Biography

Camille Oakes, CSP, MEng, SMS is a safety professional with over thirteen years of experience in the field of safety and health in diverse industries including warehousing, transportation, logistics and supply chain, packaging, government and military contracting. Camille holds a Master’s Degree in Advanced Safety and Engineering Management from the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a Bachelor’s degree in Safety Science from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. She is a skilled trainer, facilitator and content creator. Ms. Oakes is a Past President of the Georgia Chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) and has been a member of the executive board since 2012.

Camille is particularly passionate about the Art of Safety and helping safety professionals become partners with their operations leaders in order to advance the safety management system and make real change happen. As the founder of Better Safety, Camille consults with companies to employ better training, better culture and better business practices by developing their safety professionals and improving their safety performance. She teaches safety and operations managers to partner with each other so they can figure out a way to do what operations wants, yet still be safe. Camille conducts leadership training for operations leaders on how to manage with safety in mind. She also works to develop safety professionals through speaking engagements and workshops that include sales techniques, presentational skills, preparation and communicating with non-safety professionals. She is happily a resident of Atlanta, GA where she lives with her husband, toddler son and neurotic dog.

Platform Statement

My goal as a leader in WISE is to help our profession use inclusion and diversity to actually improve organizations and protect workers. Society’s diversity policy says it best, that, “creating an inclusive culture that embraces differences also best positions ASSP to address evolving member needs and advance the OSH profession.”

As an Assistant Administrator, I would join in the WISE goal to strategically address and develop solutions to:

• Confront workplace violence
• Elevate women into leadership roles in Occupational Safety and Health
• Address PPE fit for women

Additionally, I will focus on the following topics, with feedback from the membership on how best to use these topics to advance our mission:

1. Discussion and promotion of Intersectionality, the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, age, gender identity and sexuality. We can do this by bringing the other Common Interest Groups to the table. Interviews, podcasts, representative membership and feedback from them will give us a better idea of the real challenges that our members and our profession face.
2. Harassment and Discrimination Toolkits. In the real world of our membership and our profession, many are dealing with harassment ranging from inappropriate comments to much worse. Our members deserve to know what options are available to them.
3. Continue to expand ChapterWISE. Women in safety and those who believe in our mission can lean on each other by connecting locally. We are running as a team for UA President and Vice President. We hope to use our strength and experience as student advocates to represent the needs, concerns, and ideas of all undergraduates in bringing about positive change on our campus.

I am honored to be considered for the Assistant Administrator Position within WISE. If elected, I promise to serve the membership and profession with diligence and passion.