Partnering with Fleets to Safely Achieve Better Safety Results

Sustained safety in fleet and equipment operations has three key elements with equipment integrity being the most obvious followed by operator safety and public safety: failing machinery puts bystanders and operators and property at risk. Equipment failure can come from ineffective design, improper use, inadequate maintenance and overuse and combinations of all of these elements. This presentation will focus on how safety and fleet professionals can craft an integrated and effective approach to build strategies to counteract the principal reasons for workplace safety breakdowns.

• Holistic equipment design engaging SME (subject matter expert) stakeholders
• Cultural shifts in the workplace to build habitual safe operating practices and processes into the actions of the team of equipment users and maintainers.
• Understanding when and how to leverage your partners from all elements of the team: safety professionals, equipment designers, and equipment operators and maintainers.

Virtual meetings and trainings have become integral parts of safety programs. Consequently, there is a need for competent and effective virtual trainers. This presentation – derived from the Train the Virtual Trainer Workshop offered by the Incident Prevention Institute – will focus on how to make virtual meetings and trainings effective, with an intense focus on the roles of the trainer. The course will be led by a certified, experienced, sought-after trainer and include three principles every virtual trainer should know. It will benefit anyone who plans, leads or participates in virtual meetings and trainings – which means you!

Session objectives are to:

• Define training as a form of communication that must result in mutual understanding.
• Explain how to make training focused on learners.
• Discuss the roles effective trainers have in training.

• Present practices, principles, strategies and tips that can be used by trainers.

Do you have old utility photos showing the way work used to be done? Are you a 2nd or 3rd generation utility worker? Send in an old photo to share with fellow attendees and learn how far utility safety has come and then join us for this fun networking event where you can share stories, make valuable connections and learn from each other!

And to add some more fun to the event, be sure to wear your favorite sports team gear to the event (hats! Shirts! Jerseys!). A little friendly fan competition never hurt anyone!

But wait there’s more! We will randomly select someone from our Virtual Networking Event to win an Amazon gift card!

We may not be able to network together in person, but that’s no reason to avoid valuable industry networking and connections! We can’t wait to “see” you there!

Leadership is like a hurdle; the better your run up, the easier it is to get over the hurdle. In this fast paced, entertaining, interactive, and action-item packed program, we will discuss your leadership run up for hurdles like change, coaching, communication, conflict resolution, developing relationships, feedback, mentoring, training, and work planning. The program will cover proven leadership principles and strategies along with attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics required for leadership  It will also challenge you to maximize your potential by enhancing your leadership skills. Anyone with positional authority or personal influence (you!) should attend. In Lead To Win, you will learn how to lead with a winning attitude along with how you can practice and improve your leadership skills. Specific topics covered will include:

• What leadership is and where it comes from
• Common leadership challenges and pitfalls specific to the construction and utility industries
• Proven leadership principles and strategies
• Attitudes, behaviors, and characteristics required for effective leadership

Left Brain/Right Brain: Implications for Safety Training

Do you wish you could just say no to boring, forgettable safety trainings? If so, this fun and interactive session will provide you with techniques to improve worker engagement and total safety performance. When you know how information gets into the brain, how it is prioritized and processed, and how the brain hemispheres interact, you can design and deliver safety training that is both better absorbed and applied by trainees. This session includes a self-assessment exercise and a build-a-brain group application.

• State the channels of human information acquisition.
• Explain how humans process and prioritize information.
• Differentiate between left-brain-dominant and right-brain-dominant information processing patterns.

This session will provide an overview of common gaps in electrical safety programs. Participants will develop an understanding of the requirements of NFPA 70E and OSHA 1910 Subpart S as they apply to the work environment. Real-world examples will be used to help illustrate successful approaches and techniques for planning and performing electrical work while preventing arc flash and shock injuries. This session is geared toward attendees with advanced electrical safety experience or program oversight responsibility.

Learning objectives include:

• The purpose of NFPA 70E, arc flash concepts and the hazards of electrical work in the industrial environment. 
• The five key aspects of an effective electrical safety program.   
• Tools to observe and analyze how a company and its electrically qualified workers are implementing the NFPA 70E safe work practices.
• Methods of assessing the effectiveness of a company’s electrical safety program and work planning and control procedures, including the energized electrical work permit system.

In these unprecedented times – when we are living through a pandemic and dealing with a great amount of uncertainty – change hearts and minds and move your safety culture forward by becoming a systemic thinker and adopting human performance principles. Learning objectives of this session include:

• Identifying systemic drivers that lead employees to lose focus at the task level.
• Prioritizing the issues employees face so they can be proactive and productive each day.

• Celebrating creative wins to lower employee stress during times of crisis.

Electric Power Safety Standards Simplified

Electric power organizations have high-risk work activities that require robust safety standards. Regulatory and consensus standards play an important role in the design and application of robust safety standards within your organization. Sometimes these standards are hard to read and interpret, so they may not be used to their full value. Facilitators of this session will identify types of electric power standards and offer best methods on how to develop and apply the standards. After attending this session, participants will have the knowledge to:

• Explain the role of electric power standards within their organization.
• Describe differences between regulatory standards, consensus standards and industry best practices.
• Identify applicable electric power safety standards.

• Use electric power safety standards to develop robust, value-driven safety standards.

Leading companies recognize that cultivating a culture of safety and risk management is essential, not just internally but across their contractor workforce as well. A strong contractor risk management program, driven down to the worker level, can help prevent worker injuries, protect the company’s reputation, support compliance with increasingly complex government regulations and avoid unnecessary loss. Join this session, led by facilitator Erik Menard, to learn more about the critical nature of contractor safety in the utility industry, including questions you should be asking to determine what your company is doing well and where improvements can be made.