Wednesday’s Speakers

Wednesday

Plenary #10: Leading the Future of Safety by Learning from the Past

At the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), we recognize that a safe and healthful workplace is essential to our mission delivery. Safe work practices and a safe work environment are critical to employee wellbeing and to the conduct of world-class science. In fact, world-class science demands world-class safety. The essential elements for world-class safety are: leadership commitment; clearly documented and well-communicated roles, responsibilities, and requirements; employee participation in creating and implementing safe work procedures; and a robust safety management system grounded in continual improvement. As each of these elements strengthen and improve, so does the safety culture of the organization. In this presentation, I will discuss the development and evolution of each of these elements as part of the NIST journey that led to the safety management system, practices and culture that we have today.

Breakout Session #11A: Prevention Through Engineering Design

A proven method to improve safety for any facility is to remain focused on engineering safety during the front-end engineering design (FEED) stage and on the maintenance of effective programs, procedures, and practices. This session will explore considerations in the development and application of new technology, the role of digital technology, and how organizations can effectively assess prospective new operating environments.

John Gambatese is a professor in the School of Civil and Construction Engineering at Oregon State University. Gambatese’s educational background includes bachelor and master’s degrees in civil engineering from the University of California at Berkeley, and a doctoral degree in civil engineering from the University of Washington. He has worked in industry as a structural engineer in San Francisco, and as a project engineer for a construction management firm in Seattle. He started his current position at Oregon State University in 2000. Gambatese’s research interests are in the broad area of construction engineering and management, and more specifically related to safety, prevention through design, work zone safety, risk and reward, innovation, and sustainable and lean practices. Over his career he has taught courses on a variety of subjects including worker safety, planning and scheduling, contracts and specifications, structural analysis and design, temporary structures, and construction site systems engineering. He is a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP). He is a licensed Professional Civil Engineer in California.

Monica Philippart is the CEO of her consulting firm Ergonomic Human Factors Solutions. Her firm offers consulting and training services for managing operational, and health and safety risks associated with human performance and human error in oil and gas, aerospace, and entertainment markets. She is a member of the new Gulf Offshore Energy Safety (GOES) Board for the National Academies’ Gulf Research Program. Following Deepwater Horizon, Philippart was the Human Factors and Industrial Engineering expert of the Process Safety Monitor’s team that was tasked with reviewing BP’s process safety, major accident risks, and risk management on behalf of the Department of Justice. Before starting her consulting firm in 2010, Philippart had an extensive career in advancing human factors engineering through her work with organizations including NASA, Boeing, the United Space Alliance, BHP Billiton, and The Walt Disney Company. She has a Ph.D. in industrial engineering, an M.S. in industrial engineering and management systems, and a B.S. in mechanical engineering.

Corrie Pitzer is the CEO and founder of SAFEmap International, a company specializing in the psychology of risk, leadership and safety culture. He consults internationally to many corporations, all with occupations in which people can be seriously injured or killed in their work. Corrie enjoys activities such as skydiving and rally car driving, and he was an underground miner and an infantry platoon commander, which makes him a specialist in risk rather than safety. He has Bachelor’s and Honors degrees in Industrial Psychology, an Honors degree in Business Management, an MBA, Graduate Diploma in Education, and is a registered psychometrist. However, he rates the Blasting Ticket as his highest qualification!

Hector Siller is an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of North Texas, and Coordinator of the Certificate Program in Manufacturing Engineering Technology in the same institution. Currently, he is the faculty advisor of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE). He holds a Ph.D. degree in Technology Innovation from Jaume I University, Spain and holds a master and a bachelor’s degree from Monterrey Tech, Mexico, in the fields of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering, respectively. Before his appointment at UNT, he was director of the Master of Science in Manufacturing Systems at Monterrey Tech and full-time faculty member at the same university. His research areas include advanced manufacturing processes, additive manufacturing, micro-manufacturing and metrology. He conducted and is conducting several R&D projects with enterprises like Walkway Management Group, Navistar, Honeywell Aerospace, and Metalsa, among others. His teaching experience, of over 15 years, includes courses in the fields of manufacturing automation and industrial metrology, among others, and during his career he has advised more than 30 graduate students and has published around 80 research papers in journals and conference proceedings.

Breakout Session #11B: The Role of More Effective Data Management

In this age of "big data," it is important to recognize the role of effective and innovative data management in improving safety performance. The pooling of data gives insight that benefits safety in many industry sectors, according to several reports and studies. For example, important lessons can be learned when near misses are included in safety event databases. To pool data effectively, common definitions are needed to facilitate the sharing of data and experience sharing. A related challenge is the double-reporting of events in different organizations (i.e., regulatory authorities, international associations). A more effective aggregation of data is necessary for disseminating knowledge on past events, obtaining a clear overall picture of the risk of possible safety event types, understanding the effectiveness of barriers, determining what constitutes a leading indicator, and analyzing trends with the objective of trying to anticipate the next major event.

Elizabeth Mackey is the chief safety officer (CSO) of the Commerce Department’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). After receiving a B.S. in chemistry from Boston College in 1984 and Ph.D. in nuclear chemistry from the University of Maryland in 1991, Mackey began her career as a research chemist at NIST, where she conducted research to develop and improve radiochemical analysis methods and worked with external stakeholders on laboratory quality assurance and to develop and certify standard reference materials. In 2010, Mackey shifted her career focus from research to safety and became the safety program coordinator for NIST’s Material Measurement Laboratory. In 2014, Mackey was honored with the NIST Safety Award as the visionary leader behind the development of a web-based hazard review system, a comprehensive, flexible, and user-friendly tool to manage NIST’s laboratory hazard assessment, risk analysis and work and worker authorization process. Mackey was appointed the chief safety officer in September of 2019. As NIST’s CSO, Mackey is responsible for developing, implementing, and maintaining a robust, integrated, and risk-based safety, health, and environmental management system and developing strategies to improve the agency’s safety performance and maintain a positive safety culture.

Breakout Session #11C: Risk Identification and Tolerance

The objective of this session will be to address processes for identifying and managing different types of risk that may present the greatest challenges in any work environment. Specific aspects to be discussed include understanding the value of risk matrices and risk registers; determining the integrity and effectiveness of barriers; and identifying the factors impacting risk tolerance at the individual and company levels. The session will address question such as: Does managing risk mean it is acceptable to cut corners if the likelihood of a problem is relatively low? Is your personal risk tolerance aligned with the company's level? What about at the workforce level?

Bruce Hamilton is manager of the global energy solutions group in the Energy Systems division of Argonne National Laboratory, where he provides leadership in the application of world-class expertise, research facilities, and analytical tools to strengthen energy security and industrial safety. For the U.S. Department of Energy, Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, International Atomic Energy Agency, Veterans Health Administration, and numerous companies around the world, Bruce has applied his expertise in systems engineering to resolve priority issues affecting energy infrastructure development, operational safety risks, environmental protection, and creation of sustainable business models for innovative energy technology. He received the Midwest Energy Leadership Award, served as guest editor of the Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers’ (IEEE) Power & Energy Magazine, and is lead author of a report on Risk-Based Evaluation of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations Using a Success Path Approach (2018).

Norman Ritchie was educated as a mechanical engineer at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. He has over 35 years of experience of project and risk management, largely in the oil and gas industry. As a director of vPSI group, LLC, which he co-founded in 2003, Norman provides consulting and training in project management, performance measurement and improvement, principally in the areas of risk, loss prevention, safety, human performance and organizational learning. A pioneer of web-based safety applications, Norman holds a broad U.S. patent for online job safety analysis systems. Norman was a contributing author to the 2020 "One Percent Safer" book project and was honored to be named the American Society of Safety Professionals 2020/21 Safety Professional of the Year (SPY) for Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, and the Gulf Coast.

Closing Remarks and Recognition of Congress Organizers and Planners