ITASCA, Ill. – Today, the National Safety Council, America’s leading nonprofit safety advocate, announced fresh actions to further its commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I), including the creation of both a DE&I safety champion recognition for organizations, and diversity in safety scholarship program for individuals:
NSC Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Safety Champion Recognition honors organizations that strive not only to ensure physical safety, but foster an environment where every employee feels secure, welcome and included. This recognition awards organizations based on three criteria: Culture, People and Program Innovations. Applications for this award are now open until June 1, 2022, with the recipients announced in September.
Diversity In Safety Scholarship Program increases diversity in the field of occupational health and safety by awarding BIPOC individuals seeking post-secondary education leading to a career in environmental health and/or safety with an annual, renewable scholarship payment of $5,000. Applications for this new scholarship are now open until June 1, 2022, with awardees announced in September.
Click here to learn more about NSC safety awards and recognition, and here to learn about the NSC scholarship program. Click here to read the NSC DE&I Commitment Statement.
Additional NSC DE&I Efforts
NSC recently took several additional measures to further its DE&I commitment, including the following:
- Launch of the Delegates DE&I Advisory Group, a formal structure to solicit NSC Delegates’ advice and guidance on DE&I topics that intersect with ensuring the safety of all those we serve, informing NSC strategies and tactics across practice areas
- Initiating an internal DE&I Steering Committee to identify areas of strategic alignment with mission-related initiatives, interface with the Delegates DE&I Advisory Group, and foster a psychologically safe and inclusive work environment where NSC colleagues feel empowered to bring their full selves to work
- Creation of a DE&I subcommittee by the Nomination & Governance Committee of the NSC Board of Directors to provide guidance to the board and CEO.
Additionally, NSC Board diversity considerations include gender identity, race and ethnicity along with other parameters such as industry background, professional experience, safety expertise and life experience. While NSC is now exceeding nonprofit DE&I benchmarks for its current board of directors in terms of race, ethnicity and gender identity, NSC is committed to continued progress to enable us to better fulfill our mission of being a safety advocate for an increasingly diverse workplace.
For the first time ever at NSC, both the president/CEO and chair of the board are female: Lorraine Martin and Elaine Beitler, respectively. Enhancing diversity at the board level is one part of the overarching DE&I strategy at the Council.
“NSC is committed to deepening our focus on diversity, equity and inclusion in a holistic fashion,” said Lorraine Martin, NSC president and CEO. “These new efforts represent another step in our journey to strengthen our DE&I efforts both inside our organization and in the way we serve our mission. Exceeding the current benchmarks for nonprofit board diversity is only the starting point. In every aspect, our organization must represent the full breadth of those we serve. We know bringing more diverse perspectives to the table is key to propelling our mission of saving lives and preventing injuries for all, from the workplace to anyplace.”
About the National Safety Council
The National Safety Council is America’s leading nonprofit safety advocate - and has been for over 100 years. As a mission-based organization, we work to eliminate the leading causes of preventable death and injury, focusing our efforts on the workplace, roadway and impairment. We create a culture of safety to not only keep people safer at work, but also beyond the workplace so they can live their fullest lives.
