NSC launched the Rising Stars of Safety in 2010 to highlight the achievements of the best safety professionals under the age of 40.

  The Rising Stars of Safety is designed to reward those individuals who have a current role in safety, and have influenced their company’s safety culture and safety leadership. Companies are encouraged to nominate multiple candidates, but only one honoree per company can be chosen.
  To be eligible for nomination, the nominee:

 

• Must have been nominated by another
• Can be based anywhere in the world
• Must be under 40 years old as of October 31 of the receiving year
   

The criteria that will be used in evaluating nominations may include, but not be limited to:  

 

• Demonstrated leadership
• Led a safety initiative with measurable results
• Engaged his or her peers around safety culture
• Demonstrated a personal belief in safety to business operations

  The National Safety Council may choose to recognize any number of Rising Stars of Safety in any given year. No one individual will win the award more than one time. Historically, the Rising Stars of Safety have been viewed as a “40 under 40” style award.

  When considering a potential nominee, it is important to consider the following:
 

• Self-nominations are not accepted
• Nominators should spend time early in the process discussing the nomination process with the NSC Award Manager, who can serve as a coach.
• Successful nominations include measurable, detailed descriptions and examples. Often, this means using a majority of the space available.
• The nominator’s obligation to the nominee and the process includes preparing a professional nomination package. A nominator may inform and engage the nominee in preparing this submission.
• Powerful, successful nominations are crisp in form, clear, neat, organized and not encumbered with extraneous information and endorsements. 
• All nominations must be submitted through the online application with all required fields complete.  No other documents will be accepted in lieu of the online form.
• Nominators must never assure a nominee that the award is theirs without the approval of the NSC Award Committee.

Nominations must be made through third parties; self-nominations will not be eligible. All eligible Rising Stars nominees must have at least one and no more than three letters of recommendation. A complete resume is required as part of the submission.

  Final nominations must be submitted online -- Sunday, March 2, 2025.

The Distinguished Service to Safety Award (DSSA) is the most prestigious award given to individuals by the National Safety Council in recognition of outstanding service and contribution in the field of safety. The NSC Awards Committee has established the following guidelines to facilitate the nomination process for this award program.

Scope: The DSSA is designed to reward those individuals who have had a sustained impact on safety on a local, national, or international scope. The nature of the contribution should reflect exceptional service resulting in more effective or increased levels of injury and/or illness prevention, or assistance in furtherance of those goals. This may also include advancement of safety theory and research.

Nominees:
  - Will be considered from members and nonmembers of NSC
  - Eligible nominees will have at least twenty years of experience in a safety related field
  - Active engagement in safety, either paid or unpaid, within the past five years
  - Retirees are eligible to be nominated, within two year of their retirement

Criteria:
  - Made impact on safety (international, national or local).  Impact can include affecting culture change around safety within an organization or locale; developing and implementing safety protocols previously lacking in an organization or industry; or public campaigns or advocacy with measurable success in affecting safety awareness and individual behavior.
  - Made significant and outstanding contributions to safety.  Contributions can include innovations, research, or other academic pursuits impacting safety.

Nominator Guidance: When considering a potential nominee, it is important to consider the following:
  - Self-nominations are not permitted
  - The nominator’s obligation to the nominee and the process includes preparing a professional nomination package. A nominator may inform and engage the nominee in preparing this.  
  - Powerful, successful nominations are crisp in form, clear, neat, organized and not encumbered with extraneous information and endorsements.
  - All nominations must be submitted through the online application with all required fields complete.  No other documents will be accepted in lieu of the online form.
  - Nominators must never assure a nominee that the award is theirs without the approval of the NSC Award Committee.
  - All eligible DSSA nominees must have at least one and no more than three letters of recommendation.
  - All criteria must be supported with metrics and appropriate documentation.

Deadline: Final nominations must be submitted online by March 2, 2025.
 To learn more about this award, click here.

To submit for this award, please log in and/or create a submittable.com account.  

The NSC Marion Martin Award was established in 2016 to recognize and celebrate outstanding service and contributions in the field of safety by women.  The NSC Awards Committee has established the following guidelines to facilitate the nomination process for this award program. 

Purpose: The purpose of the NSC Marion Martin Award is to recognize women who have achieved professional excellence within their area of specialty and have helped pave the way to success for other women in the profession. These women have distinguished themselves in a variety of professional settings and personify excellence on either the local, regional, national or international level.

Scope: The NSC Marion Martin Award is designed to reward those women who have had a significant impact on other women in the safety field.  This award is designed to celebrate the career of women who have not only achieved professional excellence, but did so while encouraging other women to pursue a career in safety.

Eligibility: To be eligible for nomination, the nominee must be a woman, and may not be an active National Safety Council staff member, or member of the NSC Women’s Division Leadership Committee. 

Deadline:  All submissions must be received by March 31, 2025. 

Click here to learn more about this award.

To submit for this award, please log in and/or create a submittable.com account. 

Diversity in Safety Scholarship Funded by Chemours

The National Safety Council's Diversity in Safety Scholarship Program is committed to building a workforce of occupational, safety and health professionals that best reflects the various cultures and ethnicities represented in the U.S. workforce. 

NSC launched the Diversity in Safety Scholarship Funded by Chemours to foster diversity and support the emergence of a more inclusive generation of safety professionals. Five academic scholarships will be awarded to people of color pursing an undergraduate degree at Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions to help jumpstart their careers in safety. The Scholarship provides a $5,000 tuition award, renewable up to four years.

Scholarship Benefits

• $5,000 annual academic scholarship to support post-secondary education in Occupational Safety and Health Technology, Industrial Hygiene, Environmental Health and Safety, and other STEM and accredited degree programs approved by the NSC Scholarship Advisory Committee
• Renewable for up to four years
• Free registration and annual travel stipend to the NSC Safety Congress & Expo, one of the largest conferences focused on safety, and participate in NSC educational opportunities 
• Free access to NSC Webinars
• Informational interviews and internships with safety leaders
• Access to additional skills trainings and certifications to support safety-related education
• Connections to employers seeking safety professionals

Scholarship Rules and Guidelines
 Eligibility is based on the following:

• Freshman attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSIs)
• Students entering as freshman or currently enrolled as a freshman
• BIPOC individuals who are seeking post-secondary education in Occupational Safety and Health Technology, Industrial Hygiene, Environmental Health and Safety, and other STEM and accredited degree programs approved by the NSC Scholarship Advisory Committee (may be received for up to four years)
• Recipient must sign an acceptance agreement stipulating use of funds for tuition
• Award checks are sent to the university
• The award may be prorated if the recipient is not a full-time student
• Applications are accepted at Submittable.com. No paper or emailed applications will be accepted. 

 
Application and Selection
 To be considered, applications must:

• Be submitted online by May 19, 2025
• Include a letter of recommendation. Up to three letters of recommendations can be submitted
• Finalists will be notified in the Spring of 2025 and will be asked for additional information, verification of claims and to supply transcripts. Finalists must also pass a media review. 
• NSC staff and volunteers will have access to the information provided on all applications. Completion of an application does not guarantee a scholarship award

 
  For more information about the NSC Congress & Expo, visit congress.nsc.org.

NSC Student Members
  NSC student membership opportunities are made possible through funding by the National Safety Council and its members.  Click here to join NSC as a student member; there is no cost for membership. If you are a current student member and need assistance, contact CustomerCare@nsc.org or call 800-621-7619. If you are unable to become a student member because you have not yet been accepted into a program, please contact scholarship@nsc.org for assistance.
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NSC DE&I Commitment Statement
  At NSC, we demonstrate our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through our culture and our values. Our culture embraces all people regardless of ancestry, color, national origin, race, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical or mental disability, or veteran status.* We boldly empower our team to model respect and dignity. We find impactful opportunities for growth and development. We create a safe environment that includes mental, physical, psychological, and emotional protections. To be NSC is to deliver our mission by working together — our employees, members, and stakeholders — in such a way that everyone feels a sense of belonging
We believe that you can’t be safe if you don’t feel safe. Feeling safe requires a commitment to equitable policy implementation and promoting diversity in the safety profession. We must cultivate our own diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environment to deliver on our mission to save lives, from the workplace to anyplace.

Diversity in Safety Scholarship
The National Safety Council envisions building a workforce of occupational, safety and health professionals that represent all of the cultures and ethnicities represented in the workforce. To achieve this vision, the Diversity in Safety Scholarship from NSC helps support students from diverse backgrounds who are pursuing safety as a career. The Diversity in Safety Scholarship provides the winner a $5,000 tuition award, renewable up to four years.
All Diversity in Safety Scholarship recipients are also provided the opportunity to attend the NSC Safety Congress & Expo at no cost, with access to technical sessions, keynote addresses, an Expo of over 1,000 exhibitors and networking events. The NSC Safety Congress & Expo is the world’s premier annual safety event, bringing together 14,000 occupational safety and health professionals from various industries.
Scholarship Rules and Guidelines
Eligibility
BIPOC individuals, people with disabilities, and people who identify as LGBTQIA+ who are seeking post-secondary education leading to a career in environmental, health and/or safety.
Additional eligibility includes:
 

• Students attending community colleges, technical programs, apprenticeships or bachelor’s degree programs within the United States (both in-person and online), enrolled full- or part-time; part-time candidates may receive a prorated award
• Students maintain a GPA of 3.0 (recommended)
• For those who are attending programs without EHS majors, at least 25 percent of course work each semester must be pursuing careers that are applicable to an EHS professional such as public health, engineering and other educational pursuits that relate to health and safety.

Application and Selection
To be considered, applications must be fully completed and submitted online.
At least one and up to three letters of recommendation must be submitted with the application
Finalists will be notified in the Spring of 2025
 

•   Finalists will be asked for additional information, verification of claims and to supply transcripts
•  Finalists must pass a media review

NSC staff and volunteers will have access to the information provided on all applications


Award Information
 

• Recipient will receive a check in the amount of $5,000, payable to the university/college
• This award is renewable up to four years
• The $5,000 award may be prorated if the recipient is not a full-time student
• Recipient must sign an acceptance agreement stipulating use of funds for tuition

For more information about the NSC Congress & Expo, visit congress.nsc.org.

NSC Student Members
NSC student membership opportunities are made possible through funding by the National Safety Council and its members.  Click here to join NSC as a student member; there is no cost for membership. If you are a current student member and need assistance, contact CustomerCare@nsc.org or call 800-621-7619. If you are unable to become a student member because you have not yet been accepted into a program, please contact scholarship@nsc.org for assistance.
****
NSC DE&I Commitment Statement
At NSC, we demonstrate our commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion through our culture and our values. Our culture embraces all people regardless of ancestry, color, national origin, race, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, age, religion, physical or mental disability, or veteran status.* We boldly empower our team to model respect and dignity. We find impactful opportunities for growth and development. We create a safe environment that includes mental, physical, psychological, and emotional protections. To be NSC is to deliver our mission by working together — our employees, members, and stakeholders — in such a way that everyone feels a sense of belonging
We believe that you can’t be safe if you don’t feel safe. Feeling safe requires a commitment to equitable policy implementation and promoting diversity in the safety profession. We must cultivate our own diverse, inclusive, and equitable work environment to deliver on our mission to save lives, from the workplace to anyplace.

About the Congress & Expo Scholarship
 The NSC Congress & Expo is the world's premier annual safety event, bringing together 15,000 safety, health, and environmental professionals from various industries. The 2025 NSC Congress & Expo will be held in Denver, CO.  All scholarship recipients will be provided the opportunity to attend at no cost, with access to technical sessions, keynote addresses, an Expo of over 1,000 companies, and networking events. This is an invaluable opportunity for scholarship recipients to meet and learn from thousands of safety and health professionals. For more information about the NSC Congress & Expo, visit congress.nsc.org.

Click here for more detailed information about this scholarship.

NSC Student Members
 NSC student membership opportunities are made possible through funding by the National Safety Council and its members.  Click here to join NSC as a student member; there is no cost for membership. If you are a current student member and need assistance, contact CustomerCare@nsc.org or call 800-621-7619. If you are unable to become a student member because you have not yet been accepted into a program, please contact scholarship@nsc.org for assistance. 

Worker safety: Does your CEO “get it”?

   CEOs Who “Get It” is an annual recognition from the National Safety Council to organizational leaders who demonstrate a personal commitment to worker safety and health.

    It doesn’t matter if your organization has 50 employees or 50,000. If you believe your leader should be recognized, fill out the form and tell us why.

 Forms submitted by August 3, 2025 will be considered for 2026. Those recognized as CEOs Who “Get It” will be featured in Safety+Health magazine.

    Click the link below to see the full list of 2025 CEOs Who "Get It", which will be featured in the February 2025 issue of Safety+Health magazine-- https://www.safetyandhealthmagazine.com/articles/26308-ceos-who-get-it-2025

• 2025 Texas Our Driving Concern Employer Traffic Safety Awards Nomination Form
  
  This award recognizes Texas employers who have demonstrated a commitment to transportation and driver safety that promotes a culture that actively promotes traffic safety on and off the job.
   Employers who have created or implemented driving safety solutions and practices, programs or policies should apply for this award. Areas of focus may include any aspect of transportation safety targeted at employees,  the employees families, the community and contractors.
  
  GUIDELINES:
  Applicants / Texas employers will be judged on the basis of what their company is doing in terms of their driver safety program and transportation safety education and outreach within their company's safety culture focusing on driver behavior. Each business application will be reviewed individually based on merit. Consistent and on-going as well as on and off the job considerations are key components.
  
  ELIGIBILITY:
   
• Any Texas employer is eligible regardless of company type or size. 
• Nominated company must have operations in Texas.
• Nominator does not have to be an employee of the company being nominated. 
• Previous award recipients are eligible for nomination.

DEADLINE:
 Applications must be submitted by February 14, 2025 at 11:59 PM CST

AWARD CATEGORIES:
 

• Comprehensive Safety Program
• Employee Engagement in Safety
• Excellence in Traffic Safety Culture
• Innovation in Safety Practices
• Leadership in Safety

BEST PRACTICES: Award recipients exemplify the highest standards of achievement in the field of employee education and outreach in the area of traffic safety and driver behavior. These programs can serve as models or standards of comparison for Texas employers developing or reviewing their own workplace traffic safety programs. In the spirit of sharing best practices in traffic safety, the nominated organization agrees that the National Safety Council and the Our Driving Concern program may use this information in future promotional material, on the web or in print.
 

• 2025 Ohio Our Driving Concern Employer Traffic Safety Awards Nomination Form
  
  This award recognizes Ohio employers who have demonstrated a commitment to transportation and driver safety that promotes a culture that actively promotes traffic safety on and off the job. Employers who have created or implemented driving safety solutions and practices, programs or policies should apply for this award. Areas of focus may include any aspect of transportation safety targeted at employees,  the employees families, the community and contractors.
  
  GUIDELINES:
   Applicants / Ohio employers will be judged on the basis of what their company is doing in terms of their driver safety program and transportation safety education and outreach within their company's safety culture focusing on driver behavior. Each business application will be reviewed individually based on merit. Consistent and on-going as well as on and off the job considerations are key components.
  
  ELIGIBILITY:
   
• Any Ohio employer is eligible regardless of company type or size. 
• Nominated company must have operations in Ohio.
• Nominator does not have to be an employee of the company being nominated. 
• Previous award recipients are eligible for nomination.

DEADLINE:
Applications must be submitted by April 30, 2025 at 11:59 PM CST

AWARD CATEGORY: Excellence in Traffic Safety

BEST PRACTICES: Award recipients exemplify the highest standards of achievement in the field of employee education and outreach in the area of traffic safety and driver behavior. These programs can serve as models or standards of comparison for Ohio employers developing or reviewing their own workplace traffic safety programs. In the spirit of sharing best practices in traffic safety, the nominated organization agrees that the National Safety Council and the Our Driving Concern program may use this information in future promotional material, on the web or in print.
 

MSD Solutions Pilot Grant 

Scaling Provider-Specific MSD Reduction Strategies 

Introduction

In June 2021, the National Safety Council (NSC), America’s leading nonprofit safety advocate, and Amazon teamed up to tackle one of the most common workplace injuries: musculoskeletal disorders, or MSDs. Together they formed the MSD Solutions Lab, a first-of-its-kind strategic initiative addressing this critical issue by engaging key stakeholders, conducting research, identifying new technology, innovating solutions and scaling the results — so all workplaces can benefit. As part of this multi-faceted, innovation-focused initiative, the MSD Solutions Lab is pleased to continue the Pilot Grant program (MSDs Pilot Grant) for the year 2025-2026.

The goal of the MSDs Pilot Grant program is to develop solutions for preventing MSDs by matching organizations with innovative technology providers to trial emerging technologies in real-life applications. This year’s grant program involves nine leading solution providers (listed below) featured at the 2024 NSC Safety Congress & Expo and invites organizations to submit proposals to partner with any of these providers to reduce MSDs across any workplace.

Grant Overview

The following are the nine finalists from the 2024 NSC Safety Congress & Expo Safety Innovation Challenge. We expect the solution providers to assist an industry partner in reducing the risk of workplace MSDs. The industry partner is either a current MSD Pledge member or interested in taking the MSD Pledge to reduce MSD risk at their workplace.

Acknowledging that MSDs remain one of the top causes of disability from workplace injuries, the MSD Solutions Lab invites organizations interested in eliminating or reducing MSD risk exposure to apply for the MSDs Pilot Grant.

• Dorn Companies: Computer vision motion capture technology that provides customized real time information that shows the exact areas of possible injury or MSD.
• Hapo: Exoskeletons designed to support the shoulders during long term "arms in front" postures.
• HeroWear: Exoskeleton/exosuit designed to take up to 100 lbs. of strain of the backs of industrial workers to provide freedom of movement to do jobs with less strain.
• IntelliSafe Analytics: A wearable smartwatch safety system that collects physiological and behavioral data to identify forceful exertion incidents.
• MakuSafe: A wearable technology and safety data analytics solution that gathers data about environmental exposures and ergonomic motions to understand risk in the workplace.
• LifeBooster, Inc.: Wearable sensors and a corresponding data analytics platform that work together to detect ergonomic, heat stress & hand/arm vibration risk exposures, which in turn serve up data aggregated for enterprise customers and detailed unique digital assessments.
• Santoku: A multisensory training simulator immerses employees in lifelike scenarios to develop and practice life-saving safety skills to help organizations eliminate workplace accidents and disasters.
• Stroma: Computer vision models and real-time data processing to monitor and analyze worker behaviors and movements, identify ergonomic risks and provide actionable insights to prevent MSDs with real time alerts and detailed reporting.
• TuMeke: Computer vision, Al-driven ergonomic risk assessment platform that works to identify and mitigate MSD risks in addition to deviations from standard tasks. 

The MSD Solutions Lab will award up to $100,000 in total funding with an individual maximum award of $20,000, subject to the availability of funds and the merit of the proposal.

The 2025-2026 pilot grant cycle application will open on December 3, 2024. 

Grant Requirements

- Each awarded organization must be either a current MSD Pledge member or become an MSD Pledge member before funds are dispersed for the project; new pledgees must sign the MSD Pledge to be eligible for this grant.

- The grantee is an organization that wants to pilot a solution, and the solution provider should assist in solving the upper extremity ergonomic hazards at the organization of the pledgee. 

• Note: A solution provider may partner with more than one grantee to address their issues.

- As part of this project, the solution provider should develop specific strategies for risk reduction, training of the grantee staff on the tech solution, trial the solution for at least six months, track injury metrics, and identify and document best practices in collaboration with the pledgee(s).

- Grant recipients are also required to deploy surveys to their employees who are piloting the solution and share the findings of those surveys (anonymously) with the MSD Solutions Lab. Grant recipients can partner with the MSD Solutions Lab to develop the survey, or can use a survey of their own with approval from the MSD Solutions Lab. 

- The funds will be disbursed directly to the grantee and the solution provider for administration. Funding is available for: 

• Shipping and transportation of technology solutions to the place of pledgee and return
• On-site training needs, including equipment necessary to run the pilot (e.g., physical equipment, software)
• Travel essential to conduct the proposed project.

- Funds may not be applied to

• Employee salaries and/or benefits of both pledgee and solution provider
• General operating expenses not related to the project
• Purchase of equipment, hardware or software, or other costs not pertinent to the project
• Personal expenses
• Accrued costs not attributable to the grant

Grant Proposal Guidelines

Each MSD Pledge member(s) and solution provider grantee team will submit a joint proposal consisting of the following:

- Project title

- Names, email addresses and affiliations of solution provider and MSD Pledge member(s)

- Proposal (one to three pages) that incorporates the following:

• Specific aims of the pilot project 
• Significance of the manual materials handling problem at the pledgee(s) workplace (e.g., metrics such as lost workdays, injury count, lagging indicators)
• Project design (e.g., study design, proposed metrics or data collection methods, population tested, implementation measurement procedures)
• Project execution timeline (e.g., start and completion of major activities, staff training using technology, results reporting).
• Any other risk reduction strategies that have been implemented, attempted or planned to address upper extremity work-related issues by the MSD Pledge member.
• Anticipated outcomes, including injury reduction metrics, possible challenges.
• Budget justification (include itemizing costs, with a justification of each item).

Grant Deliverables

The MSD Solutions Lab will collaborate with grantees and solution providers to translate and disseminate the solutions across organizations for broader visibility in the form of case studies.

The MSD Solutions Lab will engage during the project's lifecycle to: 

• Document progress reports and discuss changes in project scope (if any) 
• List challenges/barriers to using the technology (including any adverse events)
• Discuss ways to scale the solution provider intervention(s) and implementation of recommendations
• Develop case studies (e.g., lessons learned, development of risk reduction metrics, return on investment insights). 

The grantee and solution provider must report on project progress to the MSD Solutions Lab team through the delivery of one interim report halfway through the project (template to be provided). 

The grantee and solution provider must also submit a comprehensive report after the grant cycle (i.e., within 30 days of completion) and write a case study highlighting the solution provider technology for further dissemination to a broader audience. Details will be discussed with grantees during the project lifecycle.

Grant Outcomes

The expected outcome is that each grant awardee will present their results at the 2026 NSC Safety Congress & Expo or a similar venue. Awardees may alternately or in addition be asked to present results at a future virtual or hybrid event. 

At the NSC events, both grantees and solution providers will have the opportunity to showcase their findings, network with other potential organizations that are interested in utilizing the technology, and have the potential to scale upward and educate the wider audience. 

Timeline

Grant Proposal Request Opens: December 3, 2024

Grant Proposal Submission Closes: March 7, 2025

Grant Recipients Announced: April 11, 2025

For more information, including pilot grant eligibility and application requirements, please contact msdsolutionslab@nsc.org.