Get to Know the ASSE Risk Assessment Institute

Guest Post From Tom Cecich, CSP, CIH
ASSE 2014-15 Senior Vice President-Elect

In June 2013, the ASSE Risk Assessment Institute was formed to focus on the importance of identifying and reducing occupational related safety and health risks. In addition to promoting the value of risk assessment to organizations, the institute is promoting the value of safety professionals as being uniquely qualified to manage workplace risks.

The ASSE Risk Assessment Institute was created to respond to several troubling trends in workplace injuries:

1. The fatality rate in the U.S. as reported by BLS has reached a plateau after a slow but steady decline for many years. Past ASSE President Terrie Norris issued a call to action that focused on initiatives that ASSE could implement to address the lack of national progress in reducing fatalities.
2. Many large corporations indicate that although their overall injury and illness rates have steadily declined, the rates of serious injuries and fatalities have remained steady for several years. Recent studies have shown that the safety processes and techniques that have been effective for reducing minor injuries are not as effective in preventing serious injuries.
3. A recent study funded by ASSE reports that fatality rates in the U.K. and other European countries are approximately one half the fatality rate of the U.S. after adjusting for differences in injury and illness reporting. The study concludes that the use of risk assessment processes that are mandated in European regulatory systems may account for the improved safety performance in other industrialized countries.

In light of these trends, ASSE concluded although traditional approaches to improving SH&E performance that focus primarily on injury rate reduction and/or regulatory compliance are necessary components of SH&E programs, they are not sufficient to reduce all the incidents that can result in serious injuries, fatalities and major business losses. Increasingly, global leaders in SH&E performance are building their safety management processes around the identification and mitigation of significant risks.

Furthermore, senior management is transforming how risk is identified and managed in organizations. Through the use of processes such as enterprise risk management, senior business leaders are focusing on what risks pose the greatest threats to their organizational success. ASSE believes strongly that safety professionals should be viewed as being uniquely qualified to identify workplace risks and propose controls to eliminate or mitigate significant risks that can threaten their organizations.

Consequently, the ASSE Risk Assessment Institute seeks to promote of the value of occupational risk assessment to organizations and to advance the risk assessment competencies of safety professionals via the following:

1. Educate executives and the business community on the role and value of safety professionals in their risk management processes.
2. Improve risk-related training and education of SH&E professionals to ensure that they are fully capable of communicating business and occupational risks at the highest levels of their organizations.
3. Provide a platform for the SH&E community to contribute to the development of new evidence-based risk-related policies, processes and solutions.
4. Act as a clearinghouse for risk-related information and tools relevant to the SH&E profession.

Visit the ASSE Risk Assessment Institute website to learn more.