The National Safety Council is hosting its 2013 NSC Congress & Expo in Chicago, Sept. 28 to Oct. 4. Chicago is the hometown for the NSC, founded in 1913 – one hundred year’s ago.  This year’s event, Leading Safety into the Future, takes a look forward at the challenges the safety field will be facing and how industry can work together toward safety excellence.

Key educational topics: arc flash, contractor management, positive safety cultures and emotional intelligence, avoiding a cultural faux pas, hazcom/GHS, risk control tools, a fighter pilot’s perspective on safety, an astronaut’s perspective, former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill’s perspective, risk management, sustainability, and enterprise risk.

Also: return to work, peer coaching, punishment, predicting injuries, cultural champions, leading indicators, executive engagement, personal risk analysis, and yes, “It’s a Jungle Out There.”

Save to say these were not on the NSC’s agenda one hundred years ago back in 1913.

This is the world’s largest gathering of safety and health professionals. And the expansive expo floor, full of colors, flat screens, computer apps, streams of attendees, and vendor sales reps rubbing their hands in anticipation, shows little signs of the sluggish recession.

And so what if the federal government shuts down by day’s end, as all the news is reporting. When you enter the sprawling McCormick West meeting and convention center, you leave the outside world goodbye. A traveler was overheard yesterday at O’Hare International Airport that all she’ll see of Chicago is her hotel and the convention center.

More than 13,000 attendees are expected at this year’s 2013 NSC Congress and Expo.