Get to know Chip Darius…
When did you start at the OTIEC?
2002
Favorite classes to teach and why?
Regs (510/511), Trainer (500/501), Fall Protection, Scaffold, Work Zone. In the regs courses, I enjoy helping students master the interconnections between the standards and apply them to real life situations. Fall Protection and Scaffolds are essential courses dealing with Focus 4 concepts, and they make a direct difference in preventing deaths and injuries. Work Zone safety and struck-by/backover prevention are passions for me.
Highlight some of your previous employment, background, how did you end up in safety?
I took a CPR class at age 12, then first aid, advanced first aid, lifeguard, and EMT before graduating high school. I quickly became concerned with both treating and preventing injuries and illnesses. In my career I have helped develop national curriculum for training 9-1-1 dispatchers to give pre-arrival instructions; helped the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) develop missing child protocols for 9-1-1 centers; worked to improve safety in organizations from 3-person job shops to multi-national corporations; and had the privilege to provide international consulting and training in multiple countries. I have also enjoyed providing medical missions work in Haiti.
From your bookshelf. What do you recommend?
📕Introduction to Fall Protection, 5th ed., by Nigel Ellis
📕Occupational Safety & Health Law Handbook, 4th ed., by John Surma and others.
📕Slips, Trips, Missteps, and Falls: Causes and Prevention, 3rd ed., by Gary Bakken and others
📕Risk Assessment Challenges and Opportunities, by Bruce W. Main
📕 Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices
Fun Fact!
I enjoy driving my 1963 VW Beetle which is a replica of Herbie the Love Bug
