Rusti Dyals is a Certified Safety Professional (CSP) and a member of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) with 20 years of environmental, health, and safety (EHS) experience across FM, forest product and semi-conductor industries. She currently serves as ESFM’s National Director of Environment, Health & Safety. Before that, she successfully supported a national ESFM life science client for nearly four years.
ESFM is the corporate integrated facilities management division of Compass Group USA. Compass Group North America services over 3,000 FM clients totaling 1.9B sq. ft. ESFM’s clients represent household names across the life sciences, technology, oil & gas and manufacturing markets.
For our latest Faces of EHS profile, we sat down with Rusti to discuss how she got involved in EHS, adjusting for an ageing workforce, and improving company culture through action.
Q: How did you get your start in the field?
Completely by accident! I graduated college in Kentucky with a degree in public relations, but we were in a recession at the time I graduated, and communication jobs were hard to come by. While I was looking for a job, I moved to North Carolina to work for my sister who owns an agricultural and environmental consulting company. I began attending her church and generally getting to know the community where her husband grew up.
After a couple of months, one of the deacons of the church, Dan, approached me and asked me to interview for an EHS coordinator position. He was the plant manager at the local International Paper sawmill. During the interview, I asked him why me? – I could spell OSHA & EPA but that was about it. Dan laughed but told me something that’s always stuck with me: “We can teach you the OSHA and EPA regulations and generally how to do the technical side of EHS, but I can’t teach you people skills. You will use your PR degree every day in this role because at the heart of EHS is people.” So, I took the position and 20+ years later, here I am.
Q: Who has been your biggest influence in the industry?
The people at that IP sawmill in North Carolina. Not only my various bosses, but also the employees who taught me what a GREAT safety program looks like. It was a union facility – one of the rare ones that had a good relationship with management – and they had recently applied to North Carolina’s version of the Voluntary Protection Program, STAR. Within the first month, I got a crash course on the requirements of the program.
In preparation for the preliminary and official inspection, we were doing equipment upgrades (overhauling the electrical wiring from the ’70s), EHS process improvements and conducting mock interviews with the employees. Those employees were amazing – they showed me what employee engagement should look like and how leadership supported and guided them. We were the first sawmill in NC to be inducted into the STAR program and recertified three years later before I moved on.
Q: What’s your favorite and least favorite part about working in the industry? Would you change anything?
Favorite part – People. Least favorite – People! My greatest fulfillment is being able to help people, either individually or as a team or site. I like making people laugh, making them think creatively and helping them solve their own problems.
However, dealing with complaints or fraud or any other negative interaction will quickly ruin my mood or day. I’m not a people pleaser by any means (as my husband can attest), but, and I think this is the case for many EHS professionals, being supportive and helpful is my default mode, so it disappoints me when I can’t help. I’m also my own worst critic, so I always think that there’s something that I should have been able to do to help.
Q: What are your thoughts on safety culture? How can company leaders make safety a value within their organization?
What a large topic! The more I work in this field, the more I shy away from saying “safety” culture because it’s really all intertwined – it’s just the company culture in my mind. How do we improve any culture? Well, that leads to how do we influence or convince our associates of “X”?
Actions. As humans, we will listen to a great orator and legitimately feel inspired, but if there is no specific call to action or accountability afterwards, the inspiration fizzles out. Action is what convinces people that you are genuine. Action reinforces behaviors. Action brings about change. Company leaders that truly want to improve their culture need to take an unobjective view of what they have, create an actionable plan (what will our people see us doing?!), execute that plan, and then reinforce that plan every day by their actions.
Q: What safety concerns or issues do you think need more prioritization in EHS programs?
We need to focus more on addressing our ageing workforce. So many people are working into their 70s and even 80s, which I think is amazing. However, that presents a different type of risk profile. A task that would be well within the body limitations of a younger person (lifting a 25-pound box) may be risky for someone older.
Additionally, the injury itself can be more severe – I know of someone who recently experienced a fall that would have left most of us with some bruises, but instead fractured her tibia, requiring emergency surgery. Did her age (65) have something to do with it? Maybe. Or it could have been several other factors that we don’t know about. How do we protect these valuable associates who are at a higher risk (through no fault of their own)? Also, how do we proactively look at the risks and solutions without discriminating? As birth rates continue to drop in the US, this issue will only become more important.
Q: How will new safety technologies influence the work being done by EHS professionals?
EHS professionals will continue to grow how we use technology to gather and analyze data, communicate, and train our associates. Wearables are an opportunity to better understand how certain tasks or movements impact the human body. Using that information, we can create better ergonomic designs or tools to minimize the potential for injuries.
From a communication standpoint, ESFM is already doing a great job using a mobile app (Nudge) to stay in touch with our numerous associates across the U.S. This allows us to push EHS reminders and announcements out to not only our managers, but also our hourly associates. We’ve been using online learning management systems for many years, but I see virtual reality training being the next big thing. Imagine: an associate learning to drive a forklift in the safety of the classroom via virtual reality. Technology is growing at such a rapid rate, new uses in the EHS world are being created every day.
Q: What are you most proud of?
At this point in my career, I’m most proud of the growth of the individuals I’ve had the honor of mentoring and coaching, whether that’s EHS professionals or operations. I realized a long time ago that the EHS achievements of my company are “our” achievements – I may have pointed them in the right direction, but managers and associates did the heavy lifting and the hard work to accomplish what we set out to do.
Being able to give back and work one-on-one with individuals to help them grow in EHS knowledge or in their EHS career is exceptionally rewarding to me. It’s also my way of honoring all the amazing mentors I’ve had through the years.
Q: Do you have any advice for people entering the profession?
My advice for those entering this profession is two-fold.
First, be flexible – one size does not fit all in EHS. Work with the associates and managers to find the best solution for the problem. Sometimes, OSHA and other regulatory agencies are very clear about how or when to do something, but many times the regulation is written in broader terms to allow for flexibility between industries and companies. Be open to conversations about new ways to do things, understanding that continuous improvement is the long view.
Secondly, be an advocate for everyone – associates and management alike. Each have their unique set of pressures and issues – EHS is quite often the bridge, the common language that they speak (or should speak). Treat everyone with dignity and respect. Take the time to listen to needs or ideas. A career in EHS will not always be easy or rewarding, but it is worthwhile and can be what you make of it.