Earlier this year, NACD became a member of the National Safety Council (NSC), a non-profit organization focused on eliminating preventable deaths and injuries in the workplace, at home, and on the road.
For over a century, NSC has been a leading advocate for better safety practices – a commitment that aligns well with NACD’s own third-party verified environmental, health, safety, and security program.
Safety is paramount to NACD and its members, and remains the cornerstone of Responsible Distribution, which is due to start its 7th three-year cycle in January 2020.
The reasons for joining the NSC are twofold. The association will be able to gain invaluable insight, knowledge, and support to further ensure the safety of NACD members and the communities they work within. NSC membership also provides the perfect platform to raise awareness about the Responsible Distribution program and to emphasise its benefits to a broader audience – from those who handle chemical products and work in the regulatory environment, to first responders and representatives on Capitol Hill.
One of the areas we would like to focus on as an NSC member is to increase the identity of Responsible Distribution, not just as a management system but as an operational way to increase safety and security within the workplace, and with our members’ employees. We want to work with the National Safety Council to see if there are practices of excellence that NACD can learn, so we can impart that knowledge to our member companies. This is a great opportunity to educate both their members and ours.
In the six months since joining, we can already see synergies between our two groups.
Both organizations are focused on continuous improvement and safety. These are obviously important factors for Responsible Distribution, and we think this will work hand-in-hand with our program.
We’re looking at what ideas we can learn from NSC and seeing how we can improve our training, workshops, resources, and Responsible Distribution itself.
In September, I attended the National Safety Council Congress and Expo in San Diego – the world’s largest gathering of safety professionals. During the event, I signed up to join the Business and Industry Division, and its program committee.
I thought this would be a great opportunity for us to talk to NSC about the issues that are most important to us, and to find out how we can learn from some of their initiatives.
As I become more involved with their program committee, I’m going to advocate for more education and training on emergency response, and issues like slips, trips, and falls; operational training such as forklift training, near misses, and preventive and corrective actions; and root cause analysis – really delving deep into what causes an accident, how to prevent them, and where lessons can be learned. Our members do a great job, but we always want to find ways we can improve.
NACD is also in discussions to co-host a webinar with NSC about near-miss reporting in mid-2020.
Responsible Distribution is all about continuous improvement, and all our members do a terrific job looking at their operations and seeing how they can improve the safety and security of their employees and the community. As a membership-driven association, NACD is committed to continuous improvement too, and we’re always trying to find ways to provide our members with the latest information, training, and safety practices. As we enter the 7th cycle of Responsible Distribution next year, our membership in the NSC will enable us to enhance the resources and knowledge available to members so they can continue to strive for excellence in everything they do, including the safety of their workers.
Visit www.nsc.org to find out more about the National Safety Council, or access NACD’s online resources, workshops, and webinars at https://www.nacd.com/responsible-distribution/resources1/searchable-resource-library/.
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