The University of Safety Distribution (UofSD) was founded as a benefit to members of the Safety Equipment Distributors Association (SEDA) and Safety Marketing Group (SMG). Both organizations share a common vision - to enable the success, vitality and long-term importance of safety specialist. As a distributor or manufacturer in the safety industry, you understand that training your employees to become safety specialists is vital to improving your productivity and profitability. SEDA and SMG share your goal of delivering quality training programs to your employees. Both organizations have partnered with SMS to create the UoSD, and as a result, some of the content that will be developed will be only available to members of those organizations.

SEDA is a trade association comprised of companies that distribute and manufacture safety equipment and related products and services. SEDA’s mission is to enable the success, vitality and long-term importance of the safety specialist. SEDA continually strives to achieve this mission by offering quality training programs and networking opportunities that provide value to safety equipment distributors and manufacturers. SEDA helped develop the Qualified Safety Sales Professional (QSSP) training program and has co-sponsored this program since its inception in 1998. This bi-annual training program has become the gold standard for safety sales training in the industry. SEDA has co-sponsored other training programs designed to help distributors like the University of Industrial Distribution (UID) and the Young Distribution Professionals (YDP) program. In addition to these outstanding training opportunities, SEDA also hosts an Annual Conference each year where SEDA members meet to hear dynamic business speakers and to network with industry peers. SEDA’s goal in supporting UoSD is to provide affordable and convenient safety specific training to its members. To learn more about SEDA, or to become a member, visit their website.

The Safety Marketing Group (SMG) is the safety industry’s most active buying and marketing group. SMG is a buying cooperative, meaning it is owned by the distributor members. SMG Distributor Members are independently owned – and they specialize in the safety industry. SMG members offer a wide depth and breadth of products to their customers but most often lead with and support the marketing efforts of the supplier members in the group by making them the first choice. SMG encourages the annual planning of Joint Marketing Agreements between supplier and distributor. Many of those JMA’s are tied to training. SMG’s primary goal in supporting UoSD is to provide a consistent, cost affordable way to deliver manufacturer product training to its members, which will drive growth in sales, service, and profitability to its distributor members. To learn more about SMG, visit their website.