Two safety organizations are honoring an MU employee for her accomplishments within the safety, health and environmental field.
The American Society of Safety Engineers and Women in Safety Engineering Common Interest Group named Maureen Kotlas, Director of MU Environmental Health and Safety, to WISE’s “100 Women, Making a Difference in Safety” project. This project honors women who have made significant contributions to the field over the past century.
“The project started because the Women in Safety Engineering Group wanted to do something to recognize women’s accomplishments in the occupational health and safety field and commemorate ASSE’s centennial,” ASSE spokeswoman Diane Hurns said. “It’s a good way to promote some of the females in occupational safety and health and bring more into the industry.”
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study found the demand for jobs in the field continues to grow, but the supply is low.
About 15 percent of ASSE’s more than 33,000 members are women, which is why such a focus is placed on women with the project, Hurns said. Kotlas was honored because of her standing with ASSE and 30 years of work in the field.
“She’s one of the most well-respected members worldwide, and that’s due to her work in occupational safety and health and fire safety and other areas,” Hurns said. “She’s played an integral role in safety when it comes to occupational health.”
Kotlas, who said she never expected to work in the field, had her first experience as a flight attendant trainer for Eastern Airlines in the 1970s.
“When I graduated, my degree was in education and I always thought I was going to be an English teacher,” Kotlas said. “When I graduated in the ‘70s, there weren’t many teaching jobs available, so I became a flight attendant.”
After 11 years of working as a flight attendant, Kotlas became the Safety Training Specialist for the Department of Environmental Health and Safety at Stony Brook University. Kotlas said her English degree helped her more than she expected.
“English has helped enormously with communication skills,” she said. “Communicating risks is a big part of what we do.”
Those communicating skills have helped her get jobs in departments at other universities, such as at Harvard and the University of Maryland. Trying new things has also helped, she added.
“My first job as a supervisor was managing a fire safety program (at Stony Brook),” Kotlas said. “I had no experience in the field, but I was willing to try it and learned through the experience.”
Since then, Kotlas has advised the Fire Protection Practice Specialty during ASSE’s annual campus-related fire safety awareness initiatives. She was also responsible for hiring the first female fire marshal at Stony Brook, a sign of women’s advancement in the field, she said.
Aside from fire safety, Kotlas has worked in a variety of areas encompassed by the field. She has been part of an emergency hazardous waste response team. Kotlas was also the president of the Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association and president of ASSE’s Long Island chapter, where she received the 1997 chapter Safety Professional of the Year award.
Because the field covers everything from keyboard ergonomics to NASCAR racing, there are many opportunities, Hurns said.
“I didn’t know this field existed when I was in college,” Kotlas said. “It’s one of those areas that people don’t know exist.”
Hurns said Kotlas deserves the award because she is one of the “standouts” in ASSE.
“The world is a safer place because of her,” Hurns said. “I know it sounds corny, but it’s true.”