Geotechnical News December 2011
47
ASFE NEWS
Caution! New ASFE Practice Alert Focuses on Safety
Worker safety is hardly a new concern.
In fact, a key “modern” worker-safety
concept – workers’ compensation –
is more than 4,000 years old, dating
back to 2050 BC. That’s when the city/
state of Ur issued the first known set
of workers’ comp regulations. Today’s
regulations are far more complex, of
course, and safety itself has taken a
far more important role in the work
environment, because so many major
clients refuse to deal with firms
whose safety numbers are above 1.0.
Learn more in
ASFE Practice Alert
51: Safety and Your Geoprofessional
Practice
. Developed by ASFE’s
Business Practice Committee – with
the heavy lifting done by
Randy A.
Knott, P.E.
(AMEC Environment
& Infrastructure)
– the all-new
monograph:
• provides a brief historical overview;
• identifies client attitudes and the
websites they look at (and that you
should, too);
• discusses the direct and indirect
costs of inadequate safety;
• explains safety metrics (you need to
know what TRIR, DART, LWCR,
EMR, and IPMMD mean and how
to calculate them);
• provides benchmarks; and
• identifies steps your firm and its
personnel can take to make things
safer, thus making your firm more
attractive to employees and clients.
Like all other ASFE Practice Alerts,
Safety and Your Geoprofessional Prac-
tice is available only to members of
ASFE, and it’s free of charge. Just click
to
sign in, and down-
load your copy now.
Editorial
• American Institute of Architects
• American Institute of Certified
Public Accountants
• American Bar Association
• American Medical Association
American Society of Civil Engineers
• American Society of Mechanical
Engineers • Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers • American
Society of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air-Conditioning Engineers •
• American Institute of
Mining
,
Metallurgical, and Petroleum
Engineers
• National Council of
Structural Engineers Associations •
Illuminating Engineering Society of
North America •
•
•
• National
Rail Engineering Association • Society
of Manufacturing Engineers • Society
of American Military Engineers •
•
American Society of Safety Engineers
•
•
•
•
• Society
for Sustainability and Environmental
Engineering •
•
•
•
• American Academy of
Water Resources Engineers •
• American
Society of Test Engineers •
• Biomedical
Engineering Society •
• American
Association of Drilling Engineers
•
•
•
•
• Society of Hispanic
Professional Engineers •
•
•
•
• Oceanic Engineering
Society •
•
•
• American Society for
Engineering • American Association
of Engineering Societies •
• American Society for Healthcare
Engineering •
•
•
• Abrasive
Engineering Society (my own personal
favorite)
The list says it all, doesn’t it? For
whatever reason, engineers prefer to
fixate on what separates them rather
than what could pull them together. “In
unity there is strength.” Architects, ac-
countants, lawyers, physicians…they
all get it. And to advance their cause,
each group formed a giant organization
to serve as its spokesperson, advocate,
and bodyguard. But not engineers (in
the old-fashioned, non-P.E., technopro-
fessional sense). They evidently prefer
to have big croaks in small ponds rather
than a big croak in a big pond. Which
is so silly when you consider what en-
gineers do and what would happen if
they didn’t do it.
Am I the only person who gets this?
Don’t others realize that, without engi-
neers, mankind would be no better off
today than it was a hundred-thousand
