In Safe Hands: Pitt IE Professor updates authoritative manual for safety professionals around the globe
IE Professor Joel Haight Publishes Third Edition of the Safety Professionals Handbook
After working with more than 80 authors over the last five years, Joel M. Haight, professor of industrial engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, has edited and published the latest edition of the Safety Professionals Handbook.
The handbook is a reference for practicing occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals and students learning foundational safety, occupational health and environmental concepts, methods and objectives.
Dr. Haight has edited and co-authored all three editions dating to the book’s launch in 2003. For its third and newest edition, Haight added three new sections covering global sustainability, management systems, and leadership, and expanded on former topics like ergonomics, fire protection engineering, engineering management, and risk management.
“We created this to be a guide for those working in OSH,” Haight said. “But by doing that, we have to continually keep it relevant to the field.”
To work with each author, Haight usually juggles different time zones and area codes; however, one writer was located in the office next door to Haight’s at Pitt. Karen Bursic, professor of industrial engineering and undergraduate program director at Pitt, co-authored the engineering management section alongside Haight. Together, they expanded on the economics of engineering and people management, including managing conflict and situation leadership.
“Professor Haight is extremely knowledgeable in safety engineering and was the ideal expert to edit the Safety Professionals Handbook,” Bursic said. “I enjoyed working with him on our chapter to identify and describe how safety professionals can apply engineering management tools and concepts.”
The Safety Professionals Handbook, published by the American Society of Safety Professionals, is available for purchase here.