ASSP and USACE sign agreement to advance worker safety

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday during the first day of the Safety 2024 Professional Development Conference and Exposition at the Colorado Convention Center.

The 10-year agreement defines shared principles and aims to improve employee safety training, advance occupational health practices and expand the use of safety and health management systems.

“We share a strong commitment to workplace safety and health, so sharing our knowledge and expertise makes good sense,” said ASSP President Pam Walaski, CSP, FASSP. “This collaboration will leverage strengths, elevate the voice of our profession, and improve safety standards to reduce illnesses, injuries and fatalities.”

The two organizations will engage in sharing best practices, improving training and education, and supporting regulatory and legislative issues. They will also continue to collaborate on developing voluntary national consensus standards. USACE’s well-known and widely used EM-385 OSH manual references many ANSI/ASSP standards on fall protection, construction and demolition practices, among others.

“Our mutual interests in enhancing the well-being of workers across the country create valuable opportunities to work together,” said Mark Atkins, USACE’s chief of occupational safety and health. “These shared principles can hopefully serve as a foundation for improving policies and processes that will ultimately save lives.”

ASSP is the world’s oldest professional safety organization with 35,000 members advancing worker well-being and the safety and health profession since the Society’s inception in 1911. ASSP provides member communities, serves as a trusted advisor and elevates safety through workforce development. Learn more at www.assp.org.

USACE delivers vital engineering solutions in collaboration with partners to secure the nation, energize the economy and reduce disaster risk. For more information on USACE, visit https://www.usace.army.mil.