Day 3: ASSE Professional Development Conference

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

So by today the ASSE wellness program was a bit much – a joke. The convention centre is so large and the general session theater seemed miles away from the general sessions, exhibit and lunch areas. It did allow for plenty of movement and walking between the sessions.

Today was the Associations Luncheon that both Wayne and I were invited to attend by President Don Jones. It is an informal forum where many associations gather to update other like-minded and topic specific organizations about what we have been up to in the last year as well as where we are going with initiatives. Groups represented around the table were: ASSE, CSSE, IOSH, BCSP, ACHMM, ACGIH, and the AIH. (To learn more about any of these organizations, feel free to Google the acronyms for definitions about who they are and want they do in relation to the safety profession). I found it very interesting that competencies, advancing the society in general, raising standards within the profession and certifications were among the most discussed topics around the table. I will be able to bring back some of this information to our Executive as well as our task forces to assist them with future programming.

This long day ended with the international practice specialty forum and dinner. This is one of the practice specialty groups that I personally belong to with my ASSE membership, so have attended this meeting for that last few years and was very impressed at the forward movement this group has made. One of our CSSE members is the Editor of the group newsletter. Attending these types of meetings allowed me to take a closer look at specialty and common interest groups and how the CSSE could provide such an opportunity to our membership for information and networking.