Enhancing OEHS Communication Skills:
Resources

Enhancing OEHS Communication Skills Mission Statement

This priority focuses on developing the interpersonal skills of OEHS professionals to effectively listen to, relate to, communicate with, educate, and collaborate with a diverse range of stakeholders to enhance the influence and value of the OEHS profession in a dynamic social-technological landscape.

Enhancing OEHS Communication Skills Vision Statements

1. AIHA is a champion for generating awareness of and promoting the OEHS profession's value to the U.S. business sector , general public, and prospective OEHS students.
2. AIHA equips OEHS professionals with the interpersonal skills needed to communicate effectively to stakeholders with varying levels of understanding and perspectives.
3. AIHA develops guidance and tools to support OEHS professionals in communicating OEHS concepts to diverse audiences and communities with varying levels of understanding and perspectives.

Bodies of Work

Volunteer Committees’ Bodies of Work include White Papers, Guidance Documents, Fact Sheets, and Position Statements. Access an extensive library of resources developed by AIHA Volunteer Committees in their specialty areas on various topics of interest.

Frameworks

Frameworks are written by appointed members and volunteers that work collaboratively to develop guides, which outline the knowledge and skills a competent person should possess and be able to demonstrate in a specific topic or specialty.

• Technical Framework: The Road Map for OSH Professionals is a toolkit that outlines the knowledge and skills and serves as a guide for occupational safety and health professionals who manage health risks posed by an environmental agent.
• Technical Framework: Business Value Presentation outlines what one needs to possess and demonstrate as a business case for interventions to reduce or eliminate adverse exposures.

AIHA Webinars

• Strategies for Effective Risk Communication explores how effective communication is a learned skill. Building trust and empathy are critical in any two-way conversation, and listening is often the most crucial aspect in effective communication. Learn how storytelling can be more effective than a technical presentation with mounds of data.

• IP for IH - Industrial Practices for Industrial Hygienists gives a brief introduction of the “information processing” model of human cognition. Learning specific evidence-based techniques for creating training that people remember leads to changed behaviors and results in desired outcomes. This webinar is geared toward OEHS professionals who play a role in designing, developing, delivering, or evaluating health and safety training or are working toward their CIH credentials. Additionally, this webinar will benefit students interested in learning more about OEHS career opportunities.
• Communicate Science Effectively by Using Risk Perceptions, Narrative, and Persuasion Theory explores the science and art of conflict management, relatability, team cohesion, value setting, interpersonal communication, using narratives/stories, the affect/experiential risk system, and how our cognitive biases affect them. Examples, cases, and micro-stories will illustrate how you can successfully incorporate the techniques shown.
  
• Power of Thought - Critical Thinking for Occupational Health and Safety Professionals teaches critical thinking skills and mental models of world-class leaders. Critical thinking is one of the most valuable skills for OEHS professionals because it empowers them to solve complex problems while cultivating high-demand leadership abilities. In this profession, it is essential to have a framework for thinking about complex issues and problem-solving.
• Introduction to Emotional Intelligence (aka Emotional Quotient) explores how to practice high emotional intelligence levels (EI). Managing professional relationships ties directly into EI, making or breaking the changes to get a promotion, close a deal, or achieve any business endeavor. This webinar, presented by Larry Sloan, AIHA’s CEO, and Stacey Croghan, a founding Women in Industrial Hygiene committee member, describes the nature of emotional intelligence and how necessary it can be to move up the organizational ladder and achieve career success.
• Take Charge of Your Career: Roadmap to Success gives tips on planning your OEHS career by reviewing how to develop a skills inventory of technical and “soft” skills based on the recently updated AIHA Core Competencies publication. Soft skills (or power skills as they are sometimes called) are just as crucial to your career success as technical competencies.

The Synergist

• Synergist Archives, access to The Synergist archives is a benefit of AIHA membership and will require a member login.
  • Improving Workers' Decision-Making (February 2023 issue) explores the OEHS implications of cognitive and behavioral psychology.

• Synergist Blogs
  • From the Archives: Readings in Risk Assessment
  • From the Archives: Readings in Critical Thinking
  • Three Ways to Improve Your Critical Thinking Skills
  • Decision-Making in Managing Risks: Navigating the Prickly and the Paradoxical

Volunteer Groups

• Content Portfolio Advisory Group (CPAG) helps advance AIHA’s mission and values by providing input and advice to the AIHA Board and staff regarding the content AIHA provides to members and other stakeholders. Content may include documents, articles, white papers, fact sheets, publications, and more. Here you can find information on how you can contribute to the development and advocacy of AIHA content. To see current initiatives, please visit the Enhancing OEHS Communication Skills dashboard.
• Risk Committee supports and promotes human health risk assessment to better understand and control the hazards found within the workplace and environmental settings.
• Leadership and Management Committee promotes the health and safety of all workers, the public, and the environment by developing core leadership competencies of OEHS professionals.