Message From The President – April 2020

Dear Fellow Chapter Members and Friends,

About a week ahead of our scheduled March 20th Chapter meeting, the Executive Board decided it best that we cancel that event. Our feeling at that time was that the risk of sharing COVID-19 was probably not that significant. All the same, we cancelled that meeting out of “an abundance of caution”. Good move. Not much more than two weeks later, Jefferson County became one of the viral “hot spots” in Alabama. Now, a little more than three weeks later, we’re in shelter-in-place mode statewide. What’s next? That pretty much depends on how well we can discipline ourselves and educate others to take these current precautions a good deal more seriously.

Where do we go from here? Clearly, we need to continue to do those things within our control to eventually reduce the spread of COVID-19. We all know what those things are – the personal hygiene practices, the interpersonal precautions, and the need to keep a low profile around this pandemic. We’re in need of adopting some new habits, as if our lives depended on it. Or potentially the lives of others, for those who care about such things. As safety professionals, people will look to us for reliable guidance, so let’s make sure what we’re sharing with our workers, friends and contacts is just that – information gleaned from the most authoritative sources we can find.

This is our moment to shine, folks. Exercise great caution out there – an abundance of caution – and let’s show the world the true value of building safety and health into our everyday lives. One of the painful lessons wrought by COVID-19 will forever redefine the rate of return on prevention. That ounce is no longer worth a mere pound of cure. It’ll be more like tons and tons of cure by the time this pandemic is reigned in.

Obviously, our April 22 awards luncheon is cancelled. We’ll see what the situation looks like in May.

Best wishes for continued good health to you and yours,

Matt Hollub

President, ASSP Alabama Chapter