Each year, The Synergist asks candidates for the AIHA Board of Directors to participate in a candidates’ forum. This year’s candidates were asked to respond to the following question:
OEHS professionals have been at the forefront of protecting workers from COVID-19, and AIHA volunteers have contributed countless hours to creating guidance that helps businesses reopen safely. AIHA has elevated the visibility of the profession through a communications campaign that highlights the important work of our members during this crisis. What steps can AIHA take to maintain our visibility and ensure that OEHS continues to be a public priority in the future?
The candidates’ responses to this question appear on the following pages. This year’s ballot includes two candidates for vice president, two for secretary-elect, and four for director. AIHA members will be notified via email when the election opens this month. For more information, please email Thursa Pecoraro.
AIHA acknowledges the men and women who have served as presidents of the association. Their leadership and vision have contributed significantly to the advancement of the organization and the profession. View a list of the association's past presidents on AIHA's website.
VICE PRESIDENT
Nicole Greeson, MS, CIH
Associate Director, Occupational and Environmental Safety Office
Director, Occupational Hygiene and Safety Division
Duke University and Health System
Durham, NC
There are a number of steps that AIHA can take to maintain our visibility and ensure that OEHS continues to be a public priority in the future. These include:
1. continue to update and promote the Back to Work Safely guidelines available for a number of industries and businesses, in both English and Spanish, for as long as the pandemic persists and new information unfolds;
2. promote the pandemic educational products aimed at a variety of workers recently created through a CDC grant awarded to AIHA;
3. expand marketing of the Consultants’ Listing and communicate the broad array of services provided by those consultants;
4. leverage our new partnership with YellowBird, a nationwide gig economy marketplace, to connect OEHS experts with those who need them;
5. continue advocacy efforts such as submitting comments, holding meetings with decision makers, and providing testimony to lawmakers on relevant proposed and promulgated legislation to ensure OEHS concerns are prioritized; and
6. provide the media, and thereby the public, with our Disaster Response Resource Center materials any time a disaster occurs.
Essentially, these steps and more are intended to utilize every opportunity to provide and market AIHA expertise and free resources and subsequently direct businesses, leaders, and the public to those OEHS professionals who can further help them address their needs.
VICE PRESIDENT
Charles F. Redinger, PhD, MPA, CIH, FAIHA
Founder and Senior Scientist
Institute for Advanced Risk Management
Harvard, MA
The reason I’ve been a leader in our profession’s efforts in the sustainability/ESG space over the last decade is because I recognize the importance of broadening our impact and visibility. If elected, I’d continue this work. From AIHA’s strategic plan I’d leverage our accomplishments throughout the pandemic and focus on members’ professional recognition; local section strength; collaborations with allied associations; Guideline Foundation; and Registry Programs growth. I’d maximize our efforts on the excellent forward-looking initiatives, including Defining the Science, Grand Challenges, Climate Change Adaptation, and Human Capital/ESG.
Promoting AIHA’s brand is essential. Central to our future success is how we put our brand—“Healthier Workplaces, A Healthier World”—into practice. Prioritizing health provides a portal to increased visibility and communicates our capacity to offer solutions for urgent global priorities. It also provides a platform to broaden membership, educational offerings, and external collaborations.
I’ve worked for decades—through teaching, publishing, and standards development—to increase OEHS professionals’ visibility, relevance, and impact. Our risk expertise (assessment, control, management, etc.), combined with our focus on human health, is unmatched; this premise is at the core of who I am and my work. If elected, my advocacy for the profession, and efforts to infuse our health orientation into organizations, standards-making, and public policy, will be a catalyst for AIHA’s ongoing visibility and relevance.
