Andy Peters, a 1976 graduate of West Virginia University, has been named the chairman of WVU’s Safety Management Visiting Committee.
Peters is the senior vice president and chief safety officer of AECOM Technology Corporation. He hopes his 20 years of experience in the field, along with his industry connections, can benefit the program.
“There is a large corporate need for safety professionals and WVU is focused on safety management, one of the most important skills a safety professional can have,” said Peters. “My vision is to increase the number of students in the program and improve the student experience.”
Noting there are not enough candidates to fill available positions in the field, Peters hopes to work with Ken Currie, chairman of the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at WVU, in hopes of expanding the program to include online offerings.
“Andy has a great strategic vision for the master’s in safety management program at WVU,” said Currie. “He hires a lot of safety management students and has a strong sense of community with the University that will translate well as he chairs the visiting committee.”
With AECOM, Peters manages about 100,000 employees in 150 countries and is responsible for every employee’s safety. In the past year, he has led the company in reducing reportable injuries by 61 percent and serious injuries by 68 percent.
“We enacted a serious program that has received support from the executives and buy-in from the employees,” said Peters. “Everyone in the company is responsible for their own safety as well as for their co-workers’ safety.”
Peters, who earned his bachelor’s degree in business from WVU in 1976, played football for the Mountaineers and was a member of the ‘75 Peach Bowl team.
After spending 11 years in the mining industry working for U.S. Steel Corporation, he earned his master’s degree in personnel administration and labor relations from St. Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. His first job in construction safety was as part of the team working on the expansion of the Pittsburgh International Airport.
In 2003, Peters began working for Parsons in the company’s lead global safety position. A decade later, he moved to AECOM, a global leader in engineering design serving the transportation, facilities, environmental, energy, oil and gas, water, high-rise buildings and government markets.
“My job is to make sure everyone gets home to their family, safely, at the end of the day,” Peters explained.
Working with Peters and the rest of the Safety Management Visiting Committee, Currie hopes to put the program online by the fall 2016 semester.
“We have a strong commitment to making this happen by then,” Currie said. “We have talked to our Visiting Committee members about how to make this a quality and unique online program and Andy has been driven to get things done with us.”
One of the ways they plan to offer the program online is to develop a mentoring program that connects industry professionals with the online students.
Peters, who was asked to join the Visiting Committee by its former chair and IMSE alum Carl Heinlein, is happy to be able to help advance his safety management industry as well as contribute to the future success of WVU students and his alma mater.
“It means a lot to me personally to have an impact on the early careers of WVU students. It gives me a tremendous sense of responsibility, personal pride and honor,” said Peters. “I want to share my worldwide experience with these students and partner with other WVU grads to help develop more safety professionals.”
-WVU-
wbk/11/19/14
CONTACT: Mary C. Dillon, Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources
304.293.4086, Mary.Dillon@mail.wvu.edu
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