Leadership

Shining brightly

The National Safety Council presents the Rising Stars of Safety, Class of 2013

Rising Stars 2013
Ron Gantt
33
Vice President
Safety Compliance Management
San Ramon, CA
“Ron served as project leader for one of the largest safety assessments ever done in the history of the state of California. In his leadership role, Ron led a team of staff members who conducted meetings, performed onsite assessments of physical facilities and operations, reviewed all written compliance programs, and evaluated the training programs that were provided. Ron is currently finalizing the process by developing an implementation plan that has been adopted by the organization and which is transforming it from one of simple compliance with safety regulations to one with real risk reduction measures and positive safety culture.”
Jason Griffin
36
Construction Safety Consultant
Michigan OSHA, CET Division
Lansing, MI
“Jason facilitates the ‘Safety for Construction’ project. A CD is being developed that will be distributed free to Michigan employers. It will be an interactive training course that incorporates MIOSHA construction standards. Working with an outside vendor, Jason is providing direction, reviewing scripts both individually as well as with his construction peers, and arranging video shoots to illustrate the rules.”
Christopher Gruber
35
Safety and Training Coordinator
Lake County Division of Transportation
Libertyville, IL
“Chris produces and leads the monthly training, which may be job specific or organization-wide. Because of him, our maintenance staff are current on flagger training, forklift operations and seasonal environmental dangers. All staff is trained on First Aid, CPR, AED and emergency preparedness. During this same time, Chris served three tours of duty with the Wisconsin National Guard, being deployed to Kuwait, Iraq and Kosovo. Chris led people of various backgrounds and disciplines. While in Kuwait, he was charged with the duties of Environmental Compliance and Safety Officer, in which he used his degree in Occupational Health and Safety to directly contribute to keeping his unit within 100 percent compliance.”
Erin Hoffer
35
Environmental Health and Safety Manager
Carlisle Interconnect Technologies
St. Augustine, FL
“When Erin started with the company nine months ago, she enthusiastically assumed responsibility of a lackluster employee safety committee that was operating with little guidance or purpose. She coached the group to identify potential safety discrepancies and generate solutions on their own. As a result, the safety committee has doubled in size and vision. Safety committee members perform plant-wide risk assessments. These assessments have led to the installation of machine guards, elimination of slip/trip hazards and development of hazmat storage processes that have significantly increased the work quality of life of our employees. Safety committee members are empowered as they see they actually have some teeth in the game when it comes to ideas and implementation of those ideas.”
Garrett Gumfory
39
Vice President, Risk and HSE
FTS International
Fort Worth, TX
“Garrett built a successful corporate HSE program from scratch. He influenced management to fully support his HSE vision and provide financial support to accomplish substantial improvements. Garrett selected and mentored a team of HSE professionals who achieved exemplary levels of performance. The HSE team, under Garrett’s leadership, created an HSE program that includes safety training, Department of Transportation compliance, drug and alcohol testing, risk management, and environmental compliance.”
J.D. Horst
31
Environmental and Safety Compliance Administrator
Federal Bureau of Prisons – USP Leavenworth.
Leavenworth, KS
“J.D. implemented an OSHA 10- and 30-hour outreach program to inmates in late 2010. Since its implementation three years ago, over 1,100 inmates have completed the program. He covers all of the required OSHA topics, but challenges the inmates to return to their worksite and make it a safer place. … Not only do inmates learn how to identify, avoid and report deficiencies while incarcerated, they are learning valuable skills they can utilize upon release.”
Shane Harris
37
Drilling Manager
ExxonMobil Development Company
Calgary, Alberta
“He expects every hurt, no matter how minor, to be reported and assessed for potential learning in order to drive continuous improvement. This includes minor hurts such as scratches and bruises that may not require treatment, as well as first aids and recordable incidents. Shane’s scrutiny of minor incidents mitigates the risks and prevents more significant events from occurring.”
Michael Jorda
34
NYC/NJ Operations Safety Manager
Posillico Inc.
College Point, NY
“When Michael started at Posillico almost two years ago, he saw that more task-specific safety training was needed with personnel out in the field. Posillico personnel were given 10- and 30-hour OSHA training by the safety department, but no task-specific training was conducted at the time during winter training sessions. Michael led a safety initiative to deliver task-specific training to field personnel. New training conducted included confined space, certified signaler and certified rigger training. All three tasks are a major part of Posillico operations."
Jeffrey Kozub
39
EH&S Expertise Manager
The Dow Chemical Company
Philadelphia, PA
“Jeff provided safety leadership during the cleanup and startup of Dow’s Chemical facility in Soma, Japan, following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Jeff spent three weeks in Japan assisting the facility by providing day-to-day safety expertise. Jeff rolled up his sleeves and worked side-by-side with the employees and contractors to ensure the recovery effort was done safely. Jeff quickly adapted to the situation, and supported the “triage” approach to addressing and prioritizing the safety system corrections. He was able to articulate and demonstrate that safety is No. 1. Through Jeff’s leadership, technical knowledge and his hands-on approach, Jeff quickly understood the safety issues and delivered workable solutions for a safe recovery effort.”
Brian Lazarchick
29
Occupational Safety Compliance Manager
Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative
Hughesville, MD
“Brian introduced a new method to track and trend injury data to easily identify the top reoccurring injuries year over year. Once this benchmark was developed it was easy to see where our efforts would bring the best results to lower injury rates. From this data, he strengthened our slip, trip and fall safety program to include a comprehensive training program also stressing the need to incorporate constant awareness into everyday work activities. A section specific for slip, trip and fall hazards was added to each job briefing session held before the start of work. These actions led to a drastic decline in slip, trip and fall injuries from being the No. 1 category of injury down to not having a single incident so far in 2013.”

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