Wellness Wednesday: What Will "Returning to Work" Look Like

Dianne Grote Adams is a Board-Certified Industrial Hygienist, Board-Certified Safety Professional and Certified Professional Environmental Auditor in Health and Safety with more than 40 years of experience. Dianne has comprehensive environmental, safety and industrial hygiene experience. She has conducted audits, trained management and EHS professionals, coached EHS staff and mentored other women business owners. Her recent audit experience includes work with contractors, engineering consulting firms, manufacturers and distribution centers.

During her career, Dianne has conducted or supervised hundreds of industrial hygiene and indoor air quality surveys, written and reviewed compliance programs, and developed and presented hundreds of employee and management training courses, webinars and workshops. Dianne has presented monthly EHS webinars for the Ohio Manufacturer’s Association for the past four years and Safex monthly webinars for the past three years. She has represented ‘industry’ during Ohio Administrative Code reviews, at the request of the Ohio Bureau of Workers Compensation (BWC).

She has spoken at the BWC All Ohio Safety Congress on multiple occasions, as well as at the Capital Area Safety Council and the Greater Columbus Safety Council. She has also been a key instructor for the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene and Beyond Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene since 1999 and is an adjunct for “Introduction to ESH’ at Otterbein University. Dianne is active in the community. She is serving her second term on the Board of Cristo Rey Columbus, a college prep high school for economically challenged youth, and serves as the Board Services Chair. Dianne completed a three-year term as a member of the AIHA Conference Program Committee in 2019 and the AIHA Board of Directors in 2014, during which time she served on the Finance Committee and the Executive Development Committee.

Dianne is a member of the AIHA, American Academy of Industrial Hygiene (AAIH) and the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). Prior to her current volunteer activities, Dianne was on The Ohio State University Environmental Health Science Advisory Board, the advisory committee for the Ohio University Industrial Hygiene Program, the Otterbein Alumni Council, the AIHA Local Section Council, the AIHA PSTFII Task Force, the All Ohio Safety Congress and the Central Ohio AIHA. Safex is ranked on the 2019 list of 50 Top Central Ohio’s Largest Women-Owned Businesses.

Dianne received the Special Alumni Achievement Award from Otterbein University in 2018, and in 2017, she was recognized with the Distinguished Fellow Award by the AIHA. Safex was recognized as the Small Business of Year by the Westerville Area Chamber of Commerce in 2019. Past honors for Safex include the 2014 Conway Family Business Center Community Engagement Award and the 2013 Medical Mutual Pillar Award for Community Service. In 2010, Dianne received the “Ohio Keys to Success Award,” sponsored by the Ohio Department of Development’s Entrepreneurship and Small Business Division. In 2007, Dianne was the recipient of the Builders Exchange “Meg DeWerth Industry Impact Safety Award.” In 2005, Dianne was one of five “Change Makers” to premiere in the June Columbus Business First Women in Business Supplement. Dianne received the Central Ohio Local Section of the AIHA “Industrial Hygiene Award of Excellence” in 2003, and the "Outstanding Industrial Hygiene Award" in 1992.

In 2002, she was a finalist for the Ernst and Young “Entrepreneur of the Year” award and was named to the Business First "40 Under 40" Business Leaders in 1993. Since 1992, Dianne has been the President of Safex. Prior to Safex, Dianne worked with Abbott/Ross Laboratories, ChemLawn Services Corporation, the Ohio OSHA Consultation Program and was an adjunct professor at Columbus State Community College from 2008- 2010.

Dianne received a BA in Life Science from Otterbein University and a MS in Environmental Health/Occupational Safety from the University of Cincinnati.