Ronald G. Dotson

Role:
Associate Professor, Department of Safety and Security
Occupational Safety and Health Program Coordinator
Eastern Kentucky University

Education:

Ed. D. Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky

M.S.  Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Kentucky

B.A.  Marshall University, Huntington, West Virginia

Ron is currently an associate professor and program coordinator of Occupational Safety and Health at Eastern Kentucky University. He is a Certified Safety and Health Manager with ISHM, a Construction Health and Safety Technologist through BCSP, an active member of the Institute for Safety and Health Management, American Society of Safety Engineers, and the National Association of Safety Professionals. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Kentucky Safety and Health Network, an OSHA Training Institute Construction Trainer, and operated an excavation business. He has safety management experience in the public sector and private sector in general and construction industries. His current research interests include playground safety and occupational injuries of educational service employees.

Scotty is an Associate Professor in the School of Safety, Security and Emergency Management teaching graduate occupational safety courses. He began his career in safety as a Safety Specialist at a state psychiatric hospital in a suburb of Baltimore, Maryland.  He then moved to Zanesville, Ohio where he served as the Safety Manager at an AutoZone distribution center.  After three years with AutoZone, Scotty went on to spend six years in the grain industry working for Cargill in Minneapolis, Minnesota and Archer Daniels Midland (ADM) in Decatur, Illinois.  He served as corporate health and safety director for both organizations in their respective grain divisions. He then led Environment Safety and Health initiatives for Nike in Memphis where the majority of equipment, footwear and apparel are distributed in the U.S. and Nike’s dot-com business is operated.  In his most recent role, Scotty is an Associate Professor in EKU’s graduate Safety Security and Emergency Management graduate program.

In addition to his work responsibilities, Scotty served in a number of leadership roles in two grain industry trade organizations, the Grain Elevator and Processing Society (GEAPS) and the National Grain and Feed Association (NGFA).  He was a featured grain industry speaker at numerous national and regional conferences throughout the U.S. and Canada.  Scotty has also been a previous speaker at the National Safety Congress and ASSE national Professional Development Conferences. Currently, Scotty serves on the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Risk Assessment Institute (www.oshrisk.org) and is a member of the US Technical Advisory Group (TAG) for the establishment of ISO 45001 – Occupational Safety and Health Management Systems.

Scotty is a published writer on such topics as OSHA compliance, DOT compliance, behavior-based safety, and organizational safety culture.  His work has appeared in Professional Safety, the Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, and World Grain Magazine.  He has published textbooks on motor carrier safety, auditing, and school safety. His current research is in the area of industry leader development and involvement in workplace safety and health and safety management system assessment.

Education

• Doctorate of Education (EdD) in Higher and Adult Education from the University of Memphis
• Master of Science (MS) in Loss Prevention and Safety from Eastern Kentucky University
• Bachelor of Arts (BA) in Missions from Tennessee Temple University

Professional Organizations

• American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE)
  • Professional Member
  • Academic Practice Specialty Member
  • Risk Assessment Institute Committee Member
  • US Technical Advisory (TAG) member for ISO 45001
• Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP)
  • Certified Safety Professional (CSP) – certificate number 17886

Thomas D. Schneid is the Chair of the Department of Safety and Security and a tenured professor in the School of Safety, Security and Emergency Management in the College of Justice and Safety at Eastern Kentucky University. Tom has worked in the safety, human resource and legal fields and has represented numerous corporations and individuals in OSHA and labor/employment related litigations throughout the United States. Tom has earned a B.S. in education, M.S. and CAS in safety as well as his Juris Doctor (J.D. in law) from West Virginia University and LL.M. (Graduate Labor and Employment Law) from the University of San Diego. Tom is a member of the bar for the U.S. Supreme Court, 6th Circuit Court of Appeals and a number of federal districts as well as the Kentucky and West Virginia Bar.

Tom has authored and/or co-authored numerous texts on including Workplace Safety and Health: Assessing Current Practices and Promoting Change in the Profession (2014), Corporate Safety Compliance: Law, OSHA and Ethics (2008); Labor and Employment Issues for Safety Professional (2011); Americans With Disabilities Act: A Compliance Guide (1994);  ADA: A Manager’s Guide (1993);  Legal Liabilities for Safety and Loss Prevention Professionals (2010); Fire and Emergency Law Casebook (1996); Creative Safety Solutions (1998); Occupational Health Guide to Violence in the Workplace (1999); Legal Liabilities in Emergency Management (2001) and Fire Law (1995). Tom has also co-authored several texts including Food Safety Law (1997), Legal Liabilities for Safety and Loss Prevention Professionals (1997), Physical Hazards in the Workplace (2001), and Disaster Management and Preparedness (2000) as well as over 100 articles on safety and legal topics.. 

Tom’s primary areas of academic interest include occupational safety management, employment discrimination law, disability law and workplace violence prevention.

Education:

Ph.D. / University of Kentucky (2006)
J.D. / DePaul University College of Law (Concentration: Labor and Employment) (1991)
M.S. /Oregon State University (1981) and M.S. / Eastern Kentucky University (SSEM- exp. Dec 2015)
B.S. /Oregon State University (1979)

Dr. Michael Schumann is a tenured full professor at Easter Kentucky University in the Department of Safety, Security and Emergency Management (SSEM). He teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and was the driving force in designing and starting the undergraduate online Occupational Safety Program at EKU. Dr. Schumann’s typical courses include: safety management, process safety, safety metrics, ergonomics, legal aspects of fire protection and safety, hazard identification, principals of occupational safety and health legislation, workers compensation, labor law, and legislation/legal compliance. He is the past Program Coordinator of the Occupational Safety program.

Dr Schumann has a very broad background in the law and safety related fields. During and after college, Dr. Schumann worked over 12 years in the Meat Industry (holding such positions as production supervisor, Director of Quality Control, and for 8 1/2 years, as Director of Industrial Relations). After law school, and prior to co-founding his Richmond, Kentucky law firm, Dr. Schumann practiced law in Chicago, Illinois, concentrating in labor, employment, and workers’ compensation law.

He has extensive experience with labor/management issues and has negotiated numerous collective bargaining agreements. He has worked with many unions, including the UFCW, Teamsters, UAW, IBEW, and Service Employees International Unions.

Dr. Schumann was General Counsel for a Tier I Japanese automotive stamping company for 5 years, with oversight responsibility for safety, environmental compliance and human resources.

He was the President of the Kentucky Safety and Health Network from 2008-2009. This group sponsors the Governor’s Conference on Health and Safety each year in Louisville, KY., as well as the KSHN Construction Conference. Dr. Schumann is also a Certified Safety and Health Manager (CSHM). He is currently serving on the Board of Directors of the Institute for Safety and Health Management (ISHM).

Dr. Schumann has extensive experience with both Federal and Kentucky OSHA, working with such issues as safety training, pre-inspection compliance, wall-to wall inspections, citations, administrative reviews and litigation. He is also an authorized instructor of Federal OSHA’s Training Institute Education Center at EKU, and former chair of the OTIEC construction courses.

Dr. Schumann has conducted well over 70 management training seminars, dealing with issues such as safety management; the Americans With Disabilities Act; the FMLA; workers compensation; and human resource issues. He has worked with such organizations as: United Airlines, Coca-Cola, Jewel Food Stores, The Chicago Bar Association, The Kentucky Bar Association, Kemper Insurance, Borg- Warner, EBI Insurance, Abbott Labs, Governor’s Conference on Safety and Health, the Kentucky Construction Conference, the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Lawyers Association, the National Safety Congress/Expo., and one of the largest drug manufacturers in China, Zhejiang Medical Corporation, where his presentation topic was “Human Error & Reliability: A Systems Safety Approach to Human Error Reduction in Complex Systems.” (Xinchang, China). In the summer of 2013, he was invited by the Russian Ministry of Labor to speak on the topic of ANSI Z-10–2012 (Management Systems). Dr. Schumann has agreed to work with them for the next few years to implement it. He spoke in Irkutsk and Ulan Ude, Republic of Buryatia, Russian, a very large province in Siberia.

Dr. Schumann has published a number of articles and co-authored two textbooks, the first entitled: “Food Safety Law” and the second, “Legal Liabilities for Safety and Loss Prevention Professionals“.  He was also the co-authored and instructor for the Human Resources Certification Program offered by EKU.

Barry S. Spurlock, J.D., CSP, is an Assistant Professor, and has extensive experience working as a safety professional in manufacturing, insurance loss control and consulting. Barry is also a practicing attorney and has focused much of his practice on employment law and representing employers with OSHA matters. He holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Industrial Safety and Risk Management, and a Master of Science in Loss Prevention and Safety Administration, both from Eastern Kentucky University. Mr. Spurlock also holds a Juris Doctor from Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law. Barry is an active member of the American Society of Safety Engineers and currently serves  as the EKU Student Section’s Faculty Advisor, and the Louisville Chapter as a past president and as chair of the Government Affairs Committee. He is also a member of ASSE’s National Government Affairs Committee. He is co-author of the book “Chomp Comp; The Small Business Guide to Lower Worker’s Compensation Premiums.”  Barry is a frequent speaker at various national safety conferences on research interests in the field of safety performance measurement, hazard control efficacy and legal issues affecting occupational safety and health.