Live from Safety 2008: ASSE Names Safety Professional of the Year
In what has so far been a week of steady awards and recognition here in Las Vegas at ASSE’s Safety 2008 Professional Development Conference and Exposition, this is the big one. Honoring his continued efforts in enhancing workplace safety and health, ASSE today named Emory E. Knowles III, CSP, CIH, of Baltimore, Md., as the recipient of the Edgar Monsanto Queeny Safety Professional of the Year award.
Knowles currently serves as manager of industrial hygiene and safety for Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Electronic Systems Sector in Linthicum, Md. He is also an associate at Bloomberg School of Hygiene and Public Health at Johns Hopkins University Graduate School in Baltimore and an occupational safety and health instructor at the Community College of Baltimore County in Catonsville, Md. Prior to joining Northrop, he was manager of industrial hygiene for Westinghouse Electric Corp.
In 2004, Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao appointed Knowles to the National Advisory Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NACOSH). He also was later appointed to the Maryland Occupational Safety and Health Advisory Board and was elected to the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. He actively serves on several American National Standards Institute (ANSI) committees and on the board of directors of the Chesapeake Region Safety Council.
Knowles, an ASSE professional member for more than 25 years, currently serves as a member of the society’s Virtual Task Force Committee. His many roles in the society have included being chair of the ASSE Governmental Affairs Committee(GAC); serving as GAC liaison to the ASSE Council on Professional Affairs; chairing the ASSE Region VI Awards Committee; and being president of the ASSE Chesapeake Chapter, where he is currently a member. He served as editor for the book Noise Control, has published book reviews and papers, and has presented on various SH&E topics at conferences. In 2006 he received the ASSE Region VI SPY Award, and in 2005 he received he ASSE Charles V. Culbertson Outstanding Volunteer Service Award for his work on the ASSE GAC.
”Emory has been active in the safety community over the years following his tenure in all elected offices of the ASSE Chesapeake Chapter,” said Northrop Grumman’s EHS and Fire Protection Director Kip Keenan, who nominated Knowles for the SPY award. “He has been innovative and forward thinking in his approach to our business, managing multiple industrial hygiene and safety programs to achieve OSHA incidence rates that have consistently, over the years, been below both corporate and industry rates.”
Sponsored by the Monsanto Corporation, the award was created in honor of its third president and son of the founder, Edgar Monsanto Queeny, for his personal commitment to protect workers from industrial accidents and health hazards.