ASSE Presents Risk Symposium in San Diego

The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) will present a series of experts and roundtables at a symposium March 23-24, 2005 in San Diego, aimed at providing attendees key information on how risk impacts the way safety and health programs are managed and creates value for an organization.

The ASSE “Using Risk Principles for Safety and Health Decisions” Symposium will feature business strategist and author Dr. Oren Harari, NASA Space Shuttle Program’s Safety and Mission Assurance Integration specialist and ASSE member Steve Owens, and President of James Lam & Associates James Lam along with 20 concurrent session presentations and roundtable discussions on risk assessment tools and methods to understand the cost of risk.

“This will be a very valuable symposium,” ASSE member, Symposium Task Force Chair and Chief Security/Safety Officer for CNA Insurance William Phillips, Jr. said. “This is a new, always changing world and we need to provide safety, health and environmental professionals with the best tools possible to continue to increase workplace safety and the value of their programs. This symposium will show how risk principles create a clear decision making process for the management of safety and health, moving well beyond programs and compliance into the business aspect of an organization.”

Dr. Harari’s keynote presentation on March 23 titled “Looking at Risk the Way Great Leaders Do” will discuss how people take different paths to leadership in an organization and demonstrate that in today’s particularly volatile and uncertain marketplace professionals who exhibit behaviors that mobilize people, integrate innovation, operational discipline, financial discipline, entrepreneurship, risk-aversion and more are most likely to add value to their organizations.

NASA’s Owen will look at risk as the new safety leadership paradigm in his presentation. He will urge safety and health professionals to step up to the challenge and help develop and use risk management processes that identify real risks inherent in human performance and in the company’s systems and processes. He will provide the keys to driving this change and shifting the paradigm to the use of risk management principles that support the strategic alignment of safety processes with business results and greater shareholder/stakeholder value.

Symposium session topics include: “A Delicate Balance: Understanding the True Cost of Risk”, “Evaluating Your Organization’s Business From A Risk Management Perspective”, “The Johnson & Johnson Approach to Risk Assessment”, “Using the Risk Assessment Process to Improve Your Safety and Health Results”, “The Impact of Safety and Loss Control Activities on Risk Financing Methods”, “Contracts, Hold Harmless, and Insurance: A Guide to Risk Transfer Mechanisms for the Safety Professional”, “Allocating the Cost of Risk”, “A UK Approach to Managing Risk”, “Navigating Through Cost of Risk – the What and the How”, “Integrating Risk Management Principles Into Safety”, and much, much more.

All registration information for the “Using Risk Principles for Safety and Health Decisions” symposium to be held at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in San Diego can be found by going to ASSE’s Web site at http://www.asse.org or by calling customer service at (847) 699-2929. Attendees can earn continuing education units, continuance of certification, industrial hygiene certification maintenance points, or certified hazardous materials management certification maintenance points. ASSE will also offer a math review seminar, the ASP/CSP certification preparation workshops and a corporate safety management seminar just prior to the Risk Principles symposium in San Diego.