Demolition Operation voluntary consensus standards in its proposed rule on cranes and derricks in construction. The ANSI/ASSE A10 Committee is one of the oldest ANSI committees, and, until recently, OSHA was a committee member. As ASSE’s numerous technical concerns about the rulemaking indicate, references to the A10 and other standards are both appropriate and necessary if this rulemaking is to be consistent with already widely accepted crane safety practices within industry. ASSE also supported OSHA’s proposal for crane operation certification but urged that changes be made to ensure quality accreditation of certification programs in the same way the credibility of the highest levels of safety and health professional certifications are guaranteed. With respect to the negotiated rulemaking process through which this rulemaking was developed, ASSE urged OSHA to look at its experience closely and see if lessons can be learned to help improve negotiated rulemaking as a tool for engaging the entire OSH community in OSHA’s future rulemaking. ASSE has long called for the use of negotiated rulemaking to address some of the more intractable issues facing occupational safety and health.

ASSE Responds to MEMBER CONCERNS OVER DoL Rulemaking on Health Standards

The message below from Jim Thornton, Chair, and ASSE’s Government Affairs Committee on behalf of the Society is in response to the voiced concerns (below) of members over ASSE comment on this rulemaking.

Thank you for your comments to ASSE regarding the position the Society has taken relative to the proposed Department of Labor risk assessment rulemaking. Your patience in waiting for a response during a time when volunteer leadership in ASSE government affairs has been in transition is greatly appreciated. I want to take this opportunity to explain the position that was taken and trust that this communication provides you the feedback you are seeking, if maybe not the answer you sought.

ASSE's comments in support of the proposed standard are based primarily on the principles of transparency and due diligence in the rulemaking process. While we can certainly debate whether the Administration’s timing in offering this rulemaking meets this same principle, that does not take away from our belief that all occupational safety and health standards should be promulgated in an open and participative manner so that the standards that afford a safe and healthy workplace have the benefit of the best possible information from all sides of the debate. Requiring that these standards be developed in a more transparent environment where due diligence by a federal agency is required is good for employees, employers and SH&E professionals and we will continue to support and advocate for this principle. Even when the current standards development process is archaic and slow – about which ASSE has consistently voiced concern – as a practicing CSP and CIH, I have often seen standards finalized, only to find that they do not address workplace realities and making my work that much more difficult. An extra measure of due diligence might produce a better, more sustained product, and we advocate that.

That being said, there are facets to this proposed standard that were not addressed in our comment. ASSE has an approval process that consists of the Government Affairs Committee, the Council on Professional Affairs and the Board Executive Committee. The members of these committees are appointed to represent the views of our widespread, diverse membership. This is not the first time this process has resulted in a position that is controversial or may find disagreement among other members. Most likely, it will not be the last. That these members chose to provide a comment focused on a particular aspect of this rulemaking reflects the experience and knowledge of the members chosen at this time to be part of the process, and their decision has not changed.

However, based on your comment and the comments of others – which have been shared with each member in the approval process – our intent is to better reach out to the particular expertise among our members on this issue when it no doubt comes up as this rulemaking is challenged. My own feeling is that many of these more particular issues, including length of exposure to airborne contaminants toxins, are issues that any rulemaking or even stakeholders in the process cannot adequately address without NIOSH playing a more integral role in determining how best to protect workers.

In closing, I hope that this at least provides some clarity around our position, and assures you that we have the interests of ASSE, its members, our employers and the employees for whom we work at heart. While I understand this response may not fulfill your best hope for this process, I want you to know that those of us who are in a position to make these decisions on behalf of our fellow members have heard your concern and will double our effort to seek member input with particular expertise as this issue progresses. I also hope that your involvement in this debate provides an incentive for you to become even more involved in ASSE’s policy development process as well as the process that selects our Society’s leaders.

Sincerely,
James Thornton
ASSE GAC Chair

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