Young Professional Group Learns About Best Practices for Safety

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Having the chance to learn from a true expert and discuss best practices in mill and plant safety on a casual Wednesday afternoon doesn't happen too often, unless you're a TAPPI Young Professional member. This past Wednesday, August 17th , the TAPPI Young Professionals (YP) Committee held its usual monthly call only this time with an extra bonus. The committee was joined by Chris Redfearn, past president of the Pulp and Paper Safety Association (PPSA) and current Director of Health & Safety Technical Services with Weyerhaeuser Company, who helped discuss Best Practices in Safety, a hot topic voted on previously by the YP Committee.

To start the discussion, each member took turns describing what they do and what role safety plays in their work environment. A couple of issues shared by the majority were improving safety culture and sustaining safe work practices. Other discussion topics included:

• Tips for YP's entering the work environment to build a good safety foundation
• Safety investigations and audits
• Demonstrating safety leadership in positive and effective ways
• Tips to help mills and plants become accident free
• Transitioning from compliance based safety management to a caring approach.

All together the call was very informative and beneficial to YP Committee members, who are looking forward to next month's call. Ideas for hot topics are gladly welcome as are newcomers! To join our next call (Wednesday, September 14th 3:00pm EST), please contact Libby Settle (lsettle@tappi.org). The YP Committee has many exciting projects underway such as YP networking events, putting together YP sessions to be presented at TAPPI conferences, forming a mentoring group, and implementing more of these great YP hot topic experiences! Find out more about the TAPPI Young Professionals and the Pulp and Paper Safety Association.