EHS on Tap

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day, a global event for celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women that also serves as a call to action for accelerating women's equality. To mark the occasion, EHS on Tap is sitting down with four women who have found great success in the EHS field, Adele Abrams, Lindsay Bell, Abby Ferri, and Camille Oakes, each of whom has also been an advisory committee member for the American Society of Safety Professionals’ Women in Safety Excellence (or WISE) common interest group.

It's EHS Leadership Week at the EHS Daily Advisor. For this special leadership-focused episode of EHS on Tap we spoke with Mary J. Stine, the global director of EHS programs for a large multinational corporation about her experiences starting out in EHS, the qualities of an EHS leader, and why it is important for EHS to have a seat at the table.

The world has been offered a glimmer of optimism for the coming year as numerous COVID-19 vaccines have started rolling out in an effort to combat the pandemic. However, environment health and safety professionals have a lot of questions about the vaccine and what their role, if any, should be in organizational vaccination programs.

Fortunately, we're joined today by attorney, safety professional, and trainer Adele Abrams who can help shed some light on some of the questions or concerns EHS professionals might have about complying with vaccination protocols.

Diversity and inclusion are hot topics at organizations worldwide, but too often its impact on environment, health, and safety is overlooked. In order to help fill this gap, the EHS Daily Advisor teamed with Avetta to conduct research into diversity and its importance to EHS, from the shop floor to the supply chain.

On this episode, we discuss some of the basics about the importance of diversity to EHS with Laurie Knape, an EHS Professional with our research sponsor, Avetta.

In this episode, EHS on Tap is kicking off the EHS Daily Advisor Safety Culture Week with a brand new episode that promises to both inform and entertain. We're very excited to chat with the Safety Justice League, a group of self-proclaimed safety nerds who are constantly on the lookout for safety superheroes. This intrepid league of professionals are speakers, authors, and fellow podcasters, with a combined experience of over a half century in the safety field. And in addition to today's podcast, they will also be joining us for a panel discussion at our next EHS Now event on November 11th.

Even before a great many of us were working remotely, connectivity has been and will always be a key component of successful safety programs and healthy safety cultures. Open communication, engagement from employees and management, and effective change management all depend on connectivity, and technology can help facilitate all of these factors on which effective EHS management depends. On today’s podcast, we’re chatting with two experts, Chris Borneo of MSA Safety and Matt DeLorenzo of Safety io, who can guide us through the practicalities of connectivity, the technology involved, and how it can serve to create better workplace safety programs.

Among the many health and safety concerns related to COVID-19 is the challenge posed to all of our collective mental health. Our current situation has put a strain on all of us to some extent, and with mental health challenges come a concern about potential workplace violence. It’s important for environment, health, and safety professionals to be prepared for any such threats to their businesses, and we have an expert with us today to help us understand these considerations and provide advice on how to stay ready to protect the workforce.

Joining us today on the podcast is Jean-Paul (or JP) Guilbault, the CEO of Navigate360, a company that boldly confronts the challenges communities face by creating safe environments where they can thrive and focus on their true mission. Prior to joining Navigate360, JP served as the President and CEO of Community Brands, and he is a techy at heart, with more than 20 years of experience leading fast-paced technology companies.

There has always been a tendency for organizations to silo into discrete units, which can make it difficult to address many of the day-to-day problems that arise through normal business. Now, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues disrupting how company's look and operate, it is more important than ever to have open channels of communication within an organization.

In this special episode of EHS on Tap, my colleague James Davis from the HR WorksPodcast (hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/podcasts/) joins me to interview an environment, health, and safety (EHS) and a human resources (HR) professional from one of the largest private companies in the United States: Koch Industries, Incorporated (www.kochind.com/).

Our collective goal is to better understand how EHS and HR work together, overcome challenges, and otherwise collaborate to make their workplace safe during a crisis.

Our guests are Walt Malone, VP of HR for Koch, and Sheryl Corrigan, director of environmental, health, and safety for Koch.

The environment, health, and safety profession is continuing to be shaped by technology and software, and sometimes it can be challenging to keep pace with all of these changes. On this episode of EHS on Tap, we’re talking with Natasha Porter and Christian Johnson of GenSuite, who can help you make sense of the digitization of EHS and compliance.

COVID-19 is not merely a temporary interruption to our everyday lives, it has ushered in a new reality within the working world. For environment, health, and safety professionals, the time to plan for operations within the context of this new reality is right now. So what do you need to be thinking about in order to successfully adapt to these changes while also continuing to keep a keen focus on safety?

On today's episode, we welcome back Shawn M. Galloway, the President of ProAct Safety to talk strategies for EHS pros preparing to reopen their facilities and worksites.