Dave Johnson

Two sessions this week at ASSE’s Safety 2013 took up the subject of zero injury goals. The first was presented by Tom Krause Ph.D., the founder of BST who now works as an independent consultant in Ojai, CA after selling the company to Dekra of Germany. Tom posed the question: “Are We on the Path to Zero or Are We Kidding Ourselves?“

A highlight at ASSE’s annual professional development conference, this year titled Safety 2013, is the Executive Summit Panel Discussion. This year’s featured panelists:  Robert Zaist, President of Energy and Construction, URS Corporation; Rafael Moure-Eraso, Chair, U.S. Chemical Safety Board; Lester Grey, Sr. Vice President of Operations, Perdue Farms; Stephanie Buchanan, Vice President of Operations, United Airlines, Houston Hub; and Virginia Valentine, Nevada Resort Association.

In recent years, the issue of the aging workforce in the U.S. has been a staple education session at safety and health meetings. So too this week at ASSE’s Safety 2013, which featured a session on, “So You’re Retired? Not So Fast - Attacking Injuries of an Aging Workforce.” According to a recent AARP study, 70 percent of workers report they plan to work past retirement or never retire.

This much is clear after the first full day of ASSE’s Safety 2013 in Las Vegas talking to attendees and strolling the exhibits. We’ll call them the top 12 topics du jour: FR clothing market – 500K electricians and 269K power line installers should be wearing flame-resistant fabric clothing.

At lunch Tuesday at ASSE’s Safety 2013 I had the pleasure of dining with Mike Williamsen, one of sharpest minds I’ve met in safety, a longtime friend and working colleague of the late Dan Petersen, and now a consultant for Caterpillar Safety Services.

What kind of business confab in any field is on top it without a session or two or 12 on new communications technology devices as business tools? Certainly ASSE is “with it.” On Wednesday afternoon Safety 2013 features an education session; “Streamlining Safety Operations Through Widespread Use of Mobility.”

On Wednesday morning at ASSE’s Safety 2013 in Las Vegas a vexing, long-standing irritant to safety professionals is addressed by Canadian consultant Corrie Pitzer -- why safe organizations fail. Pitzer calls it “drifting into disaster.”

Building and construction workers use ladders every day. Yet, like any piece of equipment that’s not properly maintained, used, and respected, they can let you down. Whenever you reach for a ladder, your first step should always be to think about which ladder is right for the job.

A session on Wednesday afternoon at ASSE’s Safety 2013 promotes itself stating: “Most workplaces are like a mini United Nations. People from different cultures bring a range of values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviors that can challenge and impede your S, H & E efforts.

Wednesday afternoon at ASSE’s Safety 2013 features a topic every safety professional deals with at some point or another, as described by the session title: “Conflict Management Strategies for the Real World.”