Bruce Main, P.E., CSP, a longtime member of the American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), earns the 2024 Prevention through Design (PtD) Award.
The honor is presented to those who demonstrate outstanding leadership in reducing workplace hazards through design methods. The award is a collective effort of ASSP, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the National Safety Council (NSC) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA).
Main, president of Design Safety Engineering in Ann Arbor, MI, was recognized for his decades of proactive workplace safety contributions. He was a founding member of NSC’s Institute for Safety Through Design in 1995 and first-ever vice chair of the ANSI/ASSP Z590.3 Prevention through Design standard committee in 2011.
An ASSP member since 1992, Main currently chairs the Z244 standards committee that establishes requirements for controlling hazardous energy through lockout/tagout measures and alternative methods.
“Assessing workplace environments and designing out hazards is an innovative and long-term approach to business sustainability and preventing worker injuries, illnesses and fatalities,” said ASSP President-Elect Pam Walaski, CSP, FASSP, who spoke at the awards ceremony at the AIHA Connect conference in Columbus, OH. “Bruce has trained thousands of engineers and professionals in risk assessment and has elevated prevention through design principles and practical applications.”
Main’s safety and health experience covers many technical areas, including mechanical design, machine guarding, control of hazardous energy, accident reconstruction and product safety evaluation. He is a consultant, researcher, author and highly sought-after instructor and speaker at universities and industry conferences. Main earned ASSP’s Thomas F. Bresnahan Standards Medal in 2015 for his extensive work in developing and advocating voluntary national consensus standards in occupational safety and health.
“Bruce has been instrumental in keeping prevention through design principles in the forefront of safety efforts for more than 35 years,” Walaski said. “His enthusiastic approach to risk mitigation and worker safety has saved countless lives across many industries.”
The annual PtD Award honors individuals, teams, businesses and other organizations that have eliminated or reduced hazards through designs or redesigns – or have contributed to the body of knowledge that enables PtD solutions. It reflects how proactive efforts can target hazards to safeguard people, property and the environment.
