What Every Safety Manager Leaving Anaheim Should Be Able to Do

I will be presenting that the ASSP Safety Conference in June

I have spent the past several weeks writing about reasonable suspicion. About the panic that sets in when a tip comes in. About the manager who freezes even after training. About the positive test result that doesn't tell you what you think it tells you. About the human being on the other side of every specimen cup.

Every one of those posts was building toward something.

On Wednesday, June 17th, at 8:45 AM, I will be standing in front of a room full of safety professionals at ASSP Safety '26 in Anaheim. And I want to tell you exactly what I intend to give them before they walk out the door an hour later.

Not a policy template. Not a checklist. Not another list of observable indicators they could have found on Google.

Confidence.

The confidence to recognize signs and symptoms of impairment without second-guessing themselves. The confidence to initiate the reasonable suspicion process assertively, correctly, and without hesitation. The confidence to do the hard thing in the hard moment, because they have done it before, in the room, in the scenario, in the conversation, before it counted for real.

That is what has been missing. Not knowledge. Confidence.

Why Knowledge Alone Has Never Been Enough

I have been direct about this throughout this series and I will say it again here because it is the foundation of everything I am presenting in Anaheim.

Safety managers who freeze when a tip comes in are not freezing because they don't know what slurred speech looks like. They are freezing because knowing something and being prepared to act on it are two entirely different things. The gap between those two points is where incidents happen. It is where the wrong call gets made. It is where someone who needed help didn't get it, or where an organization absorbed liability it never should have carried.

Training that stops at awareness has never closed that gap. The room in Anaheim is going to close it.

What the Session Covers

Session 7036 runs from 8:45 to 9:45 AM on Wednesday, June 17th. In that hour we are going to move through three things that belong together but rarely get taught together.

First, the regulatory landscape as it actually exists in 2026. Cannabis is legal for recreational use in 24 states. The science of THC detection has not kept pace with the legal reality. A positive test and proven impairment are not the same thing, and safety managers need to understand that distinction before they are standing in front of HR explaining a termination decision.

Second, the observable indicators of impairment, not as a list to memorize but as a framework to apply in real time. What cannabis impairment looks like versus alcohol. What documentation actually holds up versus what falls apart under scrutiny. How to articulate observations in language that protects your organization and the integrity of the process.

Third, and most importantly, the moment itself. The conversation. The decision. The process from observation to test initiation. We are going to work through it in a way that builds the muscle memory you need to act without freezing when it matters.

If you are attending ASSP Safety '26, I want you in that room. Session 7036. Wednesday morning, June 17th, 8:45 AM. Find it in the conference app, bookmark it, and come ready to work.

If You Are Not Attending

The conversation does not have to wait for Anaheim.

If your organization is running a reasonable suspicion program that exists on paper but hasn't been tested in practice, that is the gap worth closing before something goes wrong. If your supervisors have been through a training session but you are not confident they could handle the moment correctly, that is a conversation I would welcome.

This is exactly the kind of program we build with organizations that want to get ahead of the problem rather than manage the fallout from it. On-site, tailored to your industry, your policies, and the specific situations your supervisors actually face.

Reach out directly. The conference is June 17th. The conversation can start today.