Research Investment Awarded: Determining the Value of Safety Professionals

The International Network of Safety and Health Professional Organizations (INSHPO), in collaboration with the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), the BCSP Foundation, the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP), and the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), are pleased to announce a team of qualified experts has been chosen to undergo the study examining the impact and value of using safety professionals in the workplace proposed by the organizations earlier this year.

The study, ‘Examining the impact of safety professionals on safety performance for companies with and without safety professionals’ will last 12 months. The team will determine, utilizing a review of safety professionals and their roles in influencing workplace safety, the effects of having safety professionals assigned to a company or organization, and its impacts on overall safety performance.

The team is comprised of:

• Sam Wang, PhD, PE, CSP, Texas A&M University
• Michael Larranaga, PhD, PE, CIH, CSP, FAIHA, REM Risk Consultants LLC
• James McIntosh, CSP, CIH, Marshall University
• Miaozong Wu, PhD, CSP, ARM, University of Central Missouri

“This investment, coordinated amongst the leading EHS organizations worldwide, speaks to the type of commitment and belief we share in the importance and value of safety professionals across the globe,” said President of INSHPO Greg Dearsly. “The accepted proposal was submitted by a team of individuals with diverse backgrounds and experience, and we are confident they will conduct thorough research in this important endeavor.”

Three overall methodologies will be utilized to identify the impact and value of the presence of safety professionals: collection of data, analysis of the data, and recommendations proposed based on the results of the analysis. Their research will include defining the present role of safety professionals, narrowing the scope of performance evaluations through safety performance indicators, and data collection from six or more countries from varying industries.

The participating organizations are dedicated to advancing the safety, health, and environmental (SH&E) field. The completion of this study constitutes an intrepid step in defining the roles and importance of safety professionals across the globe.