The American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) announced recently that the Society will assume the role of secretariat for the International Network of Safety and Health Practitioner Organizations (INSHPO). Founded in 2001, INSHPO is a not-for-profit group of international organizations with ‘practitioner members’ devoted to advancing and practicing occupational safety and health.

INSHPO was created with the objective of promoting and developing the occupational safety and health profession worldwide; facilitating the exchange of information among member organizations; encouraging further development of occupational safety and health at a professional level; and, engaging with other bodies in the field of safety and health in areas of common interest. ASSE, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH-UK) and the Canadian Society of Safety Engineering (CSSE) were the founding members of the INSHPO network.

Long-term objectives for INSHPO include gathering data from other countries on competence standards for occupational safety and health practitioners and providing that information to members.

In addition to ASSE, CSSE, and IOSH-UK, INSHPO has 13 member and 3 affiliate organizations comprised of occupational safety and health practitioners. INSHPO membership is open to generalist professional safety and health practitioner organizations throughout the world, but not to individual practitioners.