Are You Taking Advantage of Industry Safety and HR Education Efforts?

We actively support industry and trade association safety and HR efforts. Please send us information on Safety and HR events, and when we can do so, we will publicize your efforts. Here are some recent examples of successful safety and HR efforts and in BOLD, upcoming opportunities.

The Georgia AGC’s Safety, HR and Professionalism Conference on April 29, drew an amazing 600 attendees in only its second year. Attendees had a choice of 40 sessions from five tracks, including not only safety but HR, Executive, and Technology tracks. I spoke on Workplace Bullying and Violence and on a “What-if” panel at which we went through about 30 HR and safety scenarios. All three Georgia OSHA Area Directors were present and did a great job sharing about the Temporary employee initiative, “stick building” and other topics.

Bev Cap Management LLC hosted its Best Practices Workshop last month, which provided three days of risk management subjects largely taught by and for National Beer Wholesale Association members, with great sessions and discussions on alcohol at company functions, functional employee testing, preventing back injuries, security, engineering warehouses and numerous other sections. I covered OSHA’s increased focus on the industry based on ergonomic concerns. Read the NBWA article on the conference.

ERM hosted a unique and highly useful session at Georgia Tech on Merger, Acquisition, and Integration Due Diligence on Safety and Environmental issues. Many funds and groups are savvy about environment due diligence, but may miss the safety-related items that ENR P.E.’s and I discussed.

On March 5 & 6, my friends with the Missouri’s The Builders Association hosted another successful Midwestern safety Conference outside of Kansas City. My partner Ed Foulke provided a keynote speech. This group is one of my favorites and the OSHA Region always shows up and makes a good impression.

Bob Emmerich, Jim Goss and I again served as instructors for AGC-National’s three-day Advanced Safety Management Training Course at AGC’s national headquarters on April 22 - 24. This three-day intensive course is especially useful because the seasoned professionals and managers attending share practical and innovative strategies throughout the three days. Arguably my favorite teaching opportunity.

January’s 14 – 16 AGC National Safety Committee meetings in San Diego included powerful presentations by AECOM’s Andy Peters and Limbach Construction’s CEO Charlie Bacon on the 2015 National Safety Week, as well as strong committee meetings. I covered OSHA’s new reporting requirements and the surprising effect of the Temporary Employee Initiative on Construction employers.

Please consider joining us for the next AGC National Safety Committee meeting in Pittsburgh on July 8 - 10. The committee holds “working meetings,” which present an opportunity to build relationships with other members and to affect national safety issues. I’ll be discussing What Safety Professionals Need to know About HR and Employment Law.

The Carolinas AGC had strong safety committee meetings on January 20 and March 24. CAGC’s new President Dave Simpson participated in both meetings and made clear the Chapter’s vigorous support of the group.

Consider attending Carolina AGC Foundation’s combined Safety & HR Conference on July 30 - 31 in Greenville, SC, which is associated with CAGC Divisions’ Conference & Industry Summit. The Summit also presents outstanding national speakers.

The AGC - Willis National Construction Safety & Excellence Awards were presented at the AGC National Convention in San Juan on March 18 - 20. These are probably the toughest safety awards to obtain in the construction industry, and showcase a wide range of best practices for small to giant contractors. I cannot overstate the value of this competition or the quality of the judging. We’d like to encourage contractors to compete in this process. As soon as they are released, we’ll write articles on the “Best Practices” learned from the judging process.

I especially want to promote EHS Today’s Safety Leadership Conference, also in Greenville, SC on October 26 - 28. We cosponsor and helped found this conference, which accompanies the hard to earn America’s Safest Company Awards ceremony, I am aware of no conference that draws a higher level of safety and risk attendees. It is largely my partner, Ed Foulke’s brainchild. If you attend only one national safety conference this year, attend this one!

Send us information on other events. In later posts, we’ll talk about the Georgia Safety, Health & Environmental Conference and other similar efforts. Thanks.