View the annual report here, or read the text version below.
2023 Vermont Safety and Health Council Annual Report
Our team:
On 29th November 2023, the Vermont Safety and Health Council had its final meeting of the year. Before we adjourned a motion was raised to add the role of Technical Advisor, the motion was carried out then the board unanimously voted Maureen Johnson into the role. At that point in the meeting Attendees who were on the 2024 ballot were excused, others were left to review six applications and caucus for three open positions on the board.
At the end of the meeting, the remaining members arrived at the following members to assume the open three-year terms; Bob Davison, President (whatever group would have him?)
Katie Frederick, not only was Katie an active alternate board member in 2023, but she fulfilled a couple of “camera ready’ assignments, was a presenter at our annual expo, and served as a major contributor to our newly formed Education and Training committee. The board is thrilled to announce that Katie has accepted the appointment to chair this committee. We look forward to seeing the contributions she brings forth.
Bonnie has been an active participant in VSHC’s Southern chapter. She has not only helped source locations for our in-person workshops, she has been the heart and soul of the chapter most recently carrying out the role of Secretary. Bonnie is also actively working to help out in the role of backup to the board secretary.
In January of 2024, our monthly board meeting was held on January 25th, as a traditional point of order, our opening business of the year was to elect our cast of officers. The results for 2024:
President: Bob Davison
Vice President: Kathy Brouilllette
Treasurer: Becky L’Esperance
Secretary: Amy Morissette
Governance: Shannon Prescott
Membership: Tersa Miele
In 2023 Suzanne Kotarba was involved in all of our sub-committees. Her presence has helped give the board a “second set of eyes to ensure the objectives stay on track”. Suz’s commitment to these teams and willingness to assist with the Vice President’s duties utilize countless hours of her time.
Our Board functions with the assistance of non-voting seats. Two of those seats are occupied by representatives of the Department of Labor’s Project WorkSAFE. We were fortunate to have Luke McCarthy and Shawn Barth with us every step of the way. Luke and Shawn will be with us again in 2024.
We have also traditionally held a non-voting liaison seat from the Department of Wellness; last year the position was vacated. We were excited to hear that the Program Administrator position was staffed and that Stephanie Bergen will be joining our Board in 2024.
The workshops we present across the state happen through the hard work put forth on the chapter level. These functions are chaired by local safety professionals in the regions. The North East is chaired by Becky L’Esperance, the North West is chaired by Cody Sayers, and our Southern chapter is chaired by Rob Towle.
Performance
In 2023 we presented seven workshops, four virtual and three in-person. The topics ranged from traditional LOTO to Mental Health First Aid. We also pulled off our 25th annual Fall Expo. The event was held on October 4th at the Lake Morey Inn in Fairlee Vermont. Our Speakers were all from Vermont.
Our partnerships remain strong, and our affiliations with Project WorkSAFE, VOSHA Compliance, Region One OSHA Training Institute, and the Vermont Department of Health all contributing to our workshops. We also had our Board members, Shannon Prescott and Teresa Miele, volunteer as keynote speakers in a few of these statewide training opportunities.
At the beginning of the year, the team identified an opportunity to spend less time in our board meetings planning by selecting four key groups. Board members volunteered to chair these meetings, hold them outside our scheduled board meetings, and report back at our monthly board meetings. These groups consisted of:
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- Social Media
- Expo Planning
- Membership
- Education and Training
Education and Training
The group is chaired by Kathy Brouilllette and the goal is to gauge what training is needed across the state, what training can be shared across regions and how that would be done. This year one topic was covered by the same speaker, and covered at different levels, one done in person, one done virtually, one in the north, and one in the south. It was great to see this level of expertise and even greater to see it covered by one of our own board members.
Shannon Prescott presents virtually in the South at our workshop on Mental health on March 29th, 2023
Social Media
The group is chaired by Bob Davison. We recognize that this is one area that can be impaired by maturity, and you got it, there is a dinosaur at the helm. However help is on the way as we have put together a great team to assist with moving this forward. We have developed a new mission statement:
Mission Statement:
The Social Media Subcommittee is here to support and bring together Safety minded individuals throughout Vermont. Our mission is to keep the Members’ needs fulfilled by providing you all with the information, knowledge, and resources to network with the other Safety minded professionals like yourselves.
Our primary goal is to support the Chapters and subcommittees by being their Eyes, Ears, and Creative minds. Our committee will provide you information through Our Website as well as our social media platforms and its members.
We determined this year we would focus on maintaining a good Media presence. We have also identified a member from the Richards Group, Allison Copquin who can bring a youthful perspective and is willing to come and help chair this committee.
We hope to branch out and make a presence on several platforms in 2024. We did manage to do what we do well, casting six “Ask The Expert” interviews.
Membership
This group is chaired by Ashley Moll Fernandez and Co Chaired by Teresa Miele. This duo is living proof that good things come to those who wait. Ashley and Teresa were recipients of a very broken and very antiquated system. Together they surveyed what was in place (basically an excel spreadsheet driven from an email address list) and built a system designed to cater to our members and attract newcomers. In a nutshell making Vermont a safer place to work…. At this time Ashley has stepped away from the board, but we can not express our gratitude for six years of support, consulting, a two time expo speaker and bringing this function to a condition to be placed in Teresa’s good and very capable hands.
Expo Planning
Chaired by Maureen Johnson, and who better than a 29 year (plus) veteran to steer this ship. This year all our speakers were Vermont based Safety Professionals. The expo was held at the Lake Morey Inn, Our topics included Psychological Safety with Ross Gibson; (The Richards Group), Critters and outdoor work Hazards; Katie Fredrick (ASC, LLC), Machine Guarding and LOTO; Karl Hayden (VOSHA Compliance), Electrical Safety Programs; Randy Yandow, (OTIEC) , Mold in the Workplace; Shawn Barth, (Project Work SAFE), Forming & Sustaining a Viable Safety Committee Roundtable; David Kaiser (Hypertherm) , Holly LeClair (ReArch), Harland Miller, (Collins Aerospace) and Rob Towle, (A&M Industrial) The day was packed with training, networking, and good food ( a criteria this board never underestimates).
Treasury
Our Treasury remains solid. We will be providing an addendum to this report to provide financial information, as our new treasury team makes their transition into their new roles.
Final thoughts for 2023
The team entered the year full of uncertainties. We lost some key board members and braced ourselves for new faces to join the VSHC stage. When we look back, we know we worked hard to bring small businesses the growing box of tools they need to sustain a safe work environment and we did our best to Make Vermont a safer place to work, which is why we are here!