Larry Perkinson Steps Down From NSMS Governing Board

Larry I. Perkinson recently stepped down as a NSMS Director and member of the Governing Board. In his letter of resignation to President Thatcher, Perkinson wrote:

"I find it necessary to tender my resignation as a Board member and as Board Secretary. My eight year association with the NSMS and my six years on the Board have been, for the most part, a gratifying professional experience.

"However, there have been a number of changes in my life that make it increasingly difficult to participate on the level that I would like — with even more changes on the horizon. The difficulties of trying to keep up with what is going on with the Board, do my part to keep the Society alive and work to get the new certification established are additional stresses that I feel I must forego.

"Many of you have become good friends and I will miss seeing you at our meetings. I hope we can continue to correspond through phone and e-mail. I wish the Society and all of you the best, both professionally and personally. May Jesus Christ my Lord bless you and your families, especially, during this wonderful Christmas season!"

In reporting Larry's action to the Board, President Thatcher commented that "I am sorry to see Larry resign from the Board. My hope is he continues to be involved with NSMS, and that he can return to the Board at a time when the 'stressors' of life are a little less. I personally want to thank Larry for his many years of support and dedication to the NSMS."

One of Larry's major contributions to the Society was his expertise and interest in training. For several years he served as the Society's director of education and training, and developed several courses which were made available to members. He was also instrumental in the early developmental stages of the Institute for Safety and Health Management and it's Certified Safety and Health Manager.

Currently, Larry is a senior technical services coordinator for Kemper Insurance in Dallas, Texas. He can be reached at (972) 364-5106 or liperk@juno.com.

Business Office Transition Moving Along

As announced last month ["Business Operations to Change in January," The Communiqué, November, 2000], the administrative activities of the Society and Institute are being transferred to a professional management firm in Bethesda, Maryland.

While a December 31, 2000, cut-off date has been scheduled, there will be an overlap of functions between Kynoch, Inc., and the business operations headed by Bob LeClerg in North Carolina, until all records and instructions can be fully moved.

The new Managing Director will be J. Brent Kynoch. He will be ably assisted by Kelly Rutt, Assistant Director and Communications Manager, and Heather Hartwick as an Administrative Assistant (previously reported to be Helen Krisko).

Soon after the start of 2001, the NSMS/ISHM 800 number will be "redirected" to the new office. It will remain 800 321-2910.

E-mail addresses are expected to remain the same once that transfer is completed by the Society's webmaster (more on this next month).

Society publications will continue to be published from the Weaverville, N.C., office, with Bob LeClerg as publisher. As reported last month, Andrew Sorine has become the new editor of the Journal of Safety Management. His first issues will come out during calendar 2001. Until the new business office is functional, editorship of The Communiqué will be shared by the present editor, Bob LeClerg, and the new managing director, Brent Kynoch.

Presidental Perspectives

By James Thatcher, President

Where has 2000 gone?

The National Safety Management Society has had a full and exciting year. I am looking forward to 20001 being even more exciting.

As most of you know, the Board has decided to contract with Kynoch, Inc., a firm that helps administer and manage organizations like ours. Our ability to grow, provide better and faster services to our membership, and become THE organization to turn to for expertise in the MANAGING of the safety and health function depends on concentrating our efforts in these areas, and letting the experts in the administration field help us in THOSE areas.

I am firmly convinced this is the right decision for us - and I will be working closely with the Kynoch organization to make sure the services they provide will enhance our ability to reach our goal as stated above.

Dr. Jay Shankman and Dr. Jeff Chung, has been appointed by me as Director and Associate Director of Special Projects. Their task will be to find ways to help us grow, and provide better services for our membership. Please welcome Jay and Jeff to the NSMS. I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a safe, healthy and prosperous New Year.

Anyone wishing to contact me please E-mail me at jthatc5338@aol.com.

Writing Worth Reading

By Carl R. Metzgar

Words on Words, Crystal, David; Crystal Hilary. Chicago, 2000, The Chicago University Press. $ 23.20, Amazon.com, $29.00 University of Chicago Press.

In 1963 I bought a diamond. The jeweler then sold me a setting. Somewhere in there was a fee for mounting the diamond to make an engagement ring. The diamond looked good. The setting didn't look bad without the stone but together they looked better than either one of them did alone. The ring looked even better on the girl.

Words on Words is a book of interesting things well said with words about words. The particular quotations are diamonds that sparkle very well on their own. Pool sharks are well tuned to the benefits of "English" on the ball. Speakers, thinkers, and writers are aware of the benefits of clearly expressing ideas. Language that spins and sparkles maintains interest. The spin-doctor, currently in disrepute, knows well the benefits of English. Working and playing with words generally generates delightful surprises. Included in this exciting, fascinating, enlightening, charming, intriguing and seductive book is the famous prose exchange from Molliere's 1670 play Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme:

M. Jourdain: What? When I say 'Nichole, bring me my slippers and give me my nightcap', that's prose?

Philosophy Teacher: Yes sir.

M. Jourdain: Gracious me! I've been talking prose for more than forty years without knowing it.

M. Jourdain could have made one more observation. The story would be better if he had said something like, "and only it takes well chosen words in good order to send ideas and make sense? What are these magic things, words?"

Words on Words is 298 pages of "Quotable Quotes" about words: using words of course. There are about 16 quotes per page with 18 pages of index devoted to authors, 19 pages devoted to sources, and 244 pages of "Index of Key Words, Phrases, and Concepts." It is easy to tease out ideas and expressions with and on words.

Words are tools of the loss control trade. There is some healthy debate about loss control professionals as Scientists or Managers and the optimum productive combination of both. However, there is no escaping the need for the care and cleaning of the tools of the trade. Words and their effective use is a critical skill. It is possible to think without writing or speaking. However it is impossible to write or speak without thinking. Words are the building blocks of thought, always keeping in mind that no matter how charming the words, the sense has to be fertilized with healthy skepticism. H. L. Mencken understood skepticism and suggested:

"When I encounter a new idea, whether aesthetic, political, theological or epistemological, I ask myself, instantly and automatically, what would happen to its proponent if he should state its exact antithesis. If nothing would happen to him, then I am willing and eager to listen to him. But if he should lose anything valuable by a volte face — if stating his idea is profitable to him, if it secures his roof, butters his parsnips, gets him a tip — then I hear with one ear only. He is not a free man. Ergo he is not a man."

This is a most challenging idea and useful guide. It is a diamond that raises an automatic question. How is it set? Where is it set? How does it look when it is worn?

The Mencken quote is near the end of an essay in the December 5, 1923 Nation. It is one of a series of essays by literary critics by themselves about themselves. The complete essay is a real enhancement of an already stimulating issue of the magazine. The quotation sparkles but it gets better and is more completely appreciated in its complete setting. The quote popped up in a book of Mencken quotes and begged to be put in context. The quote, the setting and the wearing combine to make a challenging and enjoyable trip into the world of words. The search for context is one more exciting side of Words on Words.

The quotes in Words on Words are identified as to author and source. It is nearly impossible to read one of the diamonds without wanting to check the setting. Eric Blair, aka, George Orwell, of 1984 fame has 18 quotes, six of which come from a single essay. "Politics and the English Language" is a title to make anyone attentive to words curious. Many of the ideas more completely developed in 1984 were first printed in the essay. Orwell delivers all sorts of polished diamonds. It is easy to apply 1946 to 2000:

"Political language is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give appearance of solidity to pure wind." (Horizon, No 13)(Words on Words, Chapter 55: quote 22).

Paying close attention to words from alternate points of view delivers insight. Combine Orwell with Montaigne:

"Lying is an accursed vice, it is only our words which bind us together and makes us human. If we realized the horror and weight of lying we would see that it is more worthy of the stake than other crimes." (Book I Essay # 9)(Words on Words Chapter, 36 quote 43).

Political language comes from the politicians and the politicians would make good fuel for the pyre. The message is clear from these two short quotes; it gets more forceful after reading both essays. The diamonds and their settings make an incisive combination.

Over a couple of years a cartoonist in the English magazine The Spectator has been doing a series about one or more goldfish in a bowl. As with any cartoon series the cartoonist projects his ideas through his subjects. The variety of subjects has been very wide. The one subject left out of the goldfish commentary has been water. The goldfish never bring up the subject. The goldfish spend all their time swimming in water yet never talk about it. Their very lives depend on water yet they never talk about it. That is how it is with humans and words.

We live in an ocean of words. Words wash over us hour after hour yet so many are oblivious to them and their effects. Words on Words is an always-challenging reflection on this very special ocean. We wear these quotable diamonds in their expansive settings. It is impossible to practice loss control without using words. It is imperative to speak more clearly and that can only come from particular attention to words.

About Error-Free Performance — Question of the Moment

By Charles W. Ezell

Is it better or worse to hold a percentage of one's pay raise accountable for safety performance of their crew, department or plant?

On this score, I side with quality guru, Philip Crosby. In discussing the relative benefits of reward and discipline in his book Let's Talk Quality, Mr. Crosby says, "I prefer to talk about appreciation and recognition and not deal in discipline. We are not trying to teach a dog to go get the paper and slippers. Dogs never really understand what you want them for, nor will they ever be able to comprehend why you raise that big white thing in front of your face for an hour each day. The dog will do the job once he gets the idea that it makes you happy and saves him a spanking."

Like Crosby, I do not encourage the carrot and stick approach. People, unlike animals, are thinking, rational human beings. They know when you genuinely appreciate their contributions and generally crave your recognition for a job well done. Volumes have been written on the mistaken notion that money is the greatest motivator. A 1983 Public Agenda Foundation study detailed the top ten qualities people want in a job. These were: (1) work with people who treat me with respect; (2) interesting work; (3) recognition for good work; (4) chance to develop skills; (5) working for people who listen if you have ideas about how to do things better; (6) a chance to think for myself rather than just carry out instructions; (7) seeing the end result of my work; (8) working for efficient managers; (9) a job that is not too easy; (10) feeling well informed about what is going on.

Note that the issue of pay, benefits and security are totally absent from the top ten. These issues appear in the next five items but are well down on the list and far less important than those listed above. These findings are consistent with literally thousands of similar studies conducted to determine what turns people on and prompts them to work harder, smarter and more efficiently.

Complicating this idea of better pay for good safety performance and less pay for poor safety performance is the fact that most such schemes center on the line management level. As Dan Petersen eloquently pointed out in his book, Safety Management, A Human Approach while challenging H. W. Heinrich's Axiom 9 which holds that the foreman or front line supervisor is the "Key Man" in accident prevention, "...although the supervisor is the key to safety, management has a firm hold on the key chain. It is only when management takes the key in hand and does something with it that the key becomes useful." In most cases, management expects the line supervisor to perform on a stage where the scenery is set and the script is already written. Until management becomes willing to allow the supervisor autonomy, until he or she can feel free to change the script as required, or until management decides to roll up its sleeves and get in the act, the supervisor's pay increase will depend largely upon chance fluctuations in safety performance.

Welcome to Our Newest Memebers

David Day

Department Chair, EHS

Texas State Technical College

Waco TX

Robert Ewell

Regional Safety Manager

Instituform Technologies

Santa Fe Springs CA

H. Johnson, Ph.D.

Principal Consultant

Four Diamonds Safety

Las Vegas NV

Terry Messenger

Safety Supervisor

Bayou Safety Consulting

Lake Charles LA

Elizabeth Sundeen

Graduate Student

Univ. of Wisc.-Whitewater

Timothy Wells

Manager of Safety

Ocean Energy, Inc.

Houston TX

What's Your Opinion?

What does it take to be effective in the field of "safety"? Do we have to be managers or leaders? Is there a difference?

Grace Fox, Safety Director

T.A.S. Commercial Concrete Construction LP

gfox@tasconcrete.com

A safety manager can only be fully effective when he/she has convinced everyone, at all levels, of the organization of his/her practice that safety will and must be part of the process. In other words, safety is only truly achievable when every task for every job is done with safety as an integral part of the production process. If safety is considered a separate issue from production, then the manager has not yet achieved the intended goal.

Arthur H. Loebl

Paratransit Operations Manager

OTS, Inc.

(Former Safety & Training Manager/Retired Army National Guard Aviation Safety Officer)

aloebl@earthlink.net

I believe we need to be both. We need to lead by example by doing the right thing at the right time for the right reason. If we expect others to be safe, then we need to set the example like wearing our seat belt, not smoking, not taking short cuts, etc.

We also need to be excellent managers of our assigned resources by getting the biggest bang for our buck. As one professional indicated, you cannot deal with managers of other functions in your business if you do not understand and practice the principles of management.

Management Decisions

Barry S. Boyles is now a safety coordinator for Foster Farms of Livingston, Calif. Previously, he was safety & hazardous materials division manager for Turlock Irrigation District of Turlock, Calif.

Brian R. Hann recently became an industrial hygienist for the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C. Before that, he was a safety engineer/industrial hygienist for Yuasa, Inc., of Sumter, S. C.

Randall W. Klug is now a SHE manager for Rexam Beverage Can Company, Chicago, Ill. He moved there from Shelbyville, Ky., where he was in a similar position with Lawson Mardon Packaging USA.

William Odenthal has become the corporate health & safety manager for Nicholson Construction Company, Bridgeville, Pa. Previously, he held a similar position with Thermo Retec Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pa.

William F. Rhode, formerly the regimental safety officer for the 229th Avn Regiment at Ft. Bragg, N.C., is now the accident investigator/system manager for the U.S. Army Safety Center, Ft. Rucker, Ala.

Golden Gate Chapter's Frank Bird Scholarship

Receive a $500 scholarship from the NSMS Golden Gate Chapter and a free one-year membership to NSMS from the National Society for having your article published in the NSMS peer-reviewed Journal of Safety Management.

Successful applicants must be enrolled as students at an accredited college or university working toward an Associate, Bachelor's, Master's or Doctorate degree. Course major and age do not matter.

For more information regarding this scholarship program, please contact the Society business office.