What's Your Opinion: Have you had a mentor who has helped you develop as a safety pro?

I have had some great bosses who have mentored me in management, business ethics, and the political arena in facilities.

I started in safety after 36 years in the field. I have gained a lot of knowledge from our insurance companies, as they have some very experienced individuals working as consultants. I now bounce ideas off of them and they do to me as well. We exchange different programs as needed to achieve better compliance. This has proven to be of benefit to me in a job that takes a lot of learning, how to work with people who generally don't want you around. I feel lucky in that I have great support from management, and my desires for training our crews are generally accepted and accommodated. Training budgets have been augmented by a state program targeting specialized training for our employees, which helps pay for the costs of the employees time for training. We are making strides each and every day.

Three years ago I would have said no to this poll. Currently my supervisor has proven to be a wonderful mentor and coach. I have learned much and been encouraged to spread my wings in many areas. What a difference this makes every day.

My career has spanned the creation of many of the regulatory agencies. In the beginning there were a few people that collaborated to implement many of the requirements that were introduced. In essence we mentored each other as we continued to learn. Some people were more influential than others and most people did not have safety as a primary role. As the field matured the people with the passion developed their expertise and created various organizations to increase the visibility of the field. From there higher education started to offer a few courses and eventually an entire curriculum and associated degrees. The field continues to evolve as more people choose a career as a safety professional. Mentorship may be more important now than it ever was. The science of safety has increased significantly but mentorship is needed to ensure that the passion for people keeps pace.

I had the privilege to intern for a year with the safety coordinator on-site before he retired and I took his position. I was interning while I was a senior in college and I wasn't pursuing a OSH degree, so the experience was really valuable. I realize how lucky I was each time we are onboarding a new safety lead who is taking a vacant position and has to learn as they go.

It has been an awesome experience ever since i was give the position of the my company safety secretary, this position has expose me to some many safety topics, that helps our workers to be safety consciousness at work, and even at their various homes, we do safety talk ever Monday's morning before going for work for each week and this has minimize accident to a very low level, every worker is made to be safety minded, knowing that as you come to work, you must go back to your family with your good body, without any harm, i believe that safety is every body's responsibility, and this mind set, the world will be a safe place to live.

I contacted Skipper Kendrick when I was a new industrial hygienist to be a mentor to me when I wanted to start exploring the safety field and add to my skill set. Little did I know that I would be working for him a short time after! He certainly helped me understand that if "you keep doin' what you did, you're goin' to get what you got!" in his best Cajun accent. He helped me be a change agent, and to focus on behavior to change people's safety concepts. It really has impacted my career and (I hope) the employees I work tirelessly to protect.

My most influential mentors were those I had while serving in the Air Force in the early to mid 1990s. Ironically, they were the ones who were the toughest on me and encouraged me to teach myself a lot of things. Senior Master Sergeant (SMSgt) Mark Suggs was the most influential. He was my "boss" as Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge (NCOIC). It used to drive me crazy when I'd ask him a question and he'd tell me to look it up. I was a young Airman First Class (A1C) and it frustrated me when I felt there was no harm in answering a simple question and saving me some time. But he knew I would get more value from the process of looking up Air Force and OSHA regulations and reading them and he was right. Because of him I earned awards like Airman of the Quarter and was one of the youngest ever selected to the base Exercise Evaluation Team. Another critical mentor to me during that time was Major Marquez who was the Officer in Charge (OIC) over SMSgt Suggs. Maj. Marquez was very smart. He was from Puerto Rico and he knew his job well. Every report went through him and his red pen. I admired him a great deal even as no-nonsense and straightforward as he was. An Air Force base is like a little town with different "shops" and our responsibilities included doing safety, health, environmental, and industrial hygiene audits at these shops. Some shops were harder to inspect than other and involved a great deal of work. One of the toughest for us was Corrosion Control near the flight line. They did things like painting and aircraft material treatment that involved a lot of industrial hygiene like air sampling and ventilation surveys not to mention a long list of chemicals to inventory. It took about 3 weeks to do a thorough audit at a place like that. I got the work done in time and handed in my report for review. As he handed it back to me a couple of days later, I could already see the red ink and felt discouraged. I worked hard on it and felt I did well. Even when he handed it to me he said two simple words - Good job. I went page by page, red mark after red mark, feeling dejected. On the last page, he wrote "this is one of the best audits I've ever reviewed. Excellent!" You can imagine how elated that made me and what an impression it left on me. I have had others who've influence me a great deal. Mentors are important and everyone needs one - especially early in their career.

I have been working in Manufacturing for over 20 years and when I "volunteered" to be the Safety Coordinator for the first time, the exiting coordinator handed me a very large company safety manual and said good luck! Over the years, I have been mentored and educated by members of production and maintenance hourly and management staff, and a few really great division safety coordinators! I have never been afraid to ask questions, I was lucky to have some really great "on the production floor" experience with supervisors that I worked with who were never put out by my questions and were always available to help me out. Plant Managers that I worked under were great in allowing me the chance to take OSHA certification classes, along with company available classes in HazCom, Electrical Safety, etc. One of my Maintenance Managers encouraged me to join in training sessions when new production employees where being trained on how to use equipment. Not only was I taught the safety information, I was also taught how to talk to hourly production staff about safety, how to train and also how to mentor employees who wanted to be part of keeping themselves and co-workers safe! I consider myself very lucky to have had all of these folks who invested their time to mentor me and teach me.

Pat Trevathan, retired Captain Paducah, KY Fire Department and Training Coordinator for State Fire Rescue Training prepared me for one job I've had since 1991. I became the EMS Training Coordinator for formerly Occunet but now Baptist Health Paducah. I've trained 37 EMT Classes, 12 EMR Classes, overall 50,000 CPR students and since with the National Safety Council was recently given a plague for training over 30,000 CPR students since 2001. I'm getting ready to retire and there's no doubt Pat was my Mentor to prepare me to teach. I'm still a current State Fire Rescue Trainer and have been a sworn Police Officer for over 45 years. Thank you to both Pat and the National Safety Council for supporting me.

When I first began in safety over 22 years ago, I had some of the best mentors. When I moved into the newly vacated safety coordinator position, I really had no idea what I was getting myself into. Luckily for me, the company that I worked for had already partnered with our WY State OSHA voluntary technical assistance programs (EVTAP and SHARP). I attended my first of many OSHA 3-day Collateral Duty classes and quickly found my first two mentors. They just so happened to also be our technical assistance inspectors. They took me under their wings for the almost 10 years we worked with the WY OSHA technical assistance office. Their instructions, tips, tricks, and inspection methods still stick with me today. I am so very thankful for them and the fact they saw something in me and that I could be very successful in this profession. While working for the same company I had two additional mentors; our General Manager and our BBS/BST consultants. Our General Manager, along with our Accountant, taught me so much about management. It was through their instruction and with our professional team building trainer that I learned so many important skills through learning coaching, mentoring, and training skills. When I had the opportunity to work with our BBS/BST consultant I was able to learn that every great Safety Professional needs to have the outlook of a consultant. Later, when I left the General Industry and took a Safety position at one of our local surface coal mines that again I had one of the best mentors. He taught me so much about mine & MSHA safety rules and regulations that helped my career over the 8 years we worked together. He was also a volunteer Fire fighter and a veteran of our mine rescue team. So when I took over leading that team, he always offered great insight into how we could always "raise the bar" and make our training more impactful. Additionally, I cannot spend enough time talking about the additional mentors I have had over the years with many I have never met. I have been privately being mentored by Dr. John C. Maxwell for over 20 years. He and many other authors on the topics of Leadership, Coaching, and Mentoring have given me such great insight into these areas. The great thing about being mentored is I have been able to share the information learned with other people I have had the privilege of leading and working with. My bookshelves in my office are lined with great life reference manuals that I can turn to when a problem arises. If you don't have a mentor, then you really need to find one. They can make all the difference in your career. Especially since they have such great experience, it offers you some of the best hands-on training I've ever experienced.

I have had the blessing of several mentors throughout my 28 year career as a safety professional. My mentors have been formal (structured and assigned developers of my capabilities) and informal (professional and personal friends that took an interest in my development and success). I believe that mentors add great value to professional and personal lives if the mentor and mentee take their roles seriously. The mentor can gain as much from the relationship as the mentee if they open their ears, mind, and heart. I currently mentor 18 individuals inside and outside my company, college students to experienced SME's and I learn something of value form all of them.

It has only been through one-to-one coaching, a buddy system, or assigned mentor program that I see myself and MOST OTHERS develop a value and conscience awareness of proper safety protocols. All the classroom and reading methods are an awesome start but it needs to be backed with hands-on practical application. Thank you NSC for all your support and tools to keep me and my team going!

I was very fortunate to be mentored by Ray Lehr, the "Godfather of Safety", early in my professional safety career. To this day, I continue to approach difficult safety challenges and wonderful safety opportunities with the skills he taught me. To this day I still find myself asking "What would Ray do?"

I have been in the safety field for 25 years. Working in the marine terminals i had a great boss/ mentor. Now in the construction field.

I am just going start college on my associates degree in health & safety. My goal is to also go into the hazmat field with the degree helping our fire department as a instructor and getting trained to handle chemical , biological and nuclear accidents.

So happy to find this wonderful and educative platform of health magazine. I am new this; I was just given a task on safety gargets which I have less knowledge of. Please I really need a mentor/someone that will put me through on safe production and management in a factory. I will be greatful to know my request is being discussed to enlighten me on the first aid/safety. Safety first!!! Thank you.

I am being mentored by a very knowledgeable person. He has assisted me in navigating OSHA regulations which has in effect helped me design the safety manual for my company. Moreover, he has been able to put context with the vocabulary used in describing specific violations. I am vigorously learning how to use the 29 CFR 1926 OSHA manual as a tool to guide me in my every day operations as Safety Coordinator for my company. As a former teacher coming into a completely different field, mentoring has been a life line for me. It has made my job more effective and given me a sounding board to work from when questions arise. I strongly recommend mentoring as a valid tool to enrich any safety program.

Will Metzger Jr. has mentor me and now have numerous certifications and a CHST.

After 10 years of being a safety attendant as a subcontractor in refineries during shutdowns and turn arounds, I came to the realization that despite toolbox meetings after meetings all of my inputting was never being utilized. They would barely acknowledge my presence then challenge my contribution. Once, what I spoke about trying to avoid came about They gave accolades to my supervisor!! He then came and gave me the teeshirt and mug to me for raising the point but never publicly gave me any kudos for my action. Which is part of my inspiration to now pursue a degree and become more active and vocal about women in construction safety.

I wish that I had had a safety mentor, for I would have progressed quicker and with less bumps in my career if I did. That being said, I have mentored over a dozen individuals and shared what I have learned through the years so that they could learn vicariously. I also make it a point of listening to them so that our conversations are dialogues instead of monologues. Now as a part-time faculty professor at Columbia Southern University I plan on mentoring through CSU's feedback process.

I have been fortunate to have had several different mentors during my career in Safety. Each and every one of them challenged me to think, to use my head and to grow. If not for others, I would still be struggling, unsure of direction, role and the possibilities that are out there. Even their catch phrases stick with me, such as "If it's not written down, it never happened" or "Think worst case scenario". Safety s also the first profession where I have felt like we are all part of a team rather than competing and secreting ideas away from one another....

I recently had the privilege of working with a great individual. He has been in the Safety Field for over 30 years. He's very genuine in his care and concern over the employees he keeps safe. This gentleman has influenced my approach to implementation a great deal. I truly have witnessed the results by encouraging feedback and input from the field when needing to implement a new procedure to ensure compliance. Because of his mentorship I now have the workforce coming to me with their concerns, but coupled with possible solutions. They have invested their own emotions into having a better safety culture in our company. So I am no longer viewed as the "Safety Police Officer", but as someone who cares enough to ask their opinion, value their opinion, and seek their opinion. The heart of our company truly believe that they matter, and because of this have pushed our safety culture into a more positive light. So thank you Mr. V , for your guidance and friendship.

GREETINGS MY MENTOR IS DESIRE TO LEARN IT HAS BEEN THE MOST IMPORTANT MOTIVE WITHIN ME TO LEARN SAFETY THE WAY I KNOW AND BECOME A SAFETY PRO .DESIRE TO LEARN IS A GROWING NEED FOR LEARNING .I AM STILL LEARNING ,BOOKS EDUCATION AND ENGLISH LANGUAGE IS INSPIRING ME TO LEARN .SAFETY I LEARNT GRADUALLY AS I SPENT SOME CONSIDERABLE TIME ON BOARD OCEAN GOING VESSELS.THERE I BECAME FAMILIAR WITH THE SSFETY OF LIFE AND SINCE THEN I HAVE CONTINOUED WITH SAFETY TILL I AM A SAFETY PRO.