By Donald M. Layton
[Editor’s Note: This opinion piece originally appeared in Volume 9 Issue 3 of Hazard Prevention (now Journal of System Safety) in January-February 1973. It is unchanged except for formatting and minor corrections.]
Anyone who has attempted to recruit new members for the System Safety Society has heard the question. “What does the Society do, and what can it do for me? ”
Some of the answers to this multiple-question may be found in an excellent folder which is available from the Society Administrative Office, 6060 Duke Street, Suite 101. Alexandria. VA 22304 [Ed.: see here].
Included in this folder are two items of prime importance to prospective members and to present members as well. These are the listings of the objectives and the activities of the System Safety Society.
OBJECTIVES
1. To advance the state-of-the-art of system safety.
2. To contribute to a meaningful scientific and technological understanding of system safety.
3. To disseminate newly developed knowledge to all interested groups and individuals.
4. To further the development of the professionals engaged in system safety.
5. To improve public understanding of the system safety discipline.
6. To improve the communication of the system safety movement and discipline to all levels of management, engineering, and other professional groups.
Let us consider these objectives and see what is being done, and what could be done to meet them.
The Society was founded in 1962 as a non-profit, professional association and was registered in the State of California as the Aerospace System Safety Society, inasmuch as the formalized principles and the term “system safety” originated in, and was principally applied by, the aerospace industry at that time. The original Society consisted of about thirty members.
With the expansion of the Society’s scope to include all product/system safety activity and personnel in other fields, the label, Aerospace, was dropped from the title in 1966.
Individual and group efforts to achieve the objectives have not been limited to those who wear the “Two Sigma” pin, but many of the members of the System Safety Society have consistently been in the forefront of such activity.
One of the most obvious examples of the improvement of communication and the dissemination of matters of safety interest has been this publication, Hazard Prevention. Begun as a newsletter under the direction of the Society’s Founder, Roger Lockwood, the publication was formalized by its first official Editor, Dr. George A. Peters. When the pressure of his business forced George to relinquish this position Roger once again assumed the leadership until Jim Johncox assumed the Editorship.
The majority of the credit of the current size and format of Hazard Prevention can be given to the last three Presidents of the Society – Jack Parrish, who started the new format; Roy Harris, who started the page growth; and Ed Fosler, who has brought a whole new concept to Associate Editors, increased page count, support through advertising and Corporate Memberships, and increased emphasis on submitted articles.
Discussions had been occurring in the Board of Directors meetings for several years as to the sponsorship of an annual symposium, but with the caution that was derived from the desire to make such a conference a meaningful expression, many delays were incurred. As somewhat of a “trial run.” the Southern California Chapter agreed to sponsor a “mini-symposium” (an idea proposed to the Board of Directors by Willie Hammer of Hughes Aircraft) which proved so successful that they have now completed a second one-day symposium. And now finally, plans are underway for the First Annual International System Safety Symposium to be held in Denver in July 1973 under the Chairmanship of George Cranston.
Now to “old timers” in the Society the above information is well known, but a significant point is centered in these facts. I have mentioned but a few of those active in the Society, but if I were to continue the listing of former Society and Chapter officers, members of the Board of Directors, contributors to Hazard Prevention and participants in the other activities of the System Safety Society, I could. probably identify several dozen SSS members who have been or are now active to some degree.
But several dozen out of a membership that exceeds seven hundred is a rather small percentage!
And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.
– John F. Kennedy, Jan 20, 1961
So, before someone asks us what the System Safety Society can do for its members, let us ask ourselves, in a paraphrase of the words of the late President John F. Kennedy, “What can I do for the System Safety Society?”
One of the most obvious things that can be done is the recruitment of new members. There are, of course, the lofty reasons for increasing our membership – reasons such as the improvement of our professional knowledge; making what we have to offer available to all in the field, and the bestowing of our prestige gained from being members of an august society to others, but there are more practical reasons for encouraging a membership growth. These include the benefits of national (and international) recognition that comes from representing a majority of those involved in System Safety, conservation of financial resources in the way of administrative costs (which increase at a much slower rate than the membership they support), and greater return to the members in the form of services such as local and national meetings, publications, speakers, and Society sponsored pressure on standards and member privileges.
Another way in which each member may be of service is in participation in Chapter and National society affairs. I don’t propose that every member immediately run for an office, but support would be welcome at all levels. At the Chapter level, for those of you who are fortunate enough to be near an active group, assisting with the newsletter, aiding in obtaining speakers, contacting potential members, and even such a simple task as being in charge of the name tags for the meetings o ‘collecting the money for dinner would take some of the load off those few who are doing most of the work.
And don’t forget Hazard Prevention. If you don’t have an article that is anxious to be printed, perhaps you have an idea that someone else could expand so that others might have the benefit of these thoughts. One of the few direct benefits that we offer to the members is this publication, and it will only be as good as the members make it.
A most important manner in which you can help the Society and system safety in general is to talk about safety to the non-safety types in your organization. Recently I sat next to a man on an airliner who was in charge of one phase of a company product – a product that was designed, manufactured, and partially maintained by his company. There were eight other men on the same plane who were part of a team that was involved in the setting up of this product for a consumer. Our conversation got around to system safety and this team leader stated that he had never heard of the term and had no idea that his company had such a program in force. I wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone by identifying the organization, but over the past few years we have had National officers from this company! And yet here was a person deeply involved in one of the company’s products who didn’t know of the existence of system safety.
If each of the current members of the System Safety Society did a little more for the Society the answer to the question “What can the Society do for me?“. would become so obvious to potential members that the question might never be raised. What have you done? What have you done lately?
[Ed. – Current volunteer opportunities are on the society website. Submit your JSS manuscript here.]
Donald M. Layton was the former editor of Hazard Prevention and the 1984 ISSS Educator of the Year. He was a professor at the Naval Post Graduate School. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 94.
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