Sator is New Director of Environmental Management, Health and Safety
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 23, 2002
Joe Wills
530-898-4143
Sator is New Director of Environmental Management, Health and Safety
Kenneth Sator is the new director of environmental management, health and safety at California State University, Chico.
Sator, who began his new duties earlier this month, was formerly supervisor for environmental health and safety for Kohler Co. in Sheboygan, Wisc. He replaces Associate Director Jeff Mott, who served as interim director from January 2000 to April 2002.
“We are very pleased to have Ken join the Business and Finance team,” said Dennis Graham, CSU, Chico vice president for business and finance. “He brings with him over 20 years of experience in design, developing and coordinating health and safety programs. He has supervised various construction projects, design reviews, warehouse operations and hazardous material operations. In addition, he has taught at the university level classes related to health and safety in addition to receiving the National Safety Council’s highest award for environmental health and safety program development.”
Sator said he wanted to come to Chico to work again at a university. From 1997 to 2000, Sator was director of environmental health and safety for the University of Texas, Pan American, in Edinburg, Tex. From 1992 to 1997, he was safety coordinator for environmental health and safety for the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Ark.
“I really enjoy the university environment,” he said. “I enjoy the caliber of people, and the fact that there are so many challenges. Every day is different.”
Sator equated his post to being the safety manager of a city. “A university is a small city, in fact.” He said his department’s emphasis is on figuring out the risk factors in regards to safety, and trying to prevent them from becoming hazards. “If we’re doing our jobs, nobody is noticing us,” he said.
Sator said he has found similarities in health and safety work from state to state. “What drives the regulations are the same things—the desire for safe exits and egress, the proper storage of hazardous materials, and so on,” he said.
Fire is a huge concern at every university, he said. “Life safety is paramount, but we have to be concerned with loss of assets as well—someone told me once that if a university’s library burns down, you scarcely have a university anymore.”
Sator received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in occupational safety and health engineering from Columbia Southern University. He became a certified safety professional in March. He said the certification process involves a lengthy application process and a difficult test on topics ranging from tools to engineering.
Along with his professional career, Sator is an officer in the U.S. Army Reserves. He enjoys fishing and wood-working in his spare time. He and his wife, Rebecca, have a daughter, Victoria.
###