August is here and that means the Governor’s Safety and Health Conference
is just around the corner. Attendance may be closed by this letter as there
were few vacancies left by late June. The conference will be Monday August
26 through Wednesday August 28, 2024. Mr. James Spann, the Weather
Authority, for Birmingham’s television station ABC 33/40 is the Monday
morning opening session speaker. Mr. Bruce S. Wilkinson will close out the
conference with a motivational presentation. There will be two pre-conference
classes. Friday August 23 class is OSHA 7005 Public Warehousing and
Storage, a full day class. Saturday August 24 will be a half day class, OSHA
7845 Recordkeeping Rule Seminar. There are plenty of interesting breakout
sessions from late Monday morning through Tuesday afternoon. For more
information see the University of Alabama Conference Registration
website at https://calendar.ua.edu/department/college_of_continuing_studies.
The Alabama Chapter will meet on Friday August 16, 2024 at our usual AGC
location in Irondale, AL, look for more information on this meeting in our
monthly newsletter. Dr. Chris Schemel, Safe State Director, from the
University of Alabama College of Engineering will do a presentation on
Fire Hazards. He has spent time investigating and evaluating the Hawaii fire
that caused so much destruction in that State. This should be an interesting
presentation. Our September 20, 2024 presentation will be on Rigging and
presented by Brasfield & Gori’s Mr. Steve Sawyer and Mr. Jordan Casey.
This will cover issues such as inspections and proper use which is important
for both Construction and General Industry. A recent fatality in Alabama
resulted from a failed lift.
We will be partnering with ABC and AGC over the next year to conduct
professional development conferences for both the General Industry and
Construction practices. The first PDC we have will be October 4, 2024 with
ABC with the location to follow. Equipment designed for reducing silica dust
will be on demonstration at this PDC. There may be some vendors on hand
as well. More information on this event will follow on our website. Possible
other PDCs that are being planned for later in the 2024-25 year include
recordkeeping and an electrical event. Information on each will be
forthcoming. These events will be great opportunities to obtain CEU’s for
recertification.
Our July meeting was a combined Alabama Chapter and NE Section ASSP
Meeting. This was the first meeting for the newly restarted NE Section. Mr.
Charley Bishop volunteered to be the Section Chairman and setup their
first meeting which was Friday July 19, 2024 at the Honda Manufacturing
Plant No. 1 in Lincoln, AL. This meeting included a tour of plant No. 1
where they assemble two of the Honda Vehicles. Honda also provided lunch
and this meeting was a great success. Thank you Charley for setting up this
great meeting and tour. Look for an article and photos of the event on our
website soon.
We are also looking for members who want to get more involved in the
Chapter by volunteering as a Program or Governmental Affairs Chair. We
would appreciate any member who would like to serve one of these Chairs.
As Program Chair you will assist us with finding informative presentations for
not only the Chapter but Section meetings. With Zoom and Team technology
we can get knowledgeable presenters from all over the country to present to
our members. While at conference that you attend talk to the presenters to
see if they would be willing to do a 30 to 45 minute presentation for us.
Speaking of service by our members. Randy Easterling is our new
Alabama/Mississippi Region IV Area Director. He takes over for Wayne
Jackson who has held the position the past few years. Let’s welcome Randy
as our new Area Director and the Chapter looks forward to working with him
to improve the Alabama Chapter and Sections.
The ASSP Safety 2024 conference will be held in Denver, Colorado from
August 7-9, 2024. There as both pre- and post-conference courses to attain
continuing education credits for your re-certification(s). Next year the
conference is scheduled to be in Orlando, Florida in July.
Be careful and safe out there in your daily travels, work activities, and
summer vacation.
Thomas Ten Eyck, CSP
ASSP Alabama Chapter President