President’s Message

Message From the President October ’22

Happy October!  

    This Thursday Evening is the event for good food, networking, and an opportunity to introduce our significant others if their schedules permit. I know I’ll be bringing my wife Heather along and look forward to seeing everyone there.

   We all work hard and it will be nice to come together for a few hours to relax and just get to know everyone outside of the business relationships we’ve already developed. Please plan to attend if you’re able.

   In the meantime, remember to begin winterizing our work locations as well as our homes. It’s getting cold out there and quick.

   I’ll send a little more thorough letter in two weeks to highlight our upcoming year-end meetings and event. Until then, remain diligent in making a difference in the lives of others. After all, that’s what we’ve all been called to do.

   I hope to see you Thursday night.

Paul

Paul Thurber
President – ASSP Alabama Chapter
paul@everguard.ai
334-247-5170

Message From the President September ’22

Colleagues & Friends,

    I’m updating this letter today due to just having found out that I will not be in attendance on Friday. I am working in Minneapolis this week and unfortunately have a carry over into Friday that will prevent my return on Thursday evening as previously planned. Please accept my humble regrets and have a great meeting in my absence. We are blessed to have Vincent as our “go to guy” for all things ASSP and he’ll be there to lead us in my absence.

   I really enjoyed seeing a lot of you at the Governor’s Conference and will hate to miss any conversations that may take place in my absence concerning the event. We’re in the process of scheduling a planning committee meeting to review the previous conference as well as to begin setting the planning team for next year. If you have an interest in serving on the planning committee please shoot me an email, call, or text to briefly discuss.

     This is our September meeting this week. We will be hearing from our good friend and fellow member Frank Wampol of BL Harbert International. He will be introducing us to a new and recently proven program called P.A.U.S.E. If you attended the Alabama Governor’s Conference, you’ll remember Frank was the rockstar that closed us out on Wednesday morning.

   I know it’s easier and somewhat more convenient to dial in, but the ASSP is about networking in addition to education. Please RSVP if you haven’t already. I’ll make every effort to dial in on Friday if my schedule allows.

         Until our next – call, text, or email me if I can ever be of assistance. Take care and please stay well.

Paul

Paul Thurber
President – ASSP Alabama Chapter
paul@everguard.ai
334-247-5170

Message From the President August ’22

Greetings from Washington DC.

I just never know where this journey called “LIFE” is taking me these days. This week I find myself working in our Nation’s Capital City and next week I’ll be in Canada – who knows where is next. Exciting times for sure.

Before I forget, I hope to see everyone at the upcoming Alabama Governor’s Safety and Health Conference in Orange Beach. Reach out to me to let me know if you’re attending, I’d love to grab a beverage and/or a bite together. It’s not too late to sign up if you’re interested.

Also in August (next week) is OSHA’s Safe and Sound Week and we’ve all received an invite from our friends at UA SafeState to participate in two free webinars. Details and registration links are below.

   First Webinar: How Soon We Forget

   Date: August 17, 2022 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. CST

   Description: How many important things have you forgotten? That’s a great set-up to the punch-line, “I don’t know – I forgot!” But what if it’s a critical new skill set that mitigates specific risks like those experienced during a pandemic? How do we avoid Complacency Drift’s trap and develop skills which become habitual?

   Presenter: Danny Smith, SMS, CIT

   Second Webinar: Safe and Sound Week: Work Zone Management

   Date: August 19, 2022 Time: 10:00 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. CST

   Description: Join Melissa Bonds-Wilkins and Katie Aune as they discuss the management of work zones and the current trends in reflective materials.

   Presenters: Melissa Bonds-Wilkins and Katie Aune

Our August meeting is next week and it’s the same speaker and topic that was held in our Auburn Section last month. It’s focused on Medical Marijuana and the whole employment issues it has brought and will continue to bring in the coming months/years. We will be meeting on Friday the 19th at our normal time and location. (AGC Building at 5000 Grantswood Road, Irondale) Our speaker will be Melisa Zwilling with Carr, Allison. This session is a must for all Safety, HR, and Operations leadership personnel.

Let’s come together if our schedules permit. I know it’s easier and somewhat more convenient to dial in, but the ASSP is about networking in addition to education. Please RSVP if you haven’t already. I’ll look forward to seeing all of you on Friday the 19th. Until our next – call, text, or email me if I can ever be of assistance. Take care and please stay well.

– Paul

Paul Thurber

Message from the President July 2022

Good Morning – Good Afternoon – Good Evening!

I trust everyone is having a safe summer. For whatever reason, it seems like there is a lot going on. Regardless of the industry and or company – everyone is busy. Sure, some exceptions may apply, but busy feels like the new norm. Let’s make certain to take/make the time needed to self-check. Are we taking care of ourselves in a manner that supports our personal and professional health? We’ll talk more about this later down the road, but for today, reach out to others when you find yourself in need. We’re a T-E-A-M and we know that Together Everyone Achieves More.

By the way, let’s not confuse “busy” with productive. We need to make certain we’re still making and meeting our goals along the way.

Our July meeting is later this week and it seems like we just met for June. Time sure is flying these days – we must be having fun. We will be meeting on Friday the 15th at our normal time and location. (AGC Building at 5000 Grantswood Road, Irondale) We will be discussing HEAT and hearing from our UA SafeState team regarding heat injury prevention and new wearable technologies.

Let’s come together if our schedules permit. I know it’s easier and somewhat more convenient to dial in, but the ASSP is about networking in addition to education. Please RSVP if you haven’t already. I look forward to seeing all of you on Friday. Until our next – call, text, or email me if I can ever be of assistance. Take care and please stay well.

 – Paul

Paul Thurber
President – ASSP Alabama Chapter
paul@everguard.ai
334-247-5170

Message from the President June 2022

Hello Colleagues and Friends!

    It’s getting hot out there and I hope everyone has a heat-illness free summer underway. Remember, heat illnesses can occur even when it feels cool outside or even when it’s raining. How’s that for an opening line? Enough about that for now, but it should remain high on our discussion/training lists throughout the next 3-4 months at least. Let’s make it a plan to discuss heat-illness prevention best-practices throughout the summer.

   On the more traditional greetings, I trust this letter finds everyone busy and safe. As we’ve discussed before, safety doesn’t happen by chance – it requires a task-by-task choice.

   Great meeting last month, by the way. Thanks to everyone that found the time in their schedule to attend. Randall Arms did an outstanding job with his Lone-Worker presentation. As briefly discussed in the meeting, the Executive committee met as well and agreed to look for Social Media Manager for our Chapter’s various accounts. Please let me know if you have an interest in helping the Chapter move forward with this.

   Our June meeting is a little over a week away and I hope to see you there. We will be meeting on the 17th at our normal time and location. (AGC Building at 5000 Grantswood Road, Irondale) Our speaker will be Justin Brown from Sales Solutions. Justin will be presenting on Fall Protection.

   June’s challenge is very similar to that of May’s as it relates to the heat. It’s been said that ‘what gets measured – gets completed’. Let’s seek to identify new ways to measure and teach hydration and its overall importance to sustaining an incident-free effort. Remember, of friends at UA SafeState have free services available to help support our efforts in this.

   Let’s lead by example as it relates to our safety. Our example should be one of communication, caring, and contributing to not only our own personal safety, but to the safety of others alike.   I’ll look forward to seeing all of you on the 17th. Until our next – call, text, or email me if I can ever be of assistance. Take care and please stay well.

 – Paul

Paul Thurber
President – ASSP Alabama Chapter
paul@everguard.ai
334-247-5170