Mental Health Benefits of Hiking

An experienced safety engineer in the Buffalo and Amherst regions of New York, Keith W. Pillich has spent nearly 6 years with Vlado Engineering as an environmental health and safety (EHS) specialist and manager. Keith W. Pillich further serves the company as a recognized industrial hygiene specialist with a degree in industrial hygiene from the Rochester Institute of Technology. When he is not working, Keith Walter Pillich enjoys staying active through swimming and hiking.

Hiking can provide the body with a great work out. However, hikers may be unaware of the fact that hiking also offers a number of mental health benefits. For example, a Stanford University study found that spending time in nature can improve an individual’s overall mood. Time spent outdoors, particularly in the sun, has also been associated with lowered stress and anxiety and a decreased risk of depression.

Additional research has found that individuals who regularly spend time outdoors and do not spend excessive amounts of time using technology are 50 percent more creative when faced with problem-solving dilemmas. Similarly, individuals who frequently hike or walk have better memories than those who spend little time outdoors.

Finally, hiking forces people to disconnect from their busy professional and personal lives as they step away from the urban setting. This calming reprieve from the stresses and technologies of everyday life allows for a healthy reset, while also affording hikers the chance to meet new people who share similar outdoor interests.

ASSP Hands Out Inaugural PtD Award

Following time as a senior safety engineer at Tesla solar panel manufacturing plant in Buffalo, New York, Keith W. Pillich joined Amherst’s Vlado Engineering as an environmental health and safety (EHS) specialist and manager. Over the course of nearly 6 years in this position, Keith W. Pillich has managed a variety of EHS processes around the world. Keith Walter Pillich has also established himself as a member of professional organizations such as the American Society of Safety Professionals.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP) recently collaborated with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the National Safety Council (NSC) to create the Prevention through Design (PtD) Award. The award, which can be distributed to individuals, businesses, and other groups, is used to recognize significant contributions to safety knowledge, with a focus on unique, innovative methods of designing-out hazards and preventing illness or injury.

The inaugural PtD Award was given to Fred A. Manuele, an experienced occupational safety and health professional who has made countless contributions to the field of design safety. Manuele has been so influential, in fact, that ASSP gathered a number of his professional papers and published the collection as a book titled Fred Manuele on Safety Management: A Collection from Professional Safety. He has authored a number of his own textbooks, all of which feature sections on the importance of designing-out hazards and the most effective methods of doing so.