It has been an excellent year for the Society's governmental affairs program. We are privileged to have the opportunity to brief you on what the GAC was able to accomplish in 1998 and 1999, and present the overall philosophy of the Society when addressing governmental affairs issues.
OBJECTIVE: The Society will continue to be proactive in governmental affairs when there is the possibility of a detrimental impact on either the membership of ASSE or the safety profession overall. The Society will not retreat from this position, and we suggest other safety and health organizations also get involved in protecting the profession.
We believe the top statement provides the reasoning as to why ASSE has become so involved in governmental affairs. Our primary objective is to now get into more of a proactive mode when addressing governmental affairs. The Society has reacted to incursions of the safety profession in order to protect the Society, its members, and the profession overall. We base our governmental affairs programs on three main areas; awareness of ASSE, legislative/regulatory initiatives, and the pursuit of professional recognition on the state level.
There is no question that up to several years ago, the Society was being left out in the national governmental affairs arena. National legislators/regulators were not aware of the Society, and did not take our views into any consideration when establishing national policy. In the last several years, we have made up of the lost ground, and are now considered a player in the nation's capitol. The GAC challenges anyone in this room to walk into a congressional office addressing safety and health issues, and find a staffer who deals with safety and health issues and is not aware of ASSE. We have also made similar strides with agencies such as OSHA, CPSC, DOT, NIOSH, EPA and other agencies which address safety, health, and environmental issues. In the past three years we have attended over 200 legislative/regulatory meetings in Washington, DC, and submitted over numerous national comments addressing issues from that of bicycle helmet protection to that of reform for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration. These are just some of the successes we have achieved in this past year:
Additional intervention in exclusionary federal regulations such as OSHA Asbestos and the EPA Lead Regulations.
Published numerous position statements on issues such as the proposed OSHA Ergonomic Program Standard.
Impacted OSHA Maritime/Longshoring Regulation.
Continue to impact international harmonization efforts for chemical safety and health information.
Had impact on the OSHA Abatement Verification Regulation.
Continue to work with the Army Corps of Engineers on contracting guidelines.
