​Workshops

Application of Pragmatic Leadership in Times of Crisis
David Oliver, EdD, CSP, CEM
 
This presentation explores the traits that are a common thread among leaders who succeed in times of crisis, and steps that leaders can take to develop their acumen ahead of the next big crisis.  Examples of incidents with both positive and negative outcomes will be explored.  Participants will:

  • Develop a clear understanding of practical leadership concepts and leader traits;
  • Be given tools to use in self and peer evaluations of their current skillset and experience leading during a crisis;
  • Understand the importance of developing an individual growth plan to address any gaps identified in their self and peer evaluation process; and
  • Develop opportunities to apply practical leadership principles in both daily activities as well as non-crisis activities such as events.
 

Emergency Planning: How to Avoid a Disaster After the Disaster
Robert (Bob) Mahanna
 
This presentation will discuss the challenges of handling large scale emergencies particularly in the distilled spirits industry focusing specifically on the aftermath.  The review includes some major incidents and how proper emergency pre-planning helped saved a lot of mistakes, time, headaches, and potential fines.
 

Ergo: It’s All in the Measurements
Jennifer Hayes, CSP and Robert Jones, CSP
 
This presentation is designed to help teams look at ergonomic issues and determine steps needed to prevent ergonomic injuries.  Participants will learn how to perform a risk assessment, identify the type of ergonomic evaluations needed, determine ergonomic risk (low, medium, high), and how to implement the best solution.


Ergonomics and Work Process Redesign to Remove Injury Risk Factors
John Dumas and Stephanie Mefford
 
This presentation address how Nucor promotes ergonomic awareness and implements ergonomic solutions.  Discussion includes recent team driven ergonomic fixes related to some of the processes at Nucor Gallatin.


Hazardous Materials in Renovation and Demolition
Douglas Peters, CIH, CSP
 
Workers may potentially be exposed to chemical, physical, biological, and ergonomic hazards while on the job.  These health hazards may cause sickness, illness, or even death.  However, exposure to health hazards may not be limited to just the worker, but to his/her family as well.  Unlike safety hazards, some health hazards can be brought home with a worker, thereby exposing the family to the potential for sickness, illness, or death.  What hazardous materials can be found in construction?  How do you handle hazardous materials such as asbestos, crystalline silica, lead, mercury, PCBs, and even mold during construction activities?
 

Head First, Hands Last
Tony Nath, Mehul Patel, and Jason Riddle
 
This presentation will cover a key initiative in Nucor Steel Gallatin’s Hand Safety Program. Hand injuries in the steel industry are most often related to failure to recognize the hazard and poor hand placement.  Putting this program in place has allowed Nucor teammates to think through hazard recognition and make sure hands are never used as a convenient tool, but as an absolute last resource for the work.


Highway Work Zone Safety
Valerie Januski
 
This presentation addresses responsibilities and awareness training for work zone flaggers focusing on signs, signals, and barriers utilized in temporary traffic control work zones as referenced to the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.  There is a review of Kentucky Transportation Cabinet training and procedures to keep highway workers safe in work zones including work zone component sections as well as deployment and retrieval of traffic control devices.  Attendees will understand work zone components, recognize hazards and dangers in work zones, and learn ways to prevent work zone incidents as well as methods to protect workers from vehicular traffic.
 

Human Factors Engineering and its Impact on Safety
Michael Chapman, EdD, ATC, LAT, CEASII
 
Human factors engineering is a EHS discipline focusing on the psychological and physiological impact on human performance and process engineering.  This presentation will review the principles of human factors engineering with primary focus on ergonomics, cognitive function, noise conservation and facility lighting, and how human performance is related to injury and illness prevention.  A growing field, human factors directly impacts workplace safety with major implications for leadership cost saving and reduced work related injuries and work related recordables.  Participants will leave understanding how this field impacts their employment fields and what they can do to implement immediate organizational change.
 

Indoor Air Quality
D. Gary Brown, DPH, CIH, RS, DAAS
 
Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) issues are pervasive today affecting all aspects of society.  The U.S. EPA states that in the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities.  The importance of different routes of transmission for SARS-CoV-2 is an ongoing area of research.  SARS-CoV-2 can remain airborne in indoor environments for hours, potentially increasing in concentration over time.  Therefore, unless adequate precautions are taken, the longer a space is occupied and the more people that are present, the greater the potential for airborne transmission of the virus.  Other research indicates that people spend approximately ninety (90) percent of their time indoors.  Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors.
 

It's Time to MESS with Your Safety Training
Mark French, PhD, ASP, CSP, EMT
 
The workplace is ever changing and becoming more diverse.  The topics that safety trainers must educate employees on has not kept up with the dynamics of the modern workplace.  This can lead to employees that do not have the knowledge and tools available to empower them toward safe work behaviors.  It is time to MESS with your training process.  The Meaningful Educational Safety System encompasses the three E’s of creating a meaningful experience for educators and students in the workplace.  Through experience, empathy, and emotion, trainers can better illustrate how the often-legalistic standards apply to the workforce.  This presentation will help to incorporate the 3E’s into any safety training process to help create a meaningful experience for employees.
 

Measuring the Effectiveness of Your Safety Management System
Scotty Dunlap, EdD, CSP and Webb Strang, CSP, CPP, CEM
 
As workplace safety has evolved through the decades, an ever-increasing number of “things” has been pitched at us that we should do to provide greater protection for our workers.  The list includes things such as comply with OSHA, train and educate workers, engage workers, have effective leadership, conduct risk assessments and take action, implement the use of leading measures, forget about what we thought we knew of Heinrich’s Model, create a business case for safety, create a unique focus on SIF, and consider behavior modification programs.  The challenge is to filter these and other things into what makes sense for your organization and then determine which of these things are working well and which need improvement.  In this presentation we will clarify how you can go about the achievable task of effectively creating a scope of things to include in your safety management system and measuring the performance of your efforts related to your safety management system.
 

Pedestrian Safety: The Other Fall Hazard
Scott Gaddis, CHMM
 
Preventing pedestrian accidents in the workplace has long been challenging.  OSHA estimates that over 200,000 fall injuries occur each year with a robust number of these occurring at the walking-working surface.  Working alongside a wide range of material handling equipment, traveling across ill-prepared work surfaces, and dealing with elements like weather, congestion, and poor illumination can be hazardous.  This presentation will cover how falls occur, specific areas for priority inspection, and an introduction of an actual checklist to be used.  The presentation will also explain how to assess these risks as well as the use of tools like a risk matrix to score areas for better success.  A final “before and after” case study will be provided to show how control is achieved. 
 

Safety and Health Programs: Positives and Pitfalls
Garrett Rea
 
OSHA documented (and revised) the key elements of an effective safety and health program for over four (4) decades, but what do these elements look like when they have been successfully implemented and functioning?  This presentation by Tennessee OSHA Consultative Services discusses what elements are in a successful safety and health program.  Additionally, this session will discuss what actions can unintentionally undermine a program and negate a site’s safety culture.  Firsthand examples of both positives and failures seen by TOSHA Consultative Services will be discussed.  Attendees will see evidence of how effective safety and health programs function, the important elements required for a functioning program, and what actions (unintended or otherwise) could effectively undermine a program and the culture of the site. 
 

“SAFETY”: It's In Your Hands    
Billy Parker
 
The speaker will tell the story of his arm loss and how becoming complacent had a lot to
do with the incident.  Mr. Parker addresses the effects on family, friends, co-workers and the company, the power of NO, and how staying persistent with safety saves limbs and lives.  He discusses how an individual’s safety is ultimately in his or her hands no matter the training and the tools they are provided.  And he speaks about the power of determination and positivity.
 

The Cause or the Culprit?
David Wilbanks, PhD, CSP
 
Organizations have increasingly adopted observation and coaching programs as an important strategy for reducing workplace injuries.  Not all efforts are successful and some can even be counterproductive.  One concern is that organizations that have invested significantly in safety may increasingly adopt a belief system that workplace hazards have been solved, and that control of workplace accidents now largely belongs to its employees.  This may or may not be accurate and, if not, could result in a “blame” culture that has been the worry of unions and other constituents.  This presentation overviews the background of “behavioral safety” interventions and the practical challenges that can be expected when implementing such a process. 
 

The Merits of Professional Membership
Bart Leist, CSP
 
This presentation details the advantages of professional membership.  For more than 100 years, the American Society of Safety Professional (ASSP) has been at the forefront of helping occupational safety and health (OSH) professionals protect people and property.  ASSP is a global association for occupational safety and health professionals.  This presentation addresses membership benefits, the highest level of performance by connecting with great resources and great people, top-quality safety training and education that you can immediately put into practice, safe work environments, and the value of the OSH profession.
 

Thermal Hazards: What PPE? Best Practices to Use
Scott Francis
 
Are you responsible for protecting workers from multiple, potential short-term thermal hazards, like arc flash, flash fire, combustible dust, molten metal splash, or steam in your organization's workplace?  What type of FR clothing is appropriate for these thermal hazards?  All arc rated clothing is flame resistant, however, not all FR clothing has an arc rating.  FR, arc rated PPE choices can be confusing!  Learn about the various workplace short duration thermal hazards, the difference between primary and secondary FR PPE, and the appropriate protective clothing to wear to match the thermal hazards and comply with applicable consensus standards - NFPA 70E, NFPA 2112/2113, and NFPA 652.  Will the “comfortable” FR clothing consistently be worn?  Is task-based PPE not being donned at the appropriate time due to human error precursors such as lack of knowledge, time pressure and complacency?  These error precursors must be countered with appropriate human performance tools that appear in NFPA 70E!  Help improve your organization's safety culture with key NFPA standard and FR PPE program best practices that fortify human performance to reduce the likelihood of incident occurrence from root cause human error and mitigate the severity of injury with appropriate PPE use should an incident occur.  Alleviate confusion around appropriate FR, arc rated protection and learn about key NFPA standards and PPE best practices to better keep at risk workers safe.
 

Understand Your SMS? Unleashing Safety Culture
Scott Gaddis, CHMM
 
Organizations struggle with having a full understanding of the safety management system with key program elements, finding and prioritizing gaps, and then how best to mitigate such risks with practical programming.  This presentation will explore an actual fatality event case study followed by a discussion on process errors, risk identification, root cause understanding, adaptable safety process models, and how best to leverage system growth and performance working within a cross-functional team approach.     
 

You Called 911. What's Next?
Mike Wallingford, Jr.
 
There have been more incidents and accidents requiring the care of emergency responders in today’s workforce.  This presentation takes you through numerous steps that allows you to better understand your need for preparedness.  Depending on your local emergency response agencies capabilities and staffing, it may play a role in the time it takes to respond.  Can you or one of your employees make a difference in the emergency?  How will you prepare?  What equipment is needed?  All of these things are reviewed to help you better prepare your organization.  This preparation, even in its infancy, can truly be the difference between life and limb in an emergency situation.
 

​Zombies or High on Synthetics?
Ken Nichter, EMT, CHST, SMS
 
This presentation provides an overview of synthetic drugs and other natural materials that can cause physical and mental impairments.  Most of these drugs are not detected during traditional urinalysis testing.  There will be an open discussion on ways to handle these situations at your workplace.  Attendees will:

  • Recognize various synthetic drugs;
  • Identify signs and symptoms of someone that is impaired;
  • Realize where these can be purchased and/or how they are obtained; and
  • Discuss workplace issues with these materials not being detected by normal drug testing measures.