Post From Safety 2014 Guest Blogger Pam Walaski, CSP, CHMM
I spell it A-S-S-E. At Sunday’s House of Delegates (HOD) meeting at Safety 2014, the delegates from chapters and practice specialties voted overwhelmingly to change the Society’s governance structure; the vote was 166 in favor and 31 opposed. This change is the first since 1995 and is the culmination of former Society President Darryl Hill’s idea that started a 3+ year process of collaboration and discussion.
I took the opportunity to speak before my fellow delegates and voiced my belief that the model we were asked to vote on represented the one that was best for the majority of the more than 36,000 members. It was not the model that I would have designed if it were up to me alone. But it wasn’t my model because it’s not my Society. It’s a Society that I share with many of the world’s best professionals in the field, all of whom have different ideas about how ASSE should function and all of whom have a different set of desires, needs and wants from the Society. And we all have something to offer in the discussions.
It was a model that was created in a collaborative process involving all facets of the Society, reviewed and modified numerous times by Society groups and finally presented for discussion and vote to all of the members through the HOD. As a result it is a model that, as they say, “has something for everyone” and provides for the best chance for ASSE to continue to grow and flourish.
It is also important to restate something ASSE President Kathy Seabrook said during the HOD meeting – this governance change isn’t coming because ASSE is broken or losing its global relevance. This isn't a desperate long-shot to save ASSE. We are growing, both in terms of the number of members and the influence we have on OSH trends. This model will provide the platform we need to continue this process and our progress.
And now as they say, the devil is in the details. Several implementation tasks have yet to be completely decided. But they couldn’t be at this stage of the game. The HOD approved the model that now will be operationalized. ASSE's board will now begin to put in place the mechanism and activities that will take ASSE from a 15-member board that sometimes requires lengthy periods of time and discussion to decisions to a 10-member nimble board that will focus on strategy, moving more operational decision to the region and chapter levels.
I’m happy with this change. I’ve believed in it since the beginning, and I hope all fellow members who were not in support will eventually come to believe the same.
Pam Walaski, CSP, CHMM, is the regional manager, Environmental, Health and Safety Services, for Compliance Management International in Pittsburgh, PA. She is Administrator of ASSE's Consultants Practice Specialty and a member of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter.
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