American Industrial Hygiene Association and American Society of Safety Engineers Joint Resolution on Title Protection

To promote mutual interests and create a harmonized legislative approach to title protection for industrial hygiene and safety professionals, the Boards of Directors of the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the American Society of Safety Engineers agree to inform their local sections/SGAOs, councils and chapters that when considering the initiation of title protection, a good faith effort should be made to undertake such action jointly. This agreement shall be implemented by following the joint process for title protection set forth below:

1. When a local AIHA section/SGAO or ASSE chapter intends introduction of title protection, the local section/SGAO or chapter will contact its national office.

2. The national office of the initiating organization (AIHA/ASSE) will then contact the national office of the other organization to inform them of the title protection initiative.

3. The non-initi ating national organization will inform its local sections/SGAOs or chap ters (AIHA/ASSE) and encourage them to contact the local sections/SGAOs or chapters of the other (initiating) organization, identifying any areas of concern and areas requiring assistance. At the same time, the initiating national organization will encourage its local sections/SGAOs or chapters to cooperate with the non-initiating organization in this effort.

4. The national office of the non-initiating organization (AIHA/ASSE) will contact the local section/SGAO or chapter, again to ensure that all issues are addressed and determine what action will be or needs to be taken. Further, the national offices of both organizations will work with the local sections/SGAOs and chapters to address areas of concern.

5. The local s ections/SGAOs or chapters (AIHA/ASSE) of the non-initiating organization will respond to the other local organizational entity or lead person in writing as soon as possible. The written response, representing a consensus of local section/SGAO or chapter officers, will indicate the following:

• If a negative reply to the title protection initiative, the local sections/ SGAOs or chapters will explain why and state that they will not oppose the legislation as long as the legislation does not adversely affect the profession.
• If an affirmative reply to the title protection initiative, the local sections/SGAOs or chapters will identify how they agree to assist and what financial contribution will be provided.

Failing the above joint process, the local sections/SGAOs or chapters should do all possible to craft legislation which will not adversely affect the other organization.

A corollary of the discussions resulting in this agreement was the need to improve communications between the organizations at national and local levels. An initial four-step approach, as part of the agreement, is offered accordingly:

• be active in joint leadership training on title protection by exchanging invitations to address each others' organization,
• publish joint editorials on this process and future activity for title protection,
• do joint presentations at each others various conferences (regional PDCs, other events) where warranted,
• share/exchange lists of names of the principal managers of the title protection initiatives, including local section/SGAO or chapter presidents, governmental affairs chairs, state-wide, and regional representatives.

A periodic review of this joint agreement, including the joint process and its communication corollary, will be part of the basic agreement to assess whether harmonization objectives are reached. The exact time frame for review will be stipulated according to the wishes of each organization's Board of Directors.

Adopted by Board of Directors: September 28, 1997