ASSP Chesapeake Chapter – American Society of Safety Professionals

Now that the officers have been elected, we need volunteers to step up and fill the many committees that make up our ‘Executive Committee.’ and truly embrace the many benefits that the American Society of Safety Professionals has to offer!

The Chesapeake Chapter is one of the most active chapters in the nation, with monthly chapter ‘hybrid’ lunch and learns, and multiple social events that take place during the day and in the evenings. In addition, the chapter partners with the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s Chesapeake and Potomac Locals for one of the most highly attended professional development conferences in the region.

If you are interested in volunteering to serve as a committee chair, or assist by becoming a member of any of our committees, please reach out to me or Matt Koss, directly.

Regardless of the commitment that you can make, your assistance is needed and appreciated. Thank you for taking the time to visit the website for the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals. I hope to hear from you soon.

James Woodward Sr.

ASSP Chesapeake Chapter

President

Welcome

Welcome and thank you for taking the time to join us at ASSP Chesapeake Chapter. There are many great reasons to join our chapter such as sharing of technical knowledge, professional development opportunities and networking. These interactions help to provide guidance, techniques and solutions to help OSH professionals prevent injuries, improve work environments and educate management. Another advantage is the free subscription to the professional journal Professional Safety, which offers in depth articles on best practices, leadership, standards, policy and regulation. Membership also helps you tap into a powerful audience with ASSP Media Solutions and other means to develop professionally. Our chapter is 392 members strong and still growing!

The ASSP organization itself is the oldest and largest professional safety organization. With more than 37, 000 members worldwide, it is a global association of occupational safety, health and environmental professionals that advances the interests of its members and the profession.

Please feel free to contact us at membership@chesapeake.assp.org if you have any questions. Thanks again for taking the time to join us and we hope to see you again!

ASSP Chesapeake Chapter Celebrates our 63rd Anniversary

In the late 1950’s, a small group of Safety Professionals, originally, members of the Safety Engineering Club of Baltimore petitioned to bring their group into the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). The group had been rejected by ASSE many times prior because they “could not qualify as a chapter because of the small percentage of qualified people shown on the roster”. After more than two years, The American Society of Safety Engineers granted our (Chesapeake) charter effective April 9, 1963. Since that date “we have conducted ourselves as the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers”.

On May 14, 1963, the Chapter held its charter acceptance meeting at the Sparrows Point Country Club. Below are some of the attendees:

Mr. Hudson Quarles – President, Baltimore Safety Council
Mr. L.D. Zweier – Management ’s Representative, Bethlehem Steel Corporation
Mr. Paul Lucanski – ASSE Chesapeake’s 1^st Treasurer
Mr. Henry Lamb – Eastern Regional Vice President, ASSE
Mr. Kenneth Robinson – ASSE Chesapeake’s 1^st Vice President
Mr. Al Blackman – Managing Director, ASSE
Mr. Leonard Wozny – ASSE Chesapeake’s 1^st President
Mr. Arthur Christian – Treasurer, ASSE
Mr. Joseph Shofstal – ASSE Chesapeake’s 1^st Secretary
Mr. James Van Namee – Vice President, Eastern Central Region, ASSE
Mr. Wilbur Agee – ASSE Chesapeake Chapter’s 1^st Chaplain

It’s fitting in the country’s 250^th birthday to reflect on the closing comments of some of the original membership.

“As of this writing, February of 1976, in the year of our country’s two-hundredth birthday, we are alive and healthy. We are in the hands of well qualified leadership, both in the Chapter and at Society level. We are growing. We need to grow to keep up wi