Dave Johnson

Actually OSHA chief Dr. David Michaels did not give a “talk” at Tuesday morning’s opening session at the AIHce. Instead, the packed assembly room was treated to a conversation between Dr. Michaels and one of his predecessors, John Henshaw, who headed OSHA during the Bush II administration.

At the AIHce Tuesday afternoon they called it “IGNITE” – enlightenment in a hurry. Of course we are all in a hurry these days, and grab our news on the go, preferably in easy to digest bite-size bits. That’s the idea behind IGNITE, which was a 90-minute session at AIHce.

Check out these safety-related educational topics being presented at the AIHce: Predict the shortcut before it results in an employee injury; Building a safety culture at the world’s largest airline; Safety eyewear and ANSI standards.

Dr. L. Casey Chooswood, MD’s presentation at the Wednesday morning kick off session was an introduction to one of NIOSH’s prized projects, in line with NIOSH boss Dr. John Howard’s vision for the future, namely Total Worker Health™. What is it?

L Casey Chooswood, MD, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and NIOSH, is this morning’s keynote speaker at the AIHce. Dr. Chooswood is in the midst of an interesting experiment. Recently, NIOSH launched an internal NIOSH pilot program to explore the use of sit and stand work stations as part of a workplace health and wellbeing initiative to reduce sedentary work in U.S. workplaces.

Monday afternoon AIHA Director of Government Affair Aaron Trippler gave an informal assessment of the political side of occupational safety and health, circa 2013. The reason nothing is getting done in DC is both parties have lost control of their members, said Trippler.

Good morning from cloudy and cool Montreal, site of the 2014 AIHce. The confab got underway yesterday (Monday) morning bright and early at 8 am. The opening session was pretty much SRO. In the darkened hall I couldn’t help but notice I was surrounded by smartphone gazers.

Consultants Tom Rancour and Bradford Russell offered these takeaways in a session yesterday afternoon: Some companies implement and dedicate time to management systems, but the guiding principle, the safety and health policy, is buried in some labor manual.

AIHA and ACGIH do much to recognize and encourage the careers of young professionals. But when it comes to traveling to conventions, seniority often rules and so it was yesterday I heard several Baby Boomer EHS pros gabbing on the exhibit floor.

Frans Johannsson, author, lecturer and entrepreneur, has made the rounds on network news shows, mostly discussing his two books, “The Medici Effect” (2004; published in 17 translations) and “The Click Moment” (2012). His opening keynote at the AIHce focused on innovation for the lay person, for all of us in the business world. Here are takeaways from his 50-minute rapid-fire, high-energy talk: