Last week, Matt Rowland, ATL’s Safety Coordinator attended the National Safety Councils Congress and Expo in San Diego, California. This is a yearly event that brings together safety professionals from all around the globe and provides them with an opportunity to attend lectures presented by subject matter experts with an expertise in a myriad of topics surrounding occupational safety and health.
Various technical sessions were attended by Matt to gain further knowledge on different safety related topics pertinent to ATL’s work. Highlights of the types of sessions are below:
- Driver safety – various sessions were attended that focused on driver safety, with new and exciting knowledge gained regarding how to keep our drivers safe and avoid accidents and violations on the roadways
- Heat illness – sessions regarding heat illness focused on ways that OSHA is trying to combat heat illness, as well as ways that companies can utilize technology to protect against heat related illnesses
- Miscellaneous sessions – other sessions were attended that discussed various different topics, including changing the way safety professionals’ approach occupational safety and health, utilizing brain science to change behaviors, and real-world examples of how occupational injuries effect you and the ones you love
On top of attending sessions, the expo portion of the event allows safety professionals to meet with and speak to over 700 vendors that included PPE and safety apparel manufacturers, professional certification organizations, contractor management companies, and safety software developers, among many others. Matt spoke to various companies of all different backgrounds, but focused on researching new fall protection, hard hat, and safety glasses technologies, with many potential ideas that can be brought into the fold at ATL.
