EHS GRADES TO BECOME A WORKPLACE HOUSEHOLD NAME IN A FEW YEARS

HOUSTON, TX, August 10, 2018 – Industry professionals will join leading safety experts on Tuesday, August 14, 2018, to formally declare a new environmental health and safety organization open at a Press Conference in Houston. The new organization, EHS GRADES International, formed by leading safety experts including former federal chemical safety incident investigators, business leaders, and university professors is set to revolutionize the management of workplace safety and health programs through continuous improvement.

The event is scheduled to take place at 10:00 AM (CDT) at the San Jacinto Room of the Houston Airport Marriott at George Bush Intercontinental, 18700 John F. Kennedy Blvd, Houston, TX 77032. The occasion will be attended by the members of the press, business leaders, representatives from various industries, government officials and the members of the public.
 
The new organization, headquartered in Houston, Texas, will specialize in the delivery of a variety of life-saving and cost-effective services including performance management, contractor management, compliance auditing, training resources and improvement programs on an integrated system platform to address the specific needs of its clients around the world. The new company focuses on integrating the distinct needs and demands of its members into one online platform.

Dr. Samuel Oyewole, a former Pennsylvania State University professor of environmental health and safety engineering, who was also a chemical incident investigator at the U.S. Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) from 2012 until his departure in early 2018, will lead the organization as its Chairman & Chief Executive Officer. “We are aiming for zero incidents so that no one is left behind in the field of environmental health and safety, regardless of their location around the world. Based on the positive results that we will deliver to our clients, EHS GRADES would become an industry household name within a few years" Dr. Oyewole said.

The Keynote speaker at the event, Rixio Medina, President and Principal Consultant at Rixio Medina & Associates, L.P. stated, “I am truly excited to participate in this gathering and optimistic that the assembled team will provide outstanding technical support and long-term solutions to businesses around the world. This will help them to be better prepared to address issues and challenges that could occur due to unanticipated risks and hazards.” Mr. Medina is the current president of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP).

EHS GRADES intends to stand out in the industry by using advanced scientific techniques to diagnose and reveal gaps including latent hazards and risks which existing performance management systems may be unequipped to identify. Letter grades similar to those used in academic settings are assigned to depict the overall performance rating of its members on an annual basis. This new approach will provide an extra layer of protection to organizations that already have an active performance assessment system in place for their EHS programs.

Dr. Joel Haight, an Industrial Engineering Professor at the University of Pittsburgh with more than 38 years in experience from the industry, academia, and government will serve as one of the Executive Advisors to the new company. Haight is an author of several publications, editor-in-chief of the Handbook of Loss Prevention Engineering and the Safety Professionals Handbook, believes that the performance evaluation and improvement system developed by the new company is truly one-of-a-kind. “EHS GRADES has provided something extraordinary to the industry, an integrated system that uses a highly efficient, transparent, reliable and comprehensive diagnostic approach to identify the true state of an industry’s EHS program”

A leading industry expert, Richard Rosera, Owner at Rosearray EHS Services LLC and a newly appointed Executive Advisor at EHS GRADES stated, “I'm very glad to be joining the team in this innovative approach to EHS continuous improvement by companies” Mr. Rosera is a chemical engineer with more than 48 years of dedication and service to the industry. He is a consultant with an environmental, health, safety and security (EHS&S) background, manufacturing and quality improvement expertise, community and regulatory relations experience, and customer-oriented outlook to enhance the operation and growth of a business.

With rising costs of work-related incidents, EHS GRADES is set to save businesses billions of dollars on a yearly basis. In the United States alone, the economic toll of occupational injuries and illnesses is staggering, costing businesses close to $200 billion a year. One of the strategic goals of the new company is to help businesses reduce their incident rates by as much as 70%. This amounts to an estimate of about $500 billion in economic savings and an increase in business value over a period of three years. When workplace illnesses, injuries, accidents and other types of losses are prevented, everyone wins!

According to an incoming Board Member, Johnnie Banks, oil refinery expert for more than 22 years, and a 15-year supervisory investigator who retired recently from the CSB, “we are intently focused on providing quality services and developing groundbreaking solutions that are specially designed to improve the environmental health and safety program outlook of business organizations from an unbiased and independent perspective. Our common goal is to prevent loss of lives and enhance operational excellence.” Banks has led multiple chemical incident investigations while in the federal government, including the April 2013 West Fertilizer Explosion that took the lives of 15 people, including 12 first responders and which caused over $260 million in property damages, in West, Texas, located approximately 80 miles south of Dallas.