I am proud and honored to be here today, on the first meeting of the 2020-2021 Chesapeake Chapter, to serve you as your president for the upcoming year.  2019-2020 was a year full of surprises and challenges, that I doubt anyone could have predicted.  A pandemic outbreak, shortages of PPE, stay at home orders and civil unrest, thrust safety professionals into roles they may not typically fulfill.  In the past, many of us have focused primarily on workplace safety, keeping employees safe from injury.  Now we were very quickly faced with major health issues, both physical and mental to deal with.  Those of us, whose employers were deemed “essential” had these challenges stacked on top of their normal duties.  With social distancing, sanitizing and donning masks, routine activities had new hurtles to clear.   Stress at home from quarantine and financial issues jeopardized the mental well-being of our workers. Civil unrest heightened the need for strong security practices and brought the concept of workplace violence to the forefront.

Safety Professionals proved through these challenges to be just that – true professionals.  However, the end is not in sight as many of these issues continue to impact our daily lives.  Work practices have not and likely will never return to what used to be considered “normal”. We are in a virtual meeting now, and that will likely be our main mode of interaction into the near future.  Our activities are curtailed, but our commitment and enthusiasm are not!  We must look at these setbacks as the opportunities that they present.  Virtual meetings and functions can meet a much greater audience and if properly structured can have a tremendous impact through the advantageous use of technology.

We definitely have challenges ahead, and these challenges will and should make us question how we operate, how we do business.  Changes are necessary if we are to not only survive, but to thrive in this environment.  Going forward, the status quo can serve to educate us, but should not limit our ability to adjust and meet our current and future needs.  These adaptations will require a team effort, working together to plan out and execute toward reaching our goals and aspirations.

When working in a new atmosphere, a new approach will keep us strong and successful.

James F Kane
President

These last few months have been truly challenging for most, but uniquely so for many safety professionals.  First, with the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic, we were thrust into a much greater role as health professionals and advisors to companies that were marginally prepared for a major health crisis such as was thrust upon us.  Many, myself included, had primarily focused on safety concerns, preventing and managing occupational injury, and health concerns often took a back seat.  Now we had our work cut out for us on the health side, with those of us working with essential employees still needing to address the safety, injury aspect of our jobs, while incorporating some fast moving and critical health initiatives.  This was truly a challenge for most of us.

Then along comes a social event that shakes our communities to their core.  Social unrest and upheaval throws another challenge our way. Security issues are now raised to the fore front, yet our last challenge still lingers in the background. We must keep our sites secure and be concerned with additional risk to our employees such as fire and violence.  Safety professionals are now tasked with health, safety and security all as a priority.

In order to meet the challenges before us we must stay focused.  We must keep our attention on our primary purpose, the health and safety of the employees under our charge.  We cannot fall to the temptation of other involvements that would divert our attention from that primary focus.  We must stay vigilant and on task, protecting employees and that way positively affecting society.

Just one man’s thoughts.

James Kane Chesapeake Chapter VP 2019-20
Incoming Chapter President 2020-21