'People Asked Me if My Fall Protection Failed. I'm the One That Failed.'

The Tennessee Safety & Health Conference is June 10-12 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in Nashville. (Mike Rivera / Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development)

• Respiratory protection
• OSHA recordkeeping
• Machine guarding
• Safety and artificial intelligence
• Construction safety
• Electrical safety
• Lockout/Tagout
• Heat-related illnesses
• Hearing conservation and noise controls
• Trenching and excavation

Although some sessions target safety leaders and managers, the conference provides valuable information for all workers.

“Employers should consider not just sending dedicated (environmental health and safety) staff but other management staff and front-line workers,” said Garrett Rea, Assistant Administrator for TOSHA. “The information gleaned at the conference will hopefully influence the delegates to make changes or improvements at their home workplaces, in theory preventing Tennessee workers from being injured or killed in their workplace.”

Wendy Fisher, the Assistant Commissioner for TOSHA, has conducted over 50 seminars on safety during her 32 years with the agency. She’s spoken on electrical safety, master logger safety, and fall protection.

At this year’s TSHC, Fisher will give a presentation detailing each workplace fatality investigated by TOSHA in 2023. She will discuss ways to prevent deaths and other workplace hazards.

Bryan Lane is another regular presenter at TSHC. He is the OSHA Consultant for the University of Tennessee Center for Industrial Services, where he has worked for 26 years. In that role, he travels the state offering safety and health assistance to employers and employees. This year at TSHC, he’ll lead the 10-hour General Industry Course.

Presented over two days, the class teaches entry-level workers about their safety and health rights and how to identify and correct common workplace hazards.

“Knowing that you have rights and how to identify hazards can make the difference between getting injured or not,” Lane said.

Participants who complete the course will receive an OSHA 10-Hour General Industry card, a valuable credential.

Conference attendees also can earn continuing education units.

Ken Alexandrow, founder of AGAPE Tactical, speaks at a previous Tennessee Safety & Health Conference. (Mike Rivera / Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development)

Four years after the accident, Youngstrom was invited to speak at a safety brunch. He initially said yes but backed out because he was “too embarrassed.”

When he eventually told his story, an audience member approached Youngstrom and asked if he would speak to his work team. That led to more speaking engagements. Youngstrom started bringing his wife, Laurel, to talk about how the accident has affected every part of her life as well. “She got more questions than I did, even though she’s prettier,” he said with a laugh.

The couple started Youngstrom Safety about five years after the accident. They travel around the country, speaking at trainings, safety conferences and job sites. (A few years ago, they came to Nashville to give a presentation for Mortenson when it was building the soccer stadium.)

Their motto: Moving safety from the head to the heart. They want workers to think about their loved ones and their hopes and dreams — everything they could lose by being careless.  

Laurel Youngstrom advises managers to get to know their teams.

“Don’t make safety a bunch of rules and regulations. Make it more of a relationship,” she said. “Find out what it is they’re looking forward to. What’s on their bucket list? What do they not want to miss out on?”

The Youngstroms have reinforced that message during the nearly 500 virtual and in-person talks they’ve given during the past 23 years. At the end of their presentations, they pass out yellow silicone bracelets and Sharpie pens and encourage audience members to write on the bracelets the things that mean the most to them. (One woman wrote down the name of her cat.)

“That reminds them why they’re safe and who they want to be safe for,” Laurel Youngstrom said.

Wendy Fisher has served with TOSHA for 32 years, including the last four as Assistant Commissioner. She is retiring June 28. (Mike Rivera / Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development)

The Future of TOSHA

This month’s Tennessee Safety & Health Conference will be the last for Fisher. After 32 years at TOSHA (including the last four as Assistant Commissioner), she is retiring June 28. Larry Hunt, who has worked with TOSHA for 26 years, has been named the new Assistant Commissioner.

During her tenure, Fisher was instrumental in improving the documentation of safety compliance inspection reports. She also helped streamline the process for addressing complaints by letter (CBLs) and rapid referral investigations (RRIs). (TOSHA typically averages 400 complaints and/or referrals a month.)

Fisher also navigated TOSHA through the COVID-19 pandemic when the division reached an average of 1,000 complaints per month for nearly two years. During that time, Fisher and her staff developed an Emergency Temporary Standard for the health care industry to address COVID-related issues in the workplace.

“That was a time frame during which so many new things were thrown at us and we had to pivot almost every day,” she said.

Given the importance of its work, Fisher said she’d like to see TOSHA grow its staff across the state.

“Our employees have the responsibility to learn and know a multitude of standards for many industries — not to mention the charge of investigating every workplace fatality and most amputations/hospitalizations,” she said. “These types of inspections can take a toll on one’s mind/body; therefore, spreading the work over more folks would be beneficial.”

Lane agrees that TOSHA’s work is difficult but vital.

“Safety can be a lonely business,” he said. “Most people do not like safety, safety people, safety training, or safety rules (until they get hurt!). … TOSHA people are good people who want to help you.”