Professional Development Opportunities

23rd Annual Alabama Governor's Safety & Health Conference

August 30-September 1, 2010 - Perdido Beach Resort - Orange Beach, AL

The 23rd Annual Alabama Governor's Safety & Health Conference - August 30 - September 1, 2010 at the beautiful Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach, AL.
This year's theme is "Enhancing Safety & Health in Challenging Times" to reflect the dynamic business environment we are all working in today. Specialty learning tracts being offered for the first time at the conference include construction, health care and principles for new safety professionals.

Continuing education credits will be provided for conference attendees by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals, American Board of Industrial Hygiene, Alabama State Nursing Association and American Nursing Credential Commission.

In addition to an exceptional professional program, lots of fun activities are planned. Noted speaker Tony Brigmon, former "Ambassador of Fun" at Southwest Airlines, will give a warm and humorous talk on effective team-building principle.

Discounted rooms are still available at the resort, as are guest meal packages. The conference guest package includes three breakfasts, two lunches, attendance at the exhibitor reception and the always popular casino night.

Act now to qualify for the "early bird" registration discount, which ends on August 13th. Register on-line at the website: www.algovshc.ccs.ua.edu

The conference schedule is available at the website, along with a link providing updates on the oil spill.

Stacs, Inc. 16 Hour Fall Protection Training

If you attended the Manufacture Alabama Safety and Security Conference this past April in Prattville, AL you may remember Steven Johnson with STACS, Inc. presentation on fall protection. After the conference I shared some information with you all and got numerous questions if this training was going to be held in Mobile. We hope you take advantage of this training opportunity.

With the help and assistance from the University of South Alabama Safety and Environmental Compliance Department we are proud to announce that STACS, Inc. will be coming to Mobile to provide a Competent Person Fall Protection Training Program. Attached is the course outline.

Please register early for this class.

Here are the class specifics:

Date: October 4-5, 2010 (16 Hour Class)

Where: University of South Alabama – Mitchell Center. The Mitchell Center is #92 on the map.

Parking: Please park in the parking lot in front of the Mitchell Center South entrance. Enter the lower level of the building by the stairs to the left of the ramp and you will see signs to guide you to the classroom.

Times: 8am-5pm each day

Lunch: On your own

Cost: $300 per person. Class is limited to 25 students.

Registration: Contact STACS via email at stacs@rogers.com.

Each participant will receive a workbook (approximately 150 pages in length) and a certificate upon successful completion of the program.

Fall Protection Training (pdf)

Rocky Mountain Comprehensive Review of Industrial Hygiene

August 9-13, 2010 - Salt Lake City, Utah

Details coming soon! Call (801) 581-4055 for more information.

University of Alabama at Birmingham Offers Advanced Safety Engineering & Management Master of Engineering Degree

An innovative, totally online graduate program for safety professionals will launch this fall through The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Engineering. A Master of Engineering (MEng) degree with an emphasis in Advanced Safety Engineering and Management will be open to professionals with a minimum of 5 years in the safety field. An undergraduate engineering degree is recommended, though not required. No GRE or other exam score will be required from applicants whose undergraduate degree or graduate degree is from a U.S. college or university accredited by a regional or national agency. This MEng is a terminal professional degree aimed at advancing the technical competencies of individuals working within the safety community while introducing them to new business skills they need to move to desired management and leadership positions.

According to Fred Manuele, a member of the new program’s Advisory Council, “This graduate program is the first of its kind in the nation. The decision makers at the UAB School of Engineering are to be commended for establishing this program because it is surely needed. The market for this program is the entire country, and perhaps the world.” Potential candidates for the online MEng degree program at UAB are occupational health and safety professionals working in the private and public sectors as well as engineers currently employed in industry with design and/or management responsibilities.

“We have designed this curriculum with two overarching goals,” says Dr. Martha Warren Bidez, Graduate Program Director for the new Advanced Safety Engineering and Management program. “Our first goal was to develop and provide an innovative, world-class, Master’s level graduate program, emphasizing best practices and understanding in the safety profession. Secondly, we specifically designed this program to utilize the latest online technology to provide flexibility for the busy safety professional without in any way compromising intellectual rigor, which is the hallmark of UAB’s School of Engineering.”

The curriculum provides students with the knowledge they need to become personally involved and meaningfully contribute to design reviews within their own companies. Prevention through Design (PtD) concepts are emphasized; however, each course also includes online discussions on the full hierarchy of controls (according to ANSI Z-10), such as warnings, administrative behavior controls and personal protective equipment. Online discussions are facilitated by professors as well as guests from industry and the legal profession.

Companies stand to benefit significantly from employees who complete the new Advanced Safety and Engineering graduate program. Course content is presented within the framework of real-world case studies from a variety of industry sectors including, but not limited to, manufacturing, utilities, and health care. Experiential and peer-to-peer learning are emphasized and assignments involve the application of course content to one’s own business environment. For example, safety professionals enrolled as graduate students will:

Use techniques to retrospectively analyze real-world disasters and “near misses” and apply the lessons to their own company.
Develop financial models to make the “business case” that system safety eliminates waste.
Engage with guests from industry and the legal profession in online discussion forums regarding the role of the civil justice system in promoting or discouraging best corporate safety practices.
Acquire a thorough knowledge of design aspects of ergonomics.
Develop risk assessment matrices for specific case studies in their business sector.
Identify and re-design error-provocative environments in their own workplace.
Learn their role in preventing injuries through the design and redesign process, and participate in mock safety design reviews.
Review provided incident investigation reports, and analyze their shortcomings.
Learn about current whistleblower protection law and determine whether or not their own company has ethical and legal procedures in place for transparent reporting of wrongdoing in the safety arena.
Gain an understanding of the critical role of safety specifications being included in their company’s procurement documents.
Conduct "gap analyses" of their company's policies by comparing them to best practices, and identify unintended consequences of poor safety policy in their own business and industry sector.
Complete a capstone project in which they develop an advanced safety management plan for their business unit that is consistent with the ANSI Z-10 standard.

The new online degree program requires the completion of 10 core curriculum courses for a total of 33 semester hours. Students can earn the MEng degree in 5 semesters by completing 2 courses per term:

EGR 610 Introduction to System Safety - Prevention through Design
EGR 614 Cross Road: Engineering Ethics and Acceptable Risk
EGR 611 Hazard Analysis and Waste Elimination
EGR 615 Leading through Climates of Change
EGR 612 Engineering Risk: Assessment, Reduction and Liability
EGR 616 Policy Issues in Prevention through Design
EGR 613 Human Performance and Engineering Design
EGR 617 Crisis Leadership and Safety-Critical Design
EGR 618 Intrapreneurship and Calculated Risk Taking
EGR 619 Capstone Project: Development of an Advanced Safety Engineering and Management Plan

According to Dr. Linda Lucas, Dean of the UAB School of Engineering, “Our school is known for cutting edge, engineering education programs that meet the needs of industry and the exacting standards of our accreditation bodies. We are extremely pleased to launch a new program of study that appears to be critically needed within the safety community.” Admission to the UAB Advanced Safety Engineering and Management (ASEM) Program requires an undergraduate degree from a regionally accredited university and 5 years of work experience in the field of safety, as evidenced by resume and recommendations. Enrollment is limited and acceptance in the program will be determined by the ASEM Selection Committee. For more information, interested safety professionals should contact the UAB School of Engineering, Office of Master of Engineering Professional Programs.

Course Descriptions (pdf)

3rd Annual Environmental & Occupational Safety & Health Institute

June 14-17, 2010 - Deep South Center for Occupational Safety & Health

If you are interested in a health-related career, take this opportunity to learn the
scientific principles and practice of occupational and environmental safety and health.

Why attend? Did you know that:

Each day an average of 15 people die due to workplace hazards in the US alone?
1 in 3 Americans believe nothing can be done to prevent accidental injuries?
Approximately 9,000 workers are treated in Emergency Departments because of occupational injuries?
Industry death rates are higher for Hispanics than white and black workers?
Workers’ compensation costs for industry exceed $80 billion each year?

Environmental and occupational health and safety professionals are at the frontline to protect workers from injuries and illnesses. A safer, healthier workforce is a good thing - for everyone.

Details? The Summer Institute will be held at The University of Alabama at Birmingham, School of Public Health. The agenda will be filled with activities geared to increasing your knowledge of environmental and occupational haz-ards. Through group activities, field trips and lectures you will gain skills in the practice of occupational and environ-mental safety and health. Topics include:

Emerging Issues in Environmental & Occupational Safety & Health
Field Trip to Local Industry
Health Hazard Assessment
Applied Ergonomics: Prevention Through Design for Man & Machine
Hidden Hazards in Your Environment
Tools of the Trade: Hands-On Session

We are searching for the environmental, occupational health and safety professionals of tomorrow - bright, inquisitive students - with a desire to make a difference in the lives of others!

Costs? Absolutely None! We have a limited number of stipends for students to attend. The stipends will cover travel expenses (including mileage, hotel accommodations, and meals).

For more information and to register, see the attached event flyer.

Event Flyer / Registration Form (pdf)

Emerging Issues in Occupational Health & Safety Conference

June 23-24, 2010 - Destin, FL

After 20 years of offering Occupational Medicine Update, we knew it was time to rethink - revitalize our offerings. We asked our attendees, stakeholders, practitioners and a host of other - how can we best serve the professional development needs of occupational health and safety practitioners?

Based on needs assessments, committee meetings and lots of emails and phone calls - we built a new conference - Emerging Issues in Occupational Health & Safety. We're now offering a program in June - away from hurricane season and during a time when families could join our participants - we're offering topics that you told us you needed. We're bringing in excellent, well-respected, dynamic speakers and keeping costs as low as possible.

For more information, see the attached brochure and the conference website at http://www.soph.uab.edu/dsc/EI090620.

Conference Brochure (pdf)

EEC Spring & Summer 2010 Course Schedule

OSHA HAZWOPER Training: 29 CFR 1910.120

8-Hour Annual Update Course

Friday, July 9th - 8:00am-4:00pm - $160 per participant
Friday, August 27th - 8:00am-4:00pm - $160 per participant

40-Hour Course

August 14-15th - 7:00am-5:30pm - $700 per participant
August 21-22nd - 7:00am-5:30pm - $700 per participant

OSHA Permit Required Confined Spaces for Entrants and Attendants: 29 CFR 1910.146

April 21, 2010 - 8:00am-3:00pm - $140 per participant

DOT Hazmat Update: 49 CFR Part 172 Subpart H

May 7, 2010 - 8:00am-4:00pm - $160 per participant

All registration fees must be paid in advance and include coffee breaks, lunch and course materials. Group discounts are available. Checks should be made payable to: Environmental Education & Consulting, Inc.

Questions? Call Lindsay Hill at (205) 640-7305.

Georgia Tech OSHA Training Institute Education Center Offers OTI 500 and OTI 501 Courses

Georgia Tech’s OSHA Training Institute Education Center, is excited to be bringing the OTI 500 (Trainer Course in Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the Construction Industry) and OTI 501 (Trainer Course in Occupational Safety and Health Standards for the General Industry) to Destin, FL on July 12-16, 2010 at the Sandestin Golf & Beach Resort.

University of Alabama OSHA Training Institute Education Center

The UA OTIEC is part of the Department of Environmental and Industrial Programs through the College of Continuing Studies. We have been conducting environmental, safety and health courses, conferences, and training since 1976. To see all our training opportunities visit www.uasafetyhealth.ccs.ua.edu or call toll-free (877) 508-7246.

2010 ASSE Professional Development Schedule

In our effort to provide current information regarding Professional Development opportunities within ASSE, a link to the national ASSE Professional Development opportunities list is provided in this tab.

ASSE Professional Development Schedule

Alabama Chapter – National Safety Council (NSC)

For information regarding NSC services, products and training please visit the web-site at http://train.nsc.org/coc/index.aspx?aoid=1, or call the NSC office at (800) 457-7233.

Upcoming ASSE Events