Health and safety indicators help mine sites predict the likelihood of an event, advance initiatives to control risks, and track progress. Although useful to encourage individuals within the mining companies to work together to identify such indicators, executing risk assessments comes with challenges. Specifically, varying or inaccurate perceptions of risk, in addition to trust and buy-in of a risk management system, contribute to inconsistent levels of participation in risk programs. This paper focuses on one trona mine's experience in the development and implementation of a field-level risk assessment program to help its organization understand and manage risk to an acceptable level. Through a transformational process of ongoing leadership development, support and communication, Solvay Green River fostered a culture grounded in risk assessment, safety interactions and hazard correction. The application of consistent risk assessment tools was critical to create a participatory workforce that not only talks about safety but actively identifies factors that contribute to hazards and potential incidents. In this paper, reflecting on the mine's previous process of risk-assessment implementation provides examples of likely barriers that sites may encounter when trying to document and manage risks, as well as a variety of mini case examples that showcase how the organization worked through these barriers to facilitate the identification of leading indicators to ultimately reduce incidents.

This article explores how governmental public health authorities can contribute to public health efforts to address obesity by monitoring the prevalence of obesity and associated risk factors, investigating the contributing factors, informing the public, and working with the citizens in their jurisdiction to develop solutions that fit the needs and sensibilities of the people.

OBJECTIVE: Public health practitioners require new knowledge and skills to address the multilevel factors contributing to obesity. This article presents the systematic approach the Center of Excellence for Training and Research Translation (Center TRT) used both to assess practitioners' competencies to lead public health obesity prevention initiatives and to evaluate its annual, competency-based obesity prevention course. DESIGN: In 2006, Center TRT identified priority public health competencies for obesity prevention and then planned 7 annual courses to address the priority competencies progressively over time. Each year, a longitudinal evaluation based on Kirkpatrick's training evaluation framework was administered to course participants (n = 243) to assess perceptions of the course (daily), changes in self-reported competency (immediately pre- and postcourse), and course impact on practice over time (at 6 months). RESULTS: Participants rated the course highly for quality and relevance. Although many participants reported low levels of confidence prior to the course, following the course, at least 70% reported feeling confident to perform almost all competencies. At 6-month follow-up, the majority of participants reported completing at least 1 activity identified during course action planning. CONCLUSIONS: We identified practitioners' high-priority competency needs and then designed 7 annual courses to progressively address those needs and new needs as they arose. This approach resulted in trainings valued by practitioners and effective in increasing their sense of competence to lead public health obesity prevention initiatives. The course's continuing impact was evidenced by participants' high level of completion of their action plans at 6-month follow-up. Competency-based training is important to develop a skilled public health workforce.