Welcome!

ASSE Region VI Professional Development Conference

September 22-24, 2010 - Kingston Plantation Embassy Suites - Myrtle Beach, SC

A Professional Development Conference on the Grand Strand at the Kingston Plantation Resort in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Sessions include:

• Construction Safety
• Ergonomics
• Risk Assessment
• Electrical Safety
• OSHA Compliance
• Current Research
• Coming Regulatory Trends
• Behavior-Based Safety
• Sustainability
• and much, much more!

See the ASSE Region VI website for more information and to register!

President's Message - March 2010

Welcome to spring. Well, at least we hope spring has arrived. Even though it was a long, cold winter, the ASSE Triad Chapter didn’t miss a beat. I would like to thank Shannon Backus for a great presentation on the impact of obesity on workers compensation at our January meeting. This is a highly controversial topic and Shannon’s information elicited plenty of discussion. If you missed the meeting, you have another chance to hear the presentation at Safety 2010 in Baltimore. Just be sure to attend Session 683 on Tuesday, June 15 at 4:30 pm.

I would also like to thank the North Carolina A&T Student Section for hosting our February meeting and the students who made presentations. March is our annual plant tour and we have a great location lined up. If you’ve never heard of Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind, you’ve missed out on the chance to meet an amazing group of people. This is one of the most unique manufacturing facilities I’ve ever seen and once you’ve toured the operation, I think you’ll agree. We moved from a dinner meeting to a lunch meeting this year to allow more people the opportunity to take advantage of this meeting. Several members attended, and this facility was featured in the Winston-Salem Journal on March 21. Check it out; you’ll be amazed at all they do.

We’re fast approaching our April meeting where we will vote on the 2010 slate of officers. We provided a description of each position in last month’s newsletter and there are still opportunities for you to join the Executive Committee. In addition to our election, we will be recognizing some of our members for their outstanding service to the Chapter and our profession. The guest speaker will be Jim Morris, the Vice President of Region VI. Jim is completing his second (and final) 2-year term and has been a great leader and representative for the Chapters in our Region. As RVP, Jim sits on the Society’s Board of Directors and has been an integral part of developing the future direction of ASSE. You don’t want to miss the opportunity to meet Jim and hear what he has to say.

I’m delighted to hear that despite all of the state budget woes, North Carolina is still planning to conduct the 80th Annual NC Statewide Safety Conference on May 11-14. This is a great conference with a packed agenda that’s offered at no cost in our own back yard. The ASSE luncheon (there is a cost for this) will be held at noon on Wednesday, May 12. This year’s speaker is Darryl Hill, the President-Elect of ASSE. I had the pleasure of spending time with Darryl last year and he is an amazing individual and a great credit to our profession (more about Darryl in next month’s newsletter). Be sure to mark you calendars to attend the conference and support all those people who worked so hard to bring this opportunity to us.

Once again, I encourage every member to give back to the Society by serving at the chapter level. We’ve been able to expand our Executive Committee from 9 to 14 members but there’s still a lot more we could do with everyone’s help. If you’re interested in stepping up and making a difference, now’s the time to speak up. And as always, regardless of whether you serve or not, we value your opinion, so let us know what we can do to enhance the value of your membership.

Sincerely,

Ron Graves, Triad Chapter President

© 2008-2010 Triad Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers