It’s a busy and uncertain time for federal workplace safety policies, and the International Safety Equipment Association (ISEA) is working alongside other industry stakeholders to protect and advance key EHS programs.
As the senior director for policy at ISEA, Dan Glucksman is helping lead the charge. In his role, Glucksman heads the organization’s legislative and regulatory programs. He also contributes to ISEA’s standards development and member engagement programs. Overall, he has been in the EHS industry since 1997 and has served at ISEA for 25 years.
To learn more about Glucksman and his take on industry issues, please read the Faces of EHS interview below:
Q: How did you get your start in the field?
I got started in this field by answering an ad for a government relations manager position at the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). Aaron Trippler, who many readers may know, was the long-time government relations leader there. I learned much from Aaron and my other great colleagues at AIHA, and by attending Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) ACCSH, NACOSH, and MACOSH meetings.
Q: Who has been your biggest influence in the EHS industry, and why?
Dan Shipp, who was president of ISEA when I joined the association, was a significant influence in both EHS issues and association management. There are a number of individuals from across the political spectrum as well, including government leaders. For example, hearing the thoughts and analyses from folks like Peg Seminaro, the longtime leader of AFL-CIO’s health and safety department, as well as David Sarvadi, of Keller and Heckman, who was an active participant at OSHA and industry meetings when I served at AIHA. Both were strong advocates for employee and employer perspectives, respectively.
Others include National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) staff members, such as John Howard. The longtime director of NIOSH has a brilliant safety mind—and he is always generous with his time. Also at NIOSH, the various leaders of the National Personal Protective Technologies Lab, such as Maryann D’Alessandro, the current director, and Rich Metzler, before her, helped me understand aspects of respiratory protection. Finally, Christopher Pan at NIOSH’s Division of Safety Research is always positive, has never-ending energy, and is also a brilliant researcher. His passion for safety is infectious.
At OSHA, Andy Levinson, current director of the Standards and Guidance Directorate, has been an influence in helping many of us to see how expansive safety and health can be.
Q: What’s your best mistake, and what did you learn from it?
Let me begin with some background. Many federal agencies reference national consensus standards, such as ANSI/ISEA Z89.1, the American National Standard for Industrial Head Protection, as part of mandatory and non-mandatory requirements. This system allows the federal government to partner with standards writers to help set performance standards of a wide array of equipment, training standards, and more. This way, the federal government doesn’t have to write product performance standards.
The only snag in this system is that agencies must conduct official rulemaking to update the references. This means those calling for a reference to a consensus standard to be updated are competing with the agency’s other priorities—some which come from the White House. Sadly, updating references to standards gets pushed off to the side.
So, let’s get back to my best mistake. My best mistake is not seeking legislation to allow OSHA to more easily and quickly update national consensus standards incorporated by reference in agency regulations. This effort would take 10-15 years to mature, and then the right political moment would need to come along.
My takeaway from this is to not think small and to have a few long-haul projects in the mix of near- and medium-term issues.
Q: What are some of the biggest EHS issues at your organization?
Right now, ISEA and other occupational health and safety groups are strategizing for how we can keep NIOSH from being decimated.
ISEA is not an operating company. So, we don’t have traditional EHS issues, such as lockout/tagout or dermal hazards. However, some of our EHS issues include making sure OSHA updates the references to its PPE-focused consensus standards found in agency regulations. These are Z87.1 for safety eyewear, found in 1910.133; Z89.1 for head protection, found in 1910.135; and Z308.1 for first aid kits, found in 1910.151(b) – non-mandatory appendix.
In addition, ISEA, along with other organizations, is working to make certain OSHA continues to have the appropriate funding and staff to complete its mission. The same is true for NIOSH. Case in point is the NIOSH Respiratory Approval Program (RAP). This program is unique in the federal government. It’s the only agency that approves a product—respiratory protection, in this case. So, we are making sure NIOSH’s RAP is adequately funded going forward.
Finally, making certain end-users and stakeholders understand any changes to new standards is critical. When a new ISEA standard is published, the association prepackages talking points about the new standard, which are designed to make PPE and safety equipment use understandable to all.
Q: What’s your favorite and least favorite part about working in the industry? Would you change anything?
The best part about working in this industry is that we are striving to make the nation’s workforce and their employers as safe and efficient as possible.
I think there are two least favorite parts of this job. One is reviewing annual injury, illness, and fatality data. Even while numbers are declining, there are still too many people being injured or killed by workplace accidents. We don’t have easy access to understand how many injuries and illnesses are permanently disabling, but there are far too many workplace injuries and illnesses.
Another least favorite part of the job is that no one is willing to touch legislation to update OSHA. It would be great if every few years, Congress would take up an OSHA update bill. It would be great to create a new structure that would allow OSHA, and other agencies, to more easily update the consensus standards incorporated into agency regulations.
In addition, right now, it’s still too difficult to assess a wide range of agency data. OSHA could do a better job of making it easier to access a range of agency data.
Q: What are your thoughts on safety culture? How can company leaders make safety a value within their organization?
I know this is cliché, but company leaders can make safety a core value by making it a clear company priority, through public statements, company messaging, and demonstrating a management commitment to safety. In addition, company leaders can make safety a core value by empowering employees to recommend safety measures and following through on such recommendations. Company leaders can make this clear by instituting a system where leading indicators, rather than lagging indicators, are used to assess safety; incorporating technology, such as use of fit-testing hearing protectors, if hearing protection is needed; and other related measures.
Also, PPE manufacturers have gone through great lengths to make sure PPE is available in a wide range of sizes. Company leaders can show safety is important by making the effort to provide employees with PPE that fits properly.
Q: What safety concerns or issues do you think need more prioritization in EHS programs?
I think EHS programs need to tell workers their lives and health are too valuable to risk for a quick fix, or a safety risk.
Also, I think EHS programs could prioritize empowering workers to be able to stop their co-workers from working on a task if there is a clear hazard present in the work.
Q: What will be the impact of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles on the EHS industry?
It’s hard to know right now what the impact of ESG principles on the EHS industry will be. However, ISEA members have told us some state contracting opportunities require vendors to demonstrate workplace safety as well as other environmental commitments.
Q: What are you most proud of?
As I look back at my career, I am most proud of being a valued colleague to my coworkers, a trusted advisor to ISEA members, and a collaborative colleague to those in the allied organizations as we all seek to move the safety needle forward.
Q: Do you have any advice for people entering the EHS profession?
My advice to those entering the EHS professional would be to have some type of management training. It seems to me that EHS staff are often seen as technical people, not management. Being able to talk the management talk and understand management’s perspective is important for those entering the field.
Q: Anything else you’d like to add?
Heat stress. As heat stress becomes a recognized hazard, safety managers will have the additional burden of managing heat stress, while managing general workplace safety. An example might be taking into account the heat stress of those who require protective garments and respiratory protection to conduct their job safety.
Procurement. In the drive to save money, online procurement may seem to offer bargains. But buyer beware! Anyone can add an ANSI or CE marking to a product. Stay within a known and respected supply chain.
Finally, all readers should feel free to use safetyequipment.org as a trusted site for PPE and safety equipment information.
Are you or a colleague an EHS professional interested in being profiled for the Faces of EHS series? Please contact Joe Bebon at JBebon@BLR.com.