The American Society of Safety Engineers celebrated its 100th anniversary with a blow-out birthday bash in its home city of Chicago, June 12-15. Records were blown out: 4,100 registrants marked the largest conference attendance ever; close to 500 exhibitors spread across 75,000 square feet of floor space made for the largest expo ever.

 ASSE’s centennial celebration, four and one half years in planning, comprised of more than 500 events, including a gala banquet on Chicago’s Navy Pier capped off by a classic rock all-star band concert.

Particularly newsworthy: OSHA chief David Michaels, Ph.D. fielding question after question on the controversial plan to require all workplaces to develop injury and illness prevention plans. “We are just beginning. This is a slow and byzantine process that will take years,” said Michaels.

Also breaking new ground: The Center for Safety & Health Sustainability was formally launched at the conference. This new non-profit organization, independent of ASSE, aims to provide much needed safety and health metrics to be incorporated by companies worldwide using the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) guidelines, the most popular framework for sustainability reports in the world.

Check out ASSE’s Safety 2011 blog wall of posts recapping conference events and attendee reactions at http://safety2011live.tumblr.com. One quote: “When we come here, we feel like we’re coming to a family reunion,” said former ASSE President Del Tally.

With more than 34,000 professional members, ASSE is one large extended family, with chapters spanning the globe.

Next year: ASSE’s PDC will be held June 3-6 in Denver, Colorado in 2012. Visit www.asse.org for more details and also for the call for presenters. In 2013 the PDC returns to ever-popular Las Vegas.