CSHEMA - Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association

Mission

The mission of CSHEMA is to support and to educate campus-based EHS professionals to empower and to improve the EHS profession in campus environments.

Vision

CSHEMA will continue to be the pre-eminent leadership organization representing the EHS profession in campus environments.

Core Values

• Uphold the honor, integrity, and dignity of the profession
• Promote inclusion and diversity in the profession
• Strong member services through ongoing needs assessment for campus-based EHS professionals
• Advocacy on behalf of the profession as the voice of campus-based EHS
• Commitment to practical and applicable solutions for the campus-based EHS professional
• Commitment to continuous improvement
• Commitment to education

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Core Competencies for the Profession

CSHEMA has identified these knowledge, skills, and abilities for environmental, health, and safety professionals. Regardless of job responsibilities or position level, these competencies permeate all work in the profession, though prioritization may differ. "Core competency" refers to a set of composite skills, knowledge, and behaviors that provides the basis and forms the foundation for successful professional practice in environmental, health, and safety work.

CSHEMA’s core competencies were inspired by NIH, the Nielson Group, the National Postdoctoral Association, the Risk and Insurance Management Society, Strandberg Consulting, and other publicly available resources.

Download the Core Competencies

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The Value of Environmental Health and Safety at Colleges and Universities

In 2019 the CSHEMA Advocacy Council was asked to develop key messages for university leaders—including research, business, and facilities leadership—to help them understand the value and role of environmental health and safety (EHS) at their institutions. These messages explain why support for, and partnerships with, EHS facilitate their goals and the institution’s greater mission.

The messages can also be used at higher education association meetings to tell EHS’ story and promote a better understanding of EHS. Associations we might bring this to are NACUBO, APLU, AAU, etc. This same material could be used to create smaller packages of information that could help CSHEMA members advocate for their own program to college and university leadership.

College and universities operate more efficiently and effectively when EHS has sufficient resources, when it is included in EHS-related decision making, and when our expertise and capabilities are recognized and respected.

Download the complete document "The Value of EHS at Colleges and Universities"

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Subject Matter Expertise

The ability to demonstrate a broad base of established and evolving knowledge within their discipline and detailed knowledge of their area(s) of expertise, including but not limited to:

• Biosafety
• Building Design
• Business Continuity
• Construction Safety
• Emergency Management
• Environmental
• Ergonomics
• Facilities
• Fire Safety
• Hazardous Waste
• Industrial Hygiene
• Laboratory Safety
• Nanotechnology
• Occupational Safety
• Occupational Health
• Performing Arts Safety
• Radiation Safety
• Risk Management
• Sustainability
• General Safety
• Hazardous Materials

Additionally, CSHEMA’s communities of practice form and dissolve as the discipline specific areas evolve. A current list of CSHEMA's communities can be found online.

Influence and Negotiation

Problem Solving

Ability to obtain information and identify key issues and implications to make informed and objective decisions.

Leading Others

Ability to organize and motivate people to get things accomplished in a way that everyone feels a sense of order and direction.

• Ability to develop a personal leadership style
• Ability to convey a sense of personal self-confidence
• Ability to learn from prior experiences as well as the experiences of others
• Ability to utilize self-reflection methods toward personal growth
• Ability to develop a personal set of ethics, morals, and values

Performance Management

Ability to proactively investigate new perspectives, attitudes, and behaviors and takes steps to evaluate and improve performance.

Conflict Resolution

Ability to listen and to manage conflicts and achieve compromise while meeting meaningful goals and respecting other parties’ perspectives.

Systems Thinking

Ability to employ a sense of vision to create new innovative concepts, products, and solutions.

Partnerships/Collaboration

Ability to work with and help others to accomplish objectives; identify areas of person expertise and seeks out opportunities to lend expertise to working groups to maximize outcomes.

Communication

Technology Adaptation/Adoption

Ability to seek out ways to employ technology to optimize organizational and individual performance; demonstrate proficiency in using tools and application packages; employ technology to assist in work activities.

Public Speaking and Training

Ability to deliver clear, effective communication and takes responsibility for understanding others.

Continual Learning and Development

Ability to seek feedback from others and use other sources of information to identify appropriate areas for learning.

Message Delivery

Ability to use writing skills and editorial judgement to develop messages for various audiences; and deliver them by evaluating the most appropriate channel for the needs of the target audience.

Conveying Role Value

Ability to draw upon a variety of capacities to instill in an employee a sense of value for the task at hand.

Project Management

Decision Making

Ability to recognize and analyze problems and make choices under uncertain conditions; show good judgement.

Strategic Planning

Ability to employ a sense of vision to create new innovative concepts and solutions.

Risk Management and Mitigation

Ability to plan and implement measures that will avoid, overcome, or compensate for elements of risk.

Compliance

Ability to evaluate compliance with appropriate laws, regulations, industrial codes, control systems, and social responsibilities.

Critical Incident Analysis

Ability to evaluate an incident investigation system; analyze root causes of an incident.

Sustainability Literacy

Ability to understand how environmental, economic, and social sustainability impacts the organization and in turn, how the organization impacts sustainability.