Monday’s Speakers

Monday

8:00 a.m.

Welcome

Roland Moreau
Chair, Safety Congress 2021

Bio

8:15 a.m.

Opening Keynote: Controlling Risk in a Dangerous World

On the front lines of danger, operators face hazards and make life-and-death decisions in dynamic, complex situations. They are the last line of defense. How do we help them stay alive—and be more productive? Managers in organizations manage risk with systematic processes intended to limit the assessed risk. Even in the best organizations, when it is time to go to work, operators don’t manage risk; they control risk. To prevent all accidents—even unpredicted ones—the front-line workers need techniques to supplement the rules and procedures. Since the beginning of the space program, astronauts have developed techniques based on the principles of operating excellence to execute missions and stay alive in unforgiving environments. These principles-based techniques can help optimize performance in any high-risk businesses, and accomplish more in our dangerous world—or out of this world!

Jim Wetherbee
Captain, U.S. Navy (retired) and former astronaut, NASA

Bio

9:30 a.m.

Plenary Session #1: The Value Proposition for Safety

The engineering, construction, manufacturing, and transportation industries have made great strides to improve safety on jobsites and asset designs, yet they continue to experience significant operational and process safety incidents. This is especially true in the construction industry, which when compared to other work industries, appears to have a disproportionate number of worker injuries and fatalities. Current safety management knowledge and concepts indicate a need to start addressing safety during planning and design. Hazard identification along with risk assessment and mitigation play a big part in injury and fatality prevention. Developing an overarching, comprehensive safety program for a project that integrates both design and construction requires forethought and planning. Using the hierarchy of controls as a starting point, this presentation outlines recommended practices for such a program that takes advantage of both design and construction to promote safe work sites.

John Gambatese (Moderator)
Professor, Oregon State University

Bio

Steve Murphy
Engineering Leader, 747 Program; and Boeing Commercial Airplane Team Lead, Air Force One Program, The Boeing Company

Bio

Corrie Pitzer
Founder and CEO, SafeMap International

Bio

Terrance Soodkeo
Global Process Safety Technical Advisor, Baker Hughes

Bio

11:30 a.m.

Breakout Session #2A: The Role of HSE Management Systems

External shareholders, regulators, and communities demand that we deliver flawless safety performance. Continuous improvement in all engineering and industry sectors relies upon structured, disciplined approaches for managing safety, security, health, and environmental aspects of an operation or process. Health, safety, and environment (HSE) management systems provide a platform for sustainability and continuous improvement. This session will address the following aspects of management systems: What is the value of developing and implementing structured management systems? Why is management of change so important? How can management systems help in managing company versus contractor interfaces?

Russell Holmes (Moderator)
Director, Center for Offshore Safety

Bio

Michael Fisher
Commander (retired), U.S. Navy

Michael Meighen
Director, Corporate Health & Safety, Kinross Gold Corporation

Bio

Kimberly Walster
BBS and Training Specialist, Prairie State Generating Company

Breakout Session #2B: Integration of Safety in Regulator Frameworks

Improving safety culture and performance in any industry not only focuses on internal processes and procedures, but it also requires a healthy partnership between companies responsible for implementing innovative and sustainable safety management systems, regulators who are charged with oversight of those companies, and employees who are expected to work within those systems. The session will explore how industries, regulators, and employees have effectively worked together in the past without compromising a regulator's core mission and role, as well as how best they can build on this partnership in the future to promote a safer workplace. Two examples are OSHA’s Voluntary Protection Programs and MSHA’s Alliance Program.

Hugh Miller (Moderator)
Principle Investigator; Energy, Mining and Construction Industry Safety Program, Colorado School of Mines

Sean Baldry
Product Marketing Manager, Cority

Douglas Kalinowski
Director, Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Bio

Breakout Session #2C: Leadership Development

What are the key elements of a strong safety culture, and what can industry leaders do to foster a more effective culture within their organizations? This session will explore this important topic in more detail as well as address related issues, including the role of regulators in promoting a safety culture within companies; the challenges and barrier to worker empowerment; and how companies can more effectively work across cultures. Safety culture requires change that come from the inside-out.

Flavius Brown
Vice President, FDR Safety

Bio

2:30 p.m.

Breakout Session #3A: University Safety Culture Best Practices and Opportunities

Laboratory operations often combine high-risk work and high-resource investment, due to the nature of research, development, and discovery. Often in a university setting, new users come annually, and “seniority” rarely exceeds four years of experience among students. Academic research labs require consistent diligence toward safety, especially concerning the health of laboratory workers; however, the environmental and health impacts of lab activities are easily overlooked. In many cases, simple changes in policy, habit, or process can both increase safety in the workplace and improve resource efficiency.

John Howarter (Moderator)
Associate Professor, Materials Engineering, Purdue University

Chris Coles
Associate Director of the School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management, University of Alberta

Bio

Mark McLellan
Vice President of Research & Innovation, University of North Texas

Bio

Kevin J. Rader
Electrical Safety Program Manager, Argonne National Laboratory

Breakout Session #3B: Effectively Managing Complex Systems

With the onset of innovative engineering solutions to technical problems and the application of increasingly complex technology in engineering, it is important to understand the roles and limitations of automation that should be considered as part of the equipment and process design. Key among these considerations are the human factors that should be addressed, as well as the challenges and effective management of human-machine interfaces.

Richard Sears (Moderator)
Adjunct Professor, Stanford University

Bio

Phil Grossweiler
Principal Consultant, M&H Corporate Outreach

Camille Peres
Associate Professor, Texas A&M University

Bio

Venkat Venkatasubramanian
Professor, Columbia University

Bio

Breakout Session #3C: Leadership for Today’s 24/7 Problems

With most injuries and accidental deaths occurring outside the workplace, many organizations are trying to determine how their current safety management system could protect their employees 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For most companies, the cost of off-the-job injuries is higher than the cost of injuries that occur on the job, and command-and-control strategies have had little positive effect. Employees need to be introduced to practical tools that can be used every day to reduce injuries both on and off the job. This session will teach you how to recognize the repeated critical errors we make in virtually all injuries and drastically reduce injuries 24/7. Note: The session leader collects opinion data on the topic of his sessions to produce a report on the scope of the issues as perceived by the participants. Please bring a pen with you to this session.

Don Wilson
Chief Operating Officer, SafeStart

Bio

4:30 p.m.

Breakout Session #4A: Funding Effective Partnerships for Improving Safety

Improving safety is a significant investment in the intellectual capital of an organization. Safety improvements are often coupled with additional benefits to an organization in terms of improved management and communication and increases in productivity. Achieving the benefits of an improved safety culture can be a long-term and occasionally disruptive task. This session focuses on strategies and resources for organizations to find effective external partners to assist with transforming a safety culture. Discussion of funding sources, access to research and training materials, and effective coaching and consulting approaches will be discussed.

Michael Karmis (Moderator)
Stonie Barker Professor, Department of Mining and Minerals Engineering, and Director, Virginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Bio

Douglas Kalinowski
Director, Directorate of Cooperative and State Programs, Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)

Bio

Jim Pettigrew
Director, NASEM Gulf Research Program

Bio

Gord Winkel
Director, School of Engineering Safety and Risk Management

Bio

Breakout Session #4B: Unmanned Aircraft Systems: The Changing Face of Risk in Facility and Infrastructure Inspections

Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS), commonly known as drones, are being used increasingly for inspections of industrial facilities and infrastructure, as well as other applications such as mapping and seismic surveys. The utilization of this new technology to perform inspections and surveys has proven to be more cost-effective than traditional inspection methods or techniques such as using helicopters or temporary structures. Additionally, this new method for inspection can reduce the risk of exposure to hostile environments and enhance safety. New technology is rapidly being developed and adopted for drone inspections aiding in better and more efficient detection of flaws and defects. Along with the safety benefits of using drones come new challenges and potential risks. This discussion will cover uses of drones in inspections, new technologies for detecting issues such as flaws and defects, and how to ensure that the drone pilot is qualified and capable of safe and professional flight.

Lori Guasta (Moderator)
Colorado School of Mines; Member, National Safety Council Initiative on Work to Zero

Ryan Hyatt
Area Manager, Edward C. Levy Company

Bio

Tracy L. Lamb
Doctoral Candidate, Aviation Safety and Human Factors, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Bio

Breakout Session #4C: The Day We Will Remember: Safety Leadership on a Personal Level

We all are taught to feel safety on a personal level, but we often fail to realize the effect our decisions and of those around us play on the circle of people in our lives. This session is designed to bring to light the impact of a real steel mill incident’s impact on not only the injured but also the coworkers, family members, and others who work and live with us daily. The session highlights the effects when we play “Russian Roulette” with our lives by making hasty and unwise decisions, both on and off the job. This session delivers the key point that how we make daily decisions, if not properly assessing the risk, could negatively impact those around us for whom we care about. It is a moving and emotional session hosted by a career steel-industry expert with the knowledge and experience to talk directly about good decision making.

Ricky Rollins
Founder, Ricky Rollins Safety Speeches, and Melting Department Manager (Retired), Steel Dynamics

Bio

6:00 p.m.

Networking Reception

The program committee invites all registrants to enjoy refreshments at the welcome reception.