IIAR

George Yoksas was a long-time federal safety regulator, but he hated when red tape got in the way of solving issues. “He wanted to find> solutions. He would say, ‘How can we make this work and have a meaningful impact?’ ” said Doug Reindl, a professor in the University of Wisconsin departments of Engineering Professional Development and Mechanical Engineering, and a founding director of the Industrial Refrigeration Consortium. “He was willing to think differently than someone who might look at a standard or regulation and say ‘It says this.’ He thought about what made sense.”

“I knew immediately I was blessed when I had the opportunity to work with George. His passion and commitment to improving workplace safety was endless and inspiring. He was a master of both the subject matter he taught and in the delivery of his message.”

– Doug Reindl, professor in the University of Wisconsin departments of Engineering Professional Development and Mechanical Engineering, and a founding director of the Industrial Refrigeration Consortium

Yoksas, who died at age 66 on June 5 in Darien, Ill., spent more than 40 years with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, working in the safety and health field. He started with OSHA in 1975 as a safety specialist compliance officer and went on to serve as the area director in the Milwaukee office and as a Process Safety Management specialist for Region V. His duties included overseeing implementation of the PSM standard throughout the six states that make up OSHA Region V.

He was one of OSHA’s leading experts on PSM and was closely involved in its application in ammonia refrigerated facilities. He was instrumental in working with IIAR to transplant knowledge of ammonia refrigeration technologies into the agency through a web-delivered training program designed specifically for OSHA compliance personnel.

“He worked his way up from a bootson-the-ground position to various management roles,” said Reindl, who taught a process safety management course with Yoksas at Wisconsin for 20 years. “He was familiar with OSHA standards and regulations, and he knew how to apply them. He was very involved when PSM was rolled out in 1992.

“I knew immediately I was blessed when I had the opportunity to work with George. His passion and commitment to improving workplace safety was endless and inspiring. He was a master of both the subject matter he taught and in the delivery of his message.”

Dave Rule, president of IIAR, remembers Yoksas as a compliance officer who was zealous about improving safety. “He was always very involved in making comments and suggestions on how we could improve our standards,” he said. “But he was always very reasonable. Some inspectors can be quick to make a citation of a little substance, but George didn’t approach it that way. He approached things logically, always for the best interest of the industry in trying to make things safe.”

Yoksas worked closely with IIAR in the search to improve safety standards. “He was very appreciative of the work that the IIAR was doing and he always wanted to be involved to help us in developing our standards,” Rule said. “He was very supportive of what we were doing. Besides being an allaround good guy, it was really nice to work with somebody who had the best interests of our industry at his core.”

Yoksas took the time to learn about the ammonia refrigeration industry, Reindl said.

“He wasn’t afraid to get involved in a specialized industry and learn more about the technology so that he could help end users be in compliance and also educate people in his own agency as to how they should look at that industry,” he said. “He learned a lot about ammonia refrigeration and was able to help people in OSHA understand that technology.

Yoksas played a major role in OSHA’s creation of the Office of Chemical Process Safety Enforcement initiatives. “He recognized that ammonia is a specialized knowledge, and he was a key resource in helping field people understand how the technology works and how the standards should apply to that technology,” Reindl said.

He was also a gifted instructor and presenter, Reindl said. “He was very engaging, people really liked his style. He had a little humor in there, all these things you wouldn’t think of from a so-called ‘stodgy regulator.’ He was very dynamic, and his depth of knowledge was wide and deep,” he said.

Yoksas, a respected advisor and a mentor to many in the industry, regularly taught PSM-related courses at the OSHA Training Institute, and at the time of his passing he was a staff member with OSHA’s Office of Chemical Process Safety.

Tributes posted to his online obituary detailed his many contributions to safety and how he impacted those in the industry.

“He believed in safety, he enforced safety and he taught safety to all who would listen. He did all of this with a smile and with dignity,” one tribute read.

“He will continue to save lives and make workplaces safer through all the compliance officers he has taught and assisted with PSM cases,” read another.

Yoksas leaves his wife, Diana; two sons, Clay and Adam Yoksas; a sister, Dena (Jack) Kempf; and many nieces and nephews.