Resources
There are many organizations, in both government and the private sector, dedicated to protecting the Health and Safety of working men and women, the general public, and the Environment.
The Veterans of Safety are grateful for the assistance of these professionals and proud to have had the honor of collaborating with many of them in many important endeavors.
Click the links in the column on the right, or use the lower Navigation Bar to access the web sites of many of these fine organizations.
Standards
Many of these organizations publish standards. Standards are rules or guidelines describing best practices in Health, Safety, and the Environment.
Standards published by governmental agencies or administrations are generally enforceable by law to persons or organizations within the scope of the standard.
Standards published by private sector organizations generally do not have the weight of law, unless they are incorporated by reference into governmental standards. However, private sector standards have been used to demonstrate recognition of hazards in “general duty” citations, and litigation alleging negligence.
All reputable standards-setting organizations (both governmental and private sector) go through a rigorous promulgation process. Teams of highly knowledgeable professionals representing all stakeholders collaborate. They review accident and illness data and other sources of information to determine best practices. Proposed standards are generally released to stakeholders for comment. After considering all the comments made, a final standard is published. Standards do not represent the opinions of a few. They are based on general consensus, hard evidence, and cost / benefit analysis.
Actions and policies based on “Common Sense” produce common results. The modern Safety, Health and Environmental professional must rely on proper interpretation and application of standards (not intuition) to achieve outstanding results.