Meet Leo DeBobes
Leo J. DeBobes, MA (OS&H), CSP, CHCM, CSC, CPEA, CPH, CHEP, CHSP, CPSO, CIT, EMT most recently served as Assistant Administrator for Emergency Management and Regulatory Compliance at Stony Brook University Hospital/Stony Brook Medicine and as the Administrative Director of the New York State Metropolitan Area Regional Training Center for Emergency Preparedness at Stony Brook.
He has also served as the Division Head, Environment, Safety and Health Services at Brookhaven National Laboratory and was previously the Director of Environmental Health and Safety for Stony Brook University, where he was responsible for all safety engineering, accident prevention, industrial hygiene, environmental protection, radiation safety, fire safety, hazardous waste management, biosafety, and safety training programs for the academic, research, residential, hospital and long term health care facilities. He holds a Masters degree in Occupational Safety and Health from New York University, where he was the recipient of a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) scholarship. He also holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from New York Institute of Technology. He is a Board Certified Safety Professional (CSP), Certified Hazard Control Manager (CHCM), Certified Healthcare Emergency Professional (CHEP), Certified Healthcare Safety Professional (CHSP), Certified Professional Environmental Auditor - Health and Safety (CPEA), Certified in Public Health (CPH), Certified Patient Safety Officer (CPSO), and Certified Environmental Health and Safety Trainer (CIT, formerly CET), as well as being certified by the New York State Department of Labor as a Certified Safety Consultant (CSC). He serves as an Associate Professor and Fire Protection Technology Program Coordinator at Suffolk County Community College, where he teaches Industrial Safety Engineering and Hazardous Materials in the college's Fire Protection Technology major, and is also a Clinical Assistant Professor and the Environmental Health and Safety Concentration Advisor in Stony Brook University’s School of Health Technology and Management, where he teaches Occupational Health and Safety and Fundamentals of Environmental Health.
He is a frequent author, including the NFPA/IAFC Hazardous Materials Awareness and Operations Student Workbook (Jones & Bartlett), and is a contributor to the Supervisors Safety Manual (National Safety Council), and the Handbook of Loss Prevention Engineering (Wiley Publishers). He is a Column Editor/Editorial Review Board member for the AIHA/ACGIH Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene JOEH), is the current Vice President of the JOEH Board of Directors, and is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board for Occupational Health & Safety magazine and for Briefings in Hospital Safety. He is a member of the Certified Hazard Control Manager Advisory Panel and the Board of Environmental, Health and Safety Auditor Certifications Ethics Committee, as well as serving on various American National Standards Institute, ASTM International, and National Fire Protection Association Committees and Task Groups. He is a member and Vice Chair of the American Society of Safety Professionals Standards Development Committee, the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Safety Committee, is Past Co-Chair of ASSP’s Leadership Conference Planning Committee, and is Past-Chair of the Education Committee for the Fire Department Safety Officers Association (FDSOA).
He has served as Chief of the Setauket (NY) Fire Department and as Executive Board Chairman and is a Professional Member of the American Society of Safety Professionals, where he served an unprecedented two terms as the ASSP's Long Island Chapter President and was the national Administrator of the ASSP Public Sector Practice Specialty from 2014-2017. He was ASSP’s Region VIII 2012 Regional Safety Professional of the Year (NY, NJ, PA, CT, MA, NH, VT, RI, ME), ASSP’s Region XII 1993 Regional Safety Professional of the Year (NY, NJ, PA, DE) and ASSP’s Public Sector Safety Professional of the Year in 2019. He is also the only two-time Long Island Chapter Safety Professional of the Year (2010 and 1992). He was also recognized as the American Society of Safety Professionals Edgar Monsanto Queeny National Safety Professional of the Year for 2013.