John has been involved with safety in a variety of roles over the course of his 40-year career, learning it hands on as a boson on US merchant marine vessels and continuing on through various roles in all aspects of cargo handling and transportation:  logistics and supply chain management, warehousing and distribution, vessel and marine terminal operations, trucking and intermodal transportation.

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In 2004, Johns became corporate director for Ports America, the largest terminal operator and stevedoring company in the United States. In this role, John developed and implemented safety management systems, formal risk assessment and auditing certification programs, safety procedures for change management, emergency response and continuity of operations plans,  program integration and instituted behavioral–based safety training and mentoring.

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John led fatal or serious incident investigations for several of industry organizations, worked as an ICAM trainer for over 10 years and contributed to the revision of Z10 Safety Management Systems standard of American National Standards Institute (ANSI), as part of a project team of American Society of Safety Professionals. He also participated in the creation of the ANSI standard for Work Place Violence.

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John joined Safety Wise as an instructor and investigator in 2019, after leaving his position of VP OHSE and Security at Ports America.

John has extensive skills and experience in:

• Incident investigation and training

• Risk management assessments

• Risk assessments and auditing programs

• Emergency response and Continuity of operation plans and testing

• Safety Management Systems development and implementation

• Environment Aspect and Impact studies, compliance audits

• Management and leadership training and mentoring