In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, ASSP chapters are adapting operations to protect the health and well-being of our members and our local communities. To reflect this changing environment, we have adjusted the 2019-20 chapter requirements and guidance for reporting your activities.
Adjustments to 2019-2020 Chapter Charter Requirements
Nominations andElections
Your chapter may conduct elections via the following means:
- By e-ballot. See the Chapter E-ballot Set Up Process for details.
- Poll feature in virtual meetings. If your chapter is hosting virtual meetings and you have a quorum, you may use a poll feature in your hosting platform to conduct the election.
Reporting Requirements
We have extended the deadlines for the 2020-21 annual leadership report and the 2019-20 annual financial report to June 30, with bonus points available for uploading the reports by June 15.
While we strongly encourage you to upload your reports earlier to help us support your chapter in the best way possible, we recognize that your chapter’s leadership team meetings and nominations and elections processes have been disrupted.
Meeting Requirements
We have reduced the minimum face-to-face meeting requirement to two meetings during the chapter year, recognizing that COVID-19 cancellations and postponements impact two quarters of the year.
We also want to recognize the work your chapter had completed for cancelled or postponed events, as well as the work you have done to continue to connect members to great resources during this time.
- Report events that you cancelled or postponed in response to COVID-19 in your Chapter Operations Management Tool meeting tracker (Question 6). Enter 0 (zero) in the # of attendees field.
- If your chapter held virtual meetings in place of face-to-face meetings between March – June 2020, report them in your meeting tracker (Question 6).
- If your chapter has promoted the member events and content offered by ASSP between March and June 2020 through your chapter’s email and/or social media in place of or in addition to hosting your own virtual meetings, report them in your meeting tracker. Enter “ASSP” in the # of Attendees column.
Website Updates
To help you focus on supporting the health and safety of your communities, we are posting ASSP’s resources that help members respond effectively to this pandemic directly to ASSP-hosted chapter websites.
- We will update this area regularly, which means your charter requirement to update your website at least quarterly will be fulfilled for January to March and April to June quarters. We have marked this for you in your Chapter Operations Management Tool.
- If your chapter does not have a web hosting agreement with ASSP, we are unable to post directly to your site. You can copy the details from your region’s website to post to your chapter’s site.
Please continue to denote any cancelled or postponed events on your chapter website yourself. And, of course, your website remains the central space to share the local information and opportunities you are providing.
2019-20 Chapter Operations Management Tool Guidance
General Guidance
- If your chapter cancelled a scheduled event or activity in response to COVID-19, that event or activity can be reported in your COMT.
- If your chapter had a regular practice throughout most of the year (ex. sending email reminders to members two weeks before meetings), that activity can be reported in your COMT even if these regular chapter operations have been disrupted by COVID-19.
- If you accomplish the intention of a face-to-face activity in a virtual setting (ex. holding a transition meeting by phone or webcam), that activity can be reported in your COMT.
Guidance on Specific COMT Questions
- For Question 13: We appreciate your chapter’s contributions to ASSP’s COVID-19 response efforts. We have marked “Other” for you in recognition of your support.
- Use Question 23: Response option “Other” to report any activities your chapter has undertaken to collect and deliver PPE to local healthcare providers, or related activities. In addition, we applaud the national effort to support our healthcare providers, but strongly encourage you to first contact the facilities in your area and confirm how they want you to proceed. Use the “partner with other safety organizations or local businesses” response option to record this aspect of your efforts.
- For Question 25: Response option “Does your chapter offer CEUs at your events” — if your chapter completed a successful CEU application and received a letter from ASSP confirming the CEU award, you may select this option even if the event was cancelled or postponed due to COVID-19. While we cannot issue the CEUs to individuals for an event that did not take place, we can recognize the work you did in creating the opportunity.