Welcome to RIMScast. Your host is Justin Smulison, Business Content Manager at RIMS, the Risk and Insurance Management Society.

Justin Smulison interviews National Safety Council CEO Lorraine Martin about National Preparedness Month, a new OSHA proposed statement on workplace safety in extreme heat, National Recovery Month, drug overdose deaths at work, and some related topics. Lorraine also invites you to the NSC Safety Congress & Expo from September 13th through the 19th.

Listen for information and insight from NSC CEO, Lorraine Martin.

Key Takeaways:

[:01] About RIMS.

[:14] About this episode. Justin introduces return guest National Safety Council President and CEO Lorraine Martin. She will tell us what’s going on with safety and preparedness in the U.S. and the world.

[:44] Virtual Workshops! Applying and Integrating ERM is back and it will be hosted by Elise Farnham on September 25th and 26th and also on December 4th and 5th.

[:58] On October 9th and 10th, Chris Hansen returns to deliver Fundamentals of Insurance. Other dates for the Fall and the Winter are available on the virtual workshops calendar at RIMS.org/virtualworkshops.

[1:16] RIMS-CRMP Prep Courses! On September 10th and 11th, the RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep will be held with NAIT. There is another RIMS-CRMP Exam Prep on September 12th and 13th.

[1:31] The next RIMS-CRMP-FED Exam Prep course will be hosted along with George Mason University on December 3rd through 5th, 2024. Links to these courses can be found on the Certification Page of RIMS.org and in this episode’s show notes.

[1:46] Events! We’ve got the DFW RIMS 2024 Fall Conference and Spa Event happening on September 19th in Irving, Texas. Learn more about that event in Episode 299, which features an interview with the Texas State Office of Risk Management.

[2:04] Also on September 19th is the RIMS Chicago Chapter’s Chicagoland Risk Forum 2024. Register at ChicagolandRiskForum.org.

[2:13] Registration opened for the RIMS Canada Conference 2024 which will be held from October 6th through the 9th in Vancouver. Visit RIMSCanadaConference.ca to register.

[2:26] Registration is also open for the RIMS Western Regional, which will be held from September 29th through October 1st at the Sun River Resort in Oregon. Register at RIMSWesternRegional.com.

[2:39] We want you to join us in Boston on November 18th and 19th for the RIMS ERM Conference 2024. The agenda is live. The keynote will be announced soon. We want to see you there! A link is on this page.

[2:55] The nominations are now open for the RIMS ERM Award of Distinction 2024. Nominations are due August 30th. A link to the nomination form is in this episode’s show notes.

[3:09] If you or someone you know manages an ERM program that delivers the goods, we want to hear about it. A link is in this episode’s show notes. All RIMS regional conference information can be found on the Events page at RIMS.org.

[3:26] Interview! I am delighted to be rejoined by National Safety Council President and CEO Lorraine Martin. Her timing is perfect for National Preparedness Month in September. We’ve got so much to discuss in the way of natural catastrophes and other risks.

[3:46] We will also talk about National Recovery Month, and how prescription opioids can impact employees and employers and why it is such an important business risk. That dovetails into last week’s episode with the NCCI.

[4:02] We’ll talk about the NSC’s Safety Congress and Expo on September 13th through the 19th in Florida and we’ll also talk a bit about Lorraine’s background in the U.S. Air Force, her decades at Lockheed Martin, and how those shaped her risk perspective.

[4:24] Lorraine Martin, welcome back to RIMScast!

[4:45] Lorraine started her career in the U.S. Air Force. Justin thanks her for her service. After the Air Force, Lorraine spent nearly 30 years at Lockheed Martin.

[5:29] The Air Force and all the armed services ask their people to do high-risk things to protect our nation and support our allies around the world. As a member of the armed services, you understand how important safety is to those you protect, and the risks that go with that.

[5:55] Lorraine started in the Air Force in the early ’80s. Being a five-foot female in the Air Force she had combat boots and survival suits that didn’t always fit. She saw the need to keep everyone safe. That means being open and expansive to make sure to cover everybody.

[6:44] At Lockheed Martin, Lorraine ran some of the aircraft manufacturing programs. There was potential for serious injury and fatality (SIF), with energy, heights, and all kinds of things that need to be done safely.

[7:08] The products being built had to go do important things around the world, so they had to meet safety standards for operation and bring everybody home. Lorraine needed to understand safety in manufacturing and in the mission.

[7:30] Justin and Lorraine met after Lorraine joined the NSC as President and CEO in 2019. Less than a year later, COVID-19 hit the U.S. Lorraine has been at the NSC for five years. Time sometimes flew by and In some cases, it felt like the world stood still for everybody.

[8:13] On RIMScast in 2020, Justin and Lorraine talked about technology and the importance of reaching people, through podcasts, Zoom, or Teams. Lorraine is responsible for providing training so people can be safe. She had to learn how to do that when she couldn’t be with them.

[8:40] The NSC had to become good at virtual training and helping customers and stakeholders understand what remote and virtual learning looks like. The world has come so far in understanding what people can do virtually. It’s not everything! Human interaction is still critical.

[9:01] Lorraine says we learned so much, whether for drivers' fleet training or for folks doing CPR. The NSC was able to reach more people, which is great when you’re talking about safety. In many cases, the NSC reached them in a more cost-effective manner for all involved.

[9:27] The NSC focused on what was happening to humans as they were being buffeted during this time, from 2020. On RIMScast, Lorraine and Justin had talked about mental health. The NSC pioneered some research that looked at how psychological safety impacts physical safety.

[9:55] Lorraine believes that since 2020, we’ve come so far in understanding that physical safety can be impacted by many different aspects of your life like distraction, fatigue, or substance abuse, that can cause you not to be on your game.

[10:22] The NSC honed in on the issue of a person not being on their game as being impaired, and they shouldn’t do something that would put themselves or somebody else at risk.

[10:38] The NSC leaned into trainings around being able to identify impairment and giving people the skills to take action so they can take somebody out of harm’s way. It’s easy to say and hard to do but so critical.

[10:55] The NSC and RIMS both used the pandemic as an opportunity to dial up virtual offerings and dial back some live events. Many of the right live events have come back. There is some training that is important to be in person.

[11:18] In-person collaboration and interaction support mental health. Isolation as a result of the pandemic was a burden for many folks.

[11:47] The NSC received positive feedback on their SAFER initiative, ensuring people were safe in returning to work. A task force of stakeholders from government, non-profits, public health medical professionals, and Fortune 500 companies advised NSC and NSC advised workplaces.

[12:30] The SAFER guidelines included ventilation, vaccination, and all of the things a business would need. It was a one-stop shop for policy statements, legal statements, and other best practices for workplaces to use to safely accommodate workers at work.

[13:10] The SAFER initiative is still going on. It’s funded now by the CDC. NSC is now looking at long-term COVID, mental health and well-being, the overall long-term effects of a pandemic, and how workplaces prepare for whatever’s coming in the future.

[14:06] Lorraine just listened to a piece on NPR about COVID-19. We’re still learning. We’ve found a way so that most folks do not perish from it, but we don’t know everything about it and probably won’t for some time.

[14:28] In Long COVID there’s some inflammation or reaction that’s still happening long after the initi...