A Big Hello To All!

    Here we are in March already, busy times for sure. I hope this letter finds everyone both safe and healthy. I don’t know about you, but I’m certainly thankful we’re seeing a little reprieve to our COVID related cases here in Alabama and their associated variety of severity. Kudos to our safety, HR, and healthcare related members for their persistence and perseverance throughout this ever-changing pandemic. In fact, kudos to everyone for just hanging in there and weathering this storm.

   Our March meeting is scheduled for the 18^th and it’s an in-person meeting at the AGC building off of Grant’s Mill Road. Please try to attend in person if your schedule will permit. I’d like to see us fill the room like we were doing pre-COVID.  Our presenter will be Alex Blevins from Jeff State and he will be demonstrating their CDL training simulator. I am certain this will be both educational and entertaining for everyone.

   Thankfully, we’re beginning to fill our speaker calendar; however, we have a few open months still available, so feel free to continue making those recommendations for speakers and/or topics. We appreciate everyone’s input thus far.

   Just as an update, we met, discussed, and enabled a survey to share our opinions surrounding the recommended changes to the ASSP as sent to us through the national office. As a body (Alabama Chapter) we elected to support the changes and believe that they will better our Association’s ability to operate. Some skepticism may still exist, but nothing out of the ordinary. Remember, change equals opportunity. We need to remain diligent in reading and following along with our national association’s ongoings, so that we can be a conduit of feedback whenever/wherever necessary. Thanks to everyone for their participation and opinions throughout the consideration process.

   As for my challenge this month, it’s March already and at month’s end we will have concluded the first quarter of our new year.  OH MY!! Are we mentoring one or some of the people in our employ? Are we sharing the who, what, where, when, how, and why? As we go about our personal routines, let’s not forget to check on our fellows. Let’s be each other’s keepers – that means we’ll ask questions AND we’ll listen to the responses.

   Remember, knowledge without action is useless. Let’s let our actions pave the way toward World Class Safety in our jobs, families, and communities. Have a great month!

   I’ll look forward to seeing all of you on the 18^th. 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

Greetings!  

    How does it feel to be in the second month of this year already? Time sure does fly when we’re having fun, right!? Hopefully, everyone has completed their 2021 reporting and posting requirements. While I’m thinking about it, let’s remember to briefly talk about that during our upcoming meeting on the 18^th. We’ll have an official speaker as well, but we’ll talk recordkeeping and reporting for a networking opportunity later in the meeting.

   Our friend and fellow member Justin Shephard has graciously offered to become our program manager (for lack of official title) for this year. We believe it’s imperative to offer a quality and planned topic and presenter list for our membership. We’ll be looking forward to those recommendations for topics and speakers in the coming days. A special thanks to Justin for stepping up to help us out with this valuable service.

   As always, thanks for everyone’s continued support of the ASSP. It’s kind of like church, we get out proportionately what we put into it and I’m talking participation wise primarily. Please plan to attend on the 18^th if your schedules will allow it. Thanks for notes and leads concerning my presentation last month as well. Several of you had/have good questions and comments and I trust everyone found the information helpful and informative. Thanks again for allowing me the opportunity to share.

   As for my challenge this month, it’s February and it’s time to begin editing the goals we established for this year. We’re half-way through the first quarter and it’s always a good place to check-up. Self-checks are a vital part of our professional (personal and spiritual) health. As we go about our personal routines, let’s not forget to check on our fellows. Let’s be each other’s keepers – that means we’ll ask questions AND we’ll listen to the responses. I know we’re all busy, but let’s not forget that we “WORK TO LIVE not LIVE TO WORK”. Have a great month. I’ll look forward to seeing all of you next week on our call.  

   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

Happy New Year!

    Can you believe it’s January again? It seems like we celebrated a new year only a few months ago and here we are celebrating it yet again. Hopefully, for those operating with a “resolution” in place, everything is on target and progressing as planned. For everyone else, I hope this note finds you happy, successful, and progressing just the same. So, here’s to us all making 2022 the safest and healthiest we possibly can. – CHEERS!

   2022 brings our Chapter an opportunity to get back on track. Of course, we’ll be kicking off January, thanks to the pandemic, VIRTUALLY. We’ve thought long and hard about it and it just doesn’t make sense right now to meet in person. Hopefully, some of the recent spikes will pass and we’ll be able to get back together in February or soon thereafter. We’ll be communicating so that everyone knows when to reassemble. Until then, we’ll do the best we can in the virtual setting. Let me give Vincent Scott a special shout out for driving this side of the meeting for us. His tech skills are quite handy when conducting these virtual activities. We are thankful for him!

   Thanks for everyone’s continued support of the ASSP. We’re still open to everyone’s suggestions for topics and presenters in 2022. We have a couple months covered and could really use several more topics and/or presenters of interest. If you have one (or some) just shoot me an email, call, or text and I’ll reach out to get them scheduled accordingly.

   This month, I’ll be presenting on New Safety Technologies. As many of you know, I am a VP with Everguard ai, and I want to make certain I’m doing my part to help educate my colleagues about the “next level” safety solutions that I’m seeing changing the way we’ve traditionally done safety. I promise NOT to make this a sales call; however, a brief information session since we’ll have some additional things to discuss as well.

   As for my challenge this month, it’s January and I know everyone’s working on reporting, goal setting, and such; however, “Let’s find someone to share ourselves with. Let’s mentor another by giving our knowledge, assistance, patience, or perhaps even time.”  Have a great month. I look forward to seeing all of you next week on our call.

   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

Hello and Happy October:

    As always, I hope this letter finds you healthy and happy. We have an awesome month in front of us with our normally scheduled meeting next Friday (10/15/21) and then our first PDC of this administration. For those of you that don’t know, Our PDC is scheduled for October 22^nd at the AGC building (just like our meetings). The attendance is limited to 20 attendees so please get signed up at your first convenience. The PDC will be both a certification course as well as a refresher. You won’t need to test and certify unless you choose that course. The link, with all the associated details to this course is here. I hope to see you there.

   We sure hated to lose the Alabama Governor’s Conference this year, but the weather just couldn’t be trusted, and the decision was made for safety’s sake and we certainly can’t argue with that. I don’t know about y’all, but I’m looking forward to next year’s conference already.

   On the 15^th, we have Justin Shephard coming to speak to us on the topic of, “Post Offer Physical Abilities Testing: Clearing up the Confusion”.  Justin is the VP of Operations for ErgoScience and is a licensed physical therapist. He was scheduled to present this topic at the Governor’s Conference so it should still be hot off the presses. I’ve asked Justin to leave plenty of time for questions, because I’m sure we’ve all had or heard about that “one person or situation” that he might be able to assist us with. Remember, we’re all looking for those bits of information we can use to make us better professionals.

   As for my two cents this month, you know me… Let’s find someone in need and share ourselves with them. Our knowledge, assistance, patience, or perhaps even time. We’re given so much to share, and it would be nearly criminal to hoard it.

   Have a great day, week, and remaining month. Let’s make safety intentional and help others understand the “WHY”.  Until our next – call, text, or email me if I can ever be of assistance.

   Take care and please stay well. Thanks for reading. – Paul Paul Thurber
President – ASSP Alabama Chapter
paul@everguard.ai
334-247-5170

Greetings To All: 

    I hope this letter finds you healthy, happy, and hopeful. We’ve had a busy summer and I don’t know about you all, but I’m glad it’s cooling off a bit and we’re back into yet another year of college football. I know that’s probably not received as good news for all, but I’m trusting it is for most – at least in our great state anyway. Let’s all work to develop and demonstrate that same level of excitement in the coming months for our great association as well. 

    Since my last letter, we’ve met in August with the Tuscaloosa Section for an outstanding presentation by Frank Wampol and an Executive Committee meeting to begin our annual planning and program coordination. We certainly have a lot going on as well as to look forward to in the coming months. 

   On the 17th, we’re excited to have Jeff Marksberry coming to speak to us in Birmingham. Please plan to attend in person if your schedule permits. Some of you may know Jeff already, he currently serves the TVTC as Executive Director. Please let me assure you that this will be a must-see presentation. Jeff’s topic will teach us a lot about incident/accident investigation and the preparation for litigation.  I am confident we’ll all leave with at least one new nugget of information.

   For those of you who know me, you know I’m all about our safety “today”. Tomorrow is gone and tomorrow will soon be the today that we need to focus upon.  So TODAY is where we need to place our attention and intentional acts of safety. Please find someone to assist today – sharing is caring. Our safety is our responsibility and linking ourselves with a great network of professionals like the ASSP will help us all become better.

   Have a great day, week, and remaining month. Let’s be safe on purpose and make our efforts at home and work intentionally safe. I look forward to seeing everyone on the 17th. Until then – call, text, or email me if I can ever be of assistance.

   Take care and please stay well. Thanks for reading. – Paul