131: Live From ASSP Safety 2025

Jill James:

This is the accidental Safety Pro, brought to you by HSI. My name is Jill James, HSI Chief Safety Officer. This episode was recorded live at the 2025 American Society of Safety Professionals annual conference in Orlando, Florida. I had the pleasure of asking short form questions to EHS professionals who graciously shared their thoughts on their favorite part of being a safety professional, how they found the profession, advice for other professionals, and their success stories. And what the future of EHS looks like to them. Enjoy.

Jill James:

I'm with Dr. Todd Loushine today, who also happens to be on the ASSP Board of Directors. Dr. Todd, curious, why should people come to the ASSP Conference? What is in it for them?

Todd Loushine:

Well, there's a little bit of everything and a lot of the important things, but I think more importantly, if you are going to be in the practice of safety or you're thinking of getting into this profession, you should be part of a professional organization, not only for the educational offerings, but more importantly in why I think people need to come here is for the networking. We can't do this alone and there is too much information, too many information sources to really track what's going on. And so coming here and visiting the expo hall, visiting HSI, which has some great products, you guys.

Jill James:

Thanks for the shameless plug.

Todd Loushine:

#shamelessplug. It makes life a little bit easier. It makes your job a little bit easier. And I think practicing in the EHS field is so much better when you have friends and people you can rely on. Like you and I are board directors. That's why I think it's so important to come here. Everybody here is in such a great mood. They're so inspired. Jill and I gave a presentation yesterday, standing room only, 300 plus people, and all we've been getting is great feedback from people.

Jill James:

In terms of how it helps the profession.

Todd Loushine:

Exactly.

Jill James:

Yeah. And when Todd just mentioned that we're on one another's board of directors, we mean not the ASSP board of directors of which Todd has a seat, but rather we are on our own personal board of directors, meaning we are mentors and peers to one another. We ask one another hard questions during our careers, and those are the things that you can gain and people that you can meet when you come to conferences like this. And ask for people to be on your board of directors to help you with your career.

Todd Loushine:

So anybody listening, if you haven't gone to this conference, it's a must. It may seem intimidating, don't worry. You'll make friends. Bring really comfortable walking shoes. This is an enormous expo. There's a lot of sessions going on. You can't miss all the different opportunities that are here. I mean, they come to you

Jill James:

And if cost is a barrier, there's always the regional ASSP conferences. So if you're looking to come, but you're like, gosh, I don't think I'm going to get approval to come to the national conference, find out where your regional one is and when that is closer to home.

Todd Loushine:

Even your local chapter meetings. That's a good place to start. You can go to assp.org, check it out. This is the start of a big journey and leadership opportunities are here. Learning opportunities, plentiful. Networking is where this is at.

Jill James:

Thank you, Todd.

Todd Loushine:

Thank you, Jill.

Jill James:

Welcome to ASSP Safety 2025.

Ryan Price:

Thanks. It's great to be here.

Jill James:

You're welcome. So tell me your name and your industry.

Ryan Price:

My name is Ryan Price. I work in the insurance industry for a worker's comp insurance carrier. So mainly we are trying to prevent the accidents that a lot of our policyholders may have, trending accident type support.

Jill James:

Important work. Important work. So how did you get into the profession?

Ryan Price:

So that is a bit of a long story. I certainly didn't mean to get into safety. Went to college for geology and as soon as I graduated, I tried to get a job along those lines. So I wound up in the oil field for one year. Along with that came a lot of training that is necessary for any kind of oil field personnel to work on rigs safely when you're in. And I was eventually laid off and then I tried to swing into an adjacent industry and still use my degree, but I ended up in environmental remediation. So there was a lot of cleaning up environmental spills of hazardous materials. And with that came a lot of additional safety training and has [inaudible 00:05:14] 40 hour training and a lot of PPE use at all levels. And I only could take about a year of that before I realized that I did not want to do that. And at the time, my father who works in insurance knew about some positions that were going to be opening up for a large Texas base carrier that was going to be safety oriented. And I was a good fit for it apparently with all of the safety certifications and background I had gotten up to at that point. And so I ended up working at that carrier. And I really love the industry and the difference that working in safety makes. And then now I'm working for a different carrier, but I've been here for close to four years now and it's where I can see myself working for.

Jill James:

So your safety climb started in the ground with the rocks and geology and worked your way up.

Ryan Price:

Exactly.

Jill James:

: Thank you for coming and enjoy the show.

Ryan Price:

Awesome. Thank you.

Emily Gould:

What's your name and what's your position?

Erik Najera:

My name is Erik Najera. I'm a field safety specialist, and I'm based out of Colorado.

Emily Gould:

Is this your first time at ASSP?

Erik Najera:

Yes, it is.

Emily Gould:

Cool. Well, welcome.

Erik Najera:

Thank you.

Emily Gould:

Okay. So how did you get into the safety profession?

Erik Najera:

Just out of the blue really. I was actually utility locating beforehand, and I was told about the position at my company where I am now. Put in my application, didn't hear anything for two weeks after being told I was going to hear something. So then, yeah, definitely I was ready to quit where I was at. So it was just a very weird time. I reached out to the recruiter and him being the only recruiter at the time really kind of postponed my further interviews. But interviewed well I think, or good enough, or maybe they just needed a bilingual speaker. I don't know. But I'm here now and it's been great so far.

Emily Gould:

Awesome, awesome. What's your favorite part so far?

Erik Najera:

I mean, just everyday learning something new. My coworkers, just great peers and stuff.

Emily Gould:

Got it.

Jill James:

Okay. So what is your name and what industry do you represent?

Rolando:

Yeah, my name is Rolando and I represent the healthcare industry at Moffitt Cancer Center.

Jill James:

Oh, wonderful. Thank you. So how did you choose this career? How did you get into it?

Rolando:

Yeah, so I started off wanting to be in healthcare in general. I absolutely loved it, loved working with the people, but with a lot of healthcare jobs, they're very individualized, so you're helping one person at a time. And I wanted to have a little bit more of a broad range of being able to help people. And so went into public health and went to University of South Florida and shout out to them. Basically there was this program through NIOSH, I believe it was, that was pretty much advertising about industrial hygiene. And when I went into it, I absolutely loved it. And that's kind of how I got my start. And then from there, the cool thing about safety is there's just so much you could do and so many ways you could help people.

Jill James:

Yeah, wonderful. Well, thank you very much. Thanks for being on the show. Have a great show.

Rolando:

You're welcome.

Andrew Perkins:

My name's Andrew Perkins and I work in manufacturing. So how did I get into this profession? I did not even know safety was a thing. Started working for a company. I had been an EMT and a firefighter for a while, and someone asked, "Would you like to get involved in the safety committee?" And I said, "Sure." And went to some meetings and after about a year, they asked if I'd like to lead the safety committee. And the more I got into it, the more I enjoyed it.

Emily Gould:

That's how it always goes. They suck you in.

Andrew Perkins:

I know. And I didn't have a chance to get out. So started doing it and went to school for it. Now I've been officially in a safety capacity for over 10 years.

Emily Gould:

Wow. Congratulations. That's amazing.

Andrew Perkins:

Yeah, it's been a great time. I will jump to another question, what's the best thing about your job?

Emily Gould:

Yes.

Andrew Perkins:

I work with an awesome team of people and I get to hang out with them all the time.

Emily Gould:

Love.

Andrew Perkins:

And see them grow. My success comes from their success.

Emily Gould:

Absolutely. 100%, great answer.

Jill James:

What is your name and where are you from, person I know so well?

Greg Guerrero:

My name's Greg Guerrero, and I work for an industrial gas company. I'm from Minnesota.

Jill James:

And you and I actually know one another because we worked together at OSHA many, many years ago.

Greg Guerrero:

Many years ago, yeah.

Jill James:

Many years ago.

Greg Guerrero:

It's hard to believe that it's been that long.

Jill James:

Yeah. But tell me your story, Greg, how did you get into the profession?

Greg Guerrero:

All right, so back in the day when I was in college, I got a degree in chemical engineering, and I was working for a large medical company at the time as an intern. And I got laid off after I got done. So I was looking for jobs that used a chemical engineering degree, and I put out a bunch of resumes and one of them was with the state of Minnesota said they hired chemical engineers and didn't hear anything. I ended up in a job in quality for a year. And then about six months into that job, I got a call from Alden, our old boss at OSHA-

Jill James:

Our old boss, yes, yes.

Greg Guerrero:

And he says, "Yeah, we're looking for chemical engineers to do process safety inspections for OSHA."

Jill James:

Great. The hardest of hard, well, a very hard [inaudible 00:10:56].

Greg Guerrero:

Yeah, yeah. So no word from them for another three months. And then finally three months later, I hear from them again and they say, "Hey, we're still hiring. Would you be interested in taking on this job?" So I came into safety with zero experience, zero knowledge, just thinking that it was something that would be interesting to do for a little while and maybe to find something else to do with my degree in the future. And here now I am almost 30 years later.

Jill James:

30 years later, as an industrial hygienist.

Greg Guerrero:

Definitely, well, the chemical engineering degree has gotten me to where I am, but never ever actually been a chemical engineer at this point.

Jill James:

That's a perfect accidental safety professional story. Thank you, Greg, for sharing it.

Greg Guerrero:

No problem. Thank you.

Jill James:

So welcome to your first ever ASSP as a student. What is your name? Where are you from?

Victoria:

My name's Victoria and I'm from Butler, Pennsylvania.

Jill James:

Wonderful. And what is your university you want to give a shout-out?

Victoria:

Slippery Rock, University of Pennsylvania.

Jill James:

Okay. And what made you decide on this degree?

Victoria:

Well, I came from a blue-collar family and my grandpa actually injured his back, well, he broke his back back in 1980 something. He was going into a skid loader and missed the step, the hand grip. And then he fell and broke his L-4 and L-3, and they didn't know if he was ever going to be able to walk again. But fortunately enough he was able to walk. But I grew up with them, they raised me and every single day it's like a constant struggle because some days he cannot move, other days he can. It just really depends. But he really has to walk with a cane just for stability. But yeah, he had to retire when he was 30.

Jill James:

So you're motivated to keep people safe at work, so it's not what your grandpa experienced?

Victoria:

Yeah, so they don't have to live like him.

Jill James:

That's wonderful. That's wonderful. That was a good mentor to have, that was a good mentor to have. And what's the name of your degree?

Victoria:

Safety management.

Jill James:

Wonderful. Thank you for being on the show, and thanks for coming to ASSP. What is your name and where are you from?

Emily Henthorn:

My name is Emily Henthorn and I'm from Slippery Rock, PA.

Jill James:

Slippery Rock, PA. And you are pursuing a degree, is that what I hear?

Emily Henthorn:

Yes.

Jill James:

What is your degree pursuit?

Emily Henthorn:

Safety management.

Jill James:

Wonderful. And why did you decide to pick that?

Emily Henthorn:

I decided to pick it because my dad is in the blue-collar industry and he comes home safe every single day. And I would like to do that for someone else so they don't have to struggle the way that we are taught that people can struggle in the blue-collar field.

Jill James:

Yeah. So tell me about, because you said this a little earlier before we started recording, tell me about how you have learned how to build a rapport with people and to be a little thick-skinned, which sometimes is required in this industry.

Emily Henthorn:

So this summer I have an internship because in our major you have to have an internship before you graduate. I've learned that you have to talk to people in this career, and before having this type of internship, I've been in customer service and I have been at Sheetz for five years. And as if anybody knows what Sheetz is like, customers yell at you 24/7 if you do something wrong. And it makes you have tough skin because you have to be able to push back sometimes because you don't want to be pushed around by those customers. And so that has made me learn to deal with tough incidents. And at the internship, I've had a little experience with that, but I know how to deal with it because of my past experiences.

Jill James:

In customer service.

Emily Henthorn:

Yes.

Jill James:

That's wonderful. And unfortunately, you experienced workplace violence, which is another aspect of workplace health and safety, so you'll be a professional in that realm as well.

Emily Henthorn:

Yes.

Jill James:

Well, good luck to you in your pursuit and your career. Thanks for coming.

Emily Henthorn:

Thank you for having me.

Jill James:

Welcome.

Sondra Lavoie:

Hi, how are you doing?

Emily Gould:

Good, how are you?

Sondra Lavoie:

It's good to be back.

Emily Gould:

Good to have you back. What's your name?

Sondra Lavoie:

My name is Sondra Lavoie.

Emily Gould:

And have you been on the Accidental Safety Pro before?

Sondra Lavoie:

I have.

Emily Gould:

You're a veteran.

Sondra Lavoie:

I love it.

Emily Gould:

So good to have you back. Have you been enjoying the show?

Sondra Lavoie:

I have been loving the show. This has been such a good year for the PBC, the talent that's here, the subject matter experts, the whole event has just come off to next level.

Emily Gould:

Yeah, absolutely. Okay, so I have a question for you. Who is your EHS hero and why?

Sondra Lavoie:

My EHS hero just happens to be my mentor and his name is Bruce Hollcroft. And I had met Bruce in about 2015, and I was stuck. I was stuck as a safety professional and I had failed one of my certification exams and I could not get out of my head.

Emily Gould:

Yep, that's tough.

Sondra Lavoie:

And he became my mentor and he said, "Nope, you're going to take that exam again and you're going to do it right. You're going to study, you're going to take it and you're going to pass it." And just having somebody with that confidence in me and saying I could-

Emily Gould:

It's everything.

Sondra Lavoie:

It worked. It worked. I passed that ASP and was able to move on and keep going forward.

Emily Gould:

Awesome, awesome. I love that story. It truly does make a difference to have somebody believe in you when you can't believe in yourself.

Sondra Lavoie:

When you just can't get out of that spot and you're stuck, I will forever be grateful for his words.

Emily Gould:

Yep. And they'll stick with you for life.

Sondra Lavoie:

Kindness goes a long way.

Emily Gould:

Absolutely. What does the future of EHS look like to you?

Sondra Lavoie:

Oh, isn't that a fun question? That's delicious. Oh my gosh. I think being an EHS professional is probably one of the most secure jobs right now in the world.

Emily Gould:

Interesting take. I love that.

Sondra Lavoie:

I see we are the subject matter experts and everybody is worried about AI. Everybody's worried about change. We are a people present profession. We need to be the human in the loop. We need to be that person that sees with our eyes, feels with our hands and really gets into it. I always think of it like gardening. You got to get into it with your hands and you got to get dirty. And that's what we are. We are a people present profession, and AI will never take that place.

Emily Gould:

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, thank you Sondra, for joining the Accidental Safety Podcast once again, we appreciate your takes.

Sondra Lavoie:

I'm always happy to be here.

Jill James:

What is your name and what industry are you in?

Bianca Delgado:

My name is Bianca Delgado and I work for Foster Farms.

Jill James:

Wonderful. And who is your EHS hero?

Bianca Delgado:

My EHS heroes I would say are Art Trejo and Donavan Frank. They have taught me and mentored me on everything that I know in safety, and they continue to show me something new every time and pushed me to do great things. So I really appreciate them and I look up to them and hopefully I can be like them in the future.

Jill James:

Wonderful. Great to have heroes. Thank you, Bianca.

Bianca Delgado:

Thank you.

Arturo Trejo:

My name is Arturo Trejo. I am in the poultry industry. I'm the Director of Health and Safety.

Jill James:

And what is your favorite thing about this work?

Arturo Trejo:

My favorite thing about my job is that I am a servant of those people that have to stand in a conveyor for 40 years and serve them. I want to make sure that they're happy to come to work so that they can go happy, they can go back to their families in a healthy manner.

Jill James:

I love that. Thank you. Thank you for your work.

Arturo Trejo:

My pleasure.

Jill James:

What is your name?

Donavan Frank:

Donavan Frank. I'm with Foster Farms in California.

Jill James:

Wonderful. Welcome to ASSP 2025. What's your favorite thing about this job?

Donavan Frank:

The favorite thing about my job is that I get to work with great people, number one. Number two is that every day I get to help somebody to go home.

Jill James:

Yes. That is noble. Good work, isn't it?

Donavan Frank:

Yes.

Jill James:

Thank you. Thank you so much, and thanks for coming here.

Donavan Frank:

Thank you. You too.

Jill James:

Please tell me your name and what is your industry?

Cole Nance:

My name is Cole Nance, work for Service Insurance. We're a workers' comp carrier. I work in the risk control department.

Jill James:

Okay. And what state are you based in?

Cole Nance:

I'm based in Texas predominantly. I do a little bit of Oklahoma as well.

Jill James:

Wonderful. Thank you. So what is the best thing about your job?

Cole Nance:

I think the best thing about my job is we work for a lot of, our policyholders are small to medium-sized markets. A lot of them don't have a designated safety professional. They need a lot of help with safety. They still experience loss, they still have employees they have to take care of. So I get to make an immediate impact on companies that really need it, relied on pretty heavily with a lot of our policyholders. So I get to see that difference that I make over time looking at their loss history, we see the improvements. And these are for industries that don't have the resources maybe larger companies have. So it's pretty rewarding to be able to help those policyholders

Jill James:

Making an impact. Thank you, Cole.

Cole Nance:

Absolutely.

Jill James:

All right.

Cole Nance:

Thank you.

Randy Milliron:

My name is Randy Milliron and I am the safety manager for the City of Gillette in Northeast Wyoming.

Emily Gould:

Welcome. And have you been on the podcast before?

Randy Milliron:

I have. I think my episode was released in January of this year.

Emily Gould:

I think it was. Yeah. Well, welcome back.

Randy Milliron:

Thanks.

Emily Gould:

Glad to have you.

Randy Milliron:

So glad to be here.

Emily Gould:

Yeah. How's your show going so far?

Randy Milliron:

Really good. It's kind of in my new role as the administrator of the public sector practice specialty, you have a lot more things that you need to be doing. So my time in the expo hall has been limited, which is unfortunate. But overall, the show's going really, really well.

Emily Gould:

Good. Good, good, good. So what advice do you have for a new EHS professional?

Randy Milliron:

Man, I'm glad you asked that. So in one of my sessions that I've taught on multiple different national conferences, the concept of being a solo safety professional. And I've worked for companies where you have a consortium of trainers and other safety representatives and more of like a team atmosphere. Well, in the city, I'm on my own solo safety island. So one of my biggest advices is when you get to a show like this, when you get to a conference like this, do not be a safety wallflower. Don't just attend the sessions and go back to your hotel. Really introduce yourself to those people that you see. If there's a speaker that you really like what they said, go up and introduce yourself. Because the one thing you, best advice I can say for a new safety professionals, you need to expand your social safety network.

Randy Milliron:

Absolutely.

Randy Milliron:

Because you might have an issue that you're running into, let's say CDL training, and maybe you don't have the answer. If you've expanded your safety network, then you have other people that you can reach out to that you don't have to reinvent the wheel. They've already have that plan or program in place and they're willing to share. And that's what really safety is all about, is sharing that knowledge across all the different industries.

Randy Milliron:

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for sharing that advice.

Randy Milliron:

Hey, no problem. Thanks for having me on.

Randy Milliron:

Thank you.

Jill James:

What is your name? What industry do you represent or where do you work?

Rena Goudey:

So my name is Rena Goudey. I am a senior risk engineer for an insurance company. And my book of business is for general contractors, wrap projects, and trade partners, or as commonly known as subcontractors.

Jill James:

That's wonderful. And you're also part of the WISE, Women in Safety Excellence, right?

Rena Goudey:

Yes. I just got started becoming involved with the WISE community, thanks to my mentor, Sondra Lavoie.

Jill James:

Yes, a former guest, an alum of the Accidental Safety Pro podcast. So what advice do you have for EHS professionals, someone new coming in?

Rena Goudey:

So that is a great question because it was actually a topic that Sondra and I were talking about. So my advice to somebody coming in is to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Give a for firm handshake, especially as a woman in a male-dominated industry, because if you don't, how are they going to take you seriously? So would it be okay if I shared a story with you?

Jill James:

Yes, please.

Rena Goudey:

So one of my first construction jobs, my safety director was a female. And when I started in this industry, oh god, 23 plus years ago.

Jill James:

Congratulations.

Rena Goudey:

Something like that. Yes. She was the only female safety director that I knew of in the industry. And she says, "Okay, piece of advice I have for you is you're going into a male-dominated industry and being a female, not a lot of superintendents and foremen welcome females on the job site." So she said, "When you meet these superintendents, give them a firm handshake and say, 'What do you need from me? If you need something, how soon do you need it?' And then respond to them. Say, 'That's a great question.' Or, 'That's a great request. How soon do you need it?' If you can't answer it right now."

Jill James:

Great, wonderful.

Rena Goudey:

So I go out to these projects and about six months later I had guys shaking my hand really sheepishly, and I'm like-

Jill James:

Dead fish.

Rena Goudey:

Bro, why are you shaking my hand like that? And I'm like, "Shake my hand again." He says, "I don't want to." And I said, "Why?" He says, "Because the last time you shook my hand, I thought you were going to break it."

Jill James:

So it was a way for you to build a rapport through handshaking.

Rena Goudey:

Correct.

Jill James:

Wonderful.

Rena Goudey:

Correct.

Jill James:

Wonderful.

Rena Goudey:

And I was just new in the industry.

Jill James:

It worked.

Rena Goudey:

It worked.

Jill James:

It was a good hack.

Rena Goudey:

Yes.

Jill James:

Thank you for sharing that.

Rena Goudey:

My pleasure.

Jill James:

And thanks for being on the podcast.

Rena Goudey:

My pleasure.

Jill James:

We hope you enjoyed the special episode of the Accidental Safety Pro live from ASSP 2025. If you're attending the National Safety Congress and Expo September the 15th through the 17th in Denver, be sure to stop by our booth number 3549 and say hello to those of us from HSI. As always, thank you for listening today, and more importantly, thank you for your contribution toward the common good, making sure your workers, including your temporary workers, make it home safe every day. If you aren't subscribed and want to hear past and future episodes, you can subscribe in iTunes, the Apple Podcast app, or any other podcast player you'd like. We'd love it if you could leave a rating and review the show. It helps us connect the show with more and more EHS professionals. Special thanks to Emily Gould, our podcast producer. And until next time, thanks for listening.