“Innovation and Inspiration”: The 2014 NSC Rising Stars of Safety
The National Safety Council presents the Rising Stars of Safety, Class of 2014
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Mike Hill 32 Regional Safety Manager Performance Contracting Inc. Lenexa, KS |
| “Previously, we conducted the equivalent of an OSHA 30-hour class with superintendents, project managers, estimators, etc. We have approximately 75 general managers and operation managers. Mike suggested that we have a Management Safety Summit (MSS), which would bring in three separate classes of 25 managers in which we could emphasize our safety program at a management level. We feel this safety summit has taken our safety program over the top. We celebrated our best safety year and are on pace to improve on that this year.” | |
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Drena Howard 33 Associate Director, Global Retail Estée Lauder Companies Inc. New York, NY |
| “Drena developed – from scratch – more than 10 custom online courses for compliance and best practices for North America. She drove creativity and innovation by mastering the software while blending key compliance requirements with policies. Drena successfully reimagined our safety communications to brand leaders with an emphasis not only on the data but key wins and clear directions for improvement. She implemented engaging teachings directly to our retail stores, including posters, emails and seasonal webinars.” | |
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Ross Jambon 30 HSE Specialist Baker Hughes Inc. Houma, LA |
| “Ross is to be credited for revitalizing the Student Chapter of the Bayou Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers. For many years, the Student Chapter was rather dormant, having only several students who attended the monthly meetings. Ross, along with the help of a few of his peers, who he gives so much credit to, worked extra hours with the students to show them the value of being an active member of the society. Due to his efforts, at each monthly meeting, there has been an increase in student participation, which has benefited both the student and the society. He also works, through the Bayou Chapter of ASSE, with the public to instill a focus on safety off the job as well.” | |
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Jennifer Johnston 39 Entry Level Professional Program Manager Georgia-Pacific Atlanta, GA |
| “Jennifer leads and manages the Safety Entry Level Professional (ELP) Program. She recruits candidates for GP and, based on team input, recommends candidates for hire. Jennifer provides guidance to the ELPs in the area of technical skills, manufacturing operations and building leadership capability. She is actively developing the future safety leaders for GP. During her tenure as Program Manager, 17 ELPs have graduated from the program and earned permanent placement within the company, and 28 have begun their career with GP. Since 2007, the ELP program has achieved a 77 percent retention rate.” | |
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Tanya King 38 Human Resources Manager and Safety Director Duke’s Landscape Management Hackettstown, NJ |
| “As the safety program has evolved, Tanya is continually trying to keep the training materials and learning process as fresh and engaging as possible. Safety training now can be anything from playing charades or a popular game show, to a hands-on round-robin safety rodeo event, where employees are schooled on our standard safety practices. Not only did Tanya want the company to experience the direct benefit of improved safety practices, but she also wanted our employees to realize a benefit as well. Tanya implemented our monthly safety raffle – on a monthly basis, three employees without safety violations are randomly selected to receive a $100 gift card.” | |
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Rachel Kumar 29 Senior Industrial Hygienist, Environment, Safety, Security and Health Savannah River Nuclear Solutions Aiken, SC |
| “Most recently, while conducting an occupational hazard evaluation in a half-century-old facility, her keen observation skills identified an intermittent noise hazard. After measuring the noise dose, she determined that it could exceed established guidelines under certain work conditions. She took the data she collected and collaborated with engineering to design an engineering control that would attenuate noise levels. She also instituted immediate administrative controls to reduce noise levels below guidelines.” | |
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Corey Lemmon 32 Senior Manager, Environmental, Health and Safety Philips Respironics Murrysville, PA |
| “Corey led the first OHSAS 18001 Multi-site certification in Philips Healthcare history. By developing and implementing this Safety Management System, multiple sites around the world previously separated by business units and management teams are allowed to pool resources and gain strength through innovation and safety leadership. Separate site EHS teams under Corey’s direction work together on projects and initiatives that were never previously shared.” | |
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Arturo Lopez 27 Senior HSE Specialist, Emergency Response and Security Lyondellbasell – CCO Facility Corpus Christi, TX |
| “Arturo has taken a significant approach to the building of the Port’s new Safety Program. He believes that taking a personal approach is the most successful way to molding the foundation of the safety culture. Arturo makes it a point every safety meeting that he holds to have a small one-on-one conversation with employees. Arturo creates his safety program by building strong personal relationships with his co-workers with the intent to outsource his safety messages and allowing them to stick. He makes safety personal by telling hypothetical stories to his peers about how taking shortcuts on the job can affect not just their work life, but their personal life as well. He helps his workers understand that his job is to make sure they go home safe to their families.” | |
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