C.J. Gish
The Campus Safety, Health, and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) recognized Santa Fe College’s Building Safety Ambassador program with the 2022 Innovation Award for Safety Culture this week.
SF received the award at this week’s CSHEMA’s annual conference in Scottsdale, Arizona and was the only state college to receive an award from CSHEMA. Other colleges honored by CSHEMA included North Carolina State, South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, Texas A&M and the University of Utah.
“We are honored to receive this award,” said Marian Nesbitt, SF’s safety and risk coordinator, in a press release. “It is a credit to the leadership of the college for approving this program and to the employees who have given of their time to serve the college community. I am very proud to be a part of this incredible team.”
CSHEMA is the preeminent leadership organization representing the Environmental, Health and Safety profession in campus environments.
The SF Building Safety Ambassador program started in 2019 as a pilot program. The program was created by Nesbitt, Santa Fe Police Department (SFPD) Chief Ed Book and SFPD Capt. Ryan Woods and was designed to provide additional safety and security measures.
The program trains employees in CPR and Basic Life Support, Stop the Bleed kits, evacuation drills, emergency procedures, fire suppression and extinguisher orientation, and recognizing hazardous conditions. Personnel who complete the two days of formalized training are deployed throughout the campus to assist in the event of an emergency or hazardous situation, along with proactively providing the assistance needed to keep students, faculty, staff and visitors at the college safe.