Friday, March 28, 2008

IOSH 2008 Conference, Telford UK

Day 4 (Wednesday)

This was the last day of the conference. It was the last opportunity to walk the floor to decide what we liked about the exhibition area and to confirm some of the items that we like about ours. We took advantage of being close to SMART-ISO product representative and had a meeting with him. We further discussed international group organization and possible working relationships with David Evans – the International Group Chair and Sasha Lemon the IOSH manager in the area.

The first picture shows myself with the IOSH president Ray Hurst, ASSE president – Mike Thompson, and SC2 General Manager – Harry Ho.


The second picture shows Nattasha Freeman, the incoming IOSH President with Mike and myself. Nattasha will be President when Art Nordholm takes over role of President for the CSSE.


Presidents are challenged to share and participate and to remember all the information that we gather at these opportunities. I have to say that Wayne helps keep me on the straight and narrow, to ensure I do not get caught up in the energy of this and get carried away – which believe me is easy to do. Having Wayne at these events and conferences allows for the continuity of information shared and ensures meaningful relationships are built. I just want to thank Wayne for being there and for helping carry the large load of information that we are bringing back on behalf of the CSSE.

In the evening of our last night at conference, I spent a great dinner with and had a wonderful discussion with ASSE president – Mike Thompson, Fred Fortman, and Dewy Whitmore and his wife. We talked about relationships and how important they are to learn and grow as a safety professional and as an organization – this last evening proved that once again.

Wayne Glover, our Executive Director stayed on a couple of more days to go to the IOSH office with a list of questions and items seeking additional information. It was a great opportunity to learn about our organizations’ similarities and what we might be able to do together in the future.

Thursday, March 27, 2008

IOSH 2008 Conference, Telford UK

Day 3 (Tuesday)

The conference was officially opened by Ray Hurst. He welcomed us all – around 600 people or so. This conference differed from ours in the following ways: It starts late on the first day, around 10 am, that is so most people can travel in by train in the morning. They had many more panel discussions and presentations prior to them that were 10 -15 minutes in length to lay the ground work for the discussions. I found the day informative and entertaining.



I spoke on a panel regarding “Migrant workers – An International Perspective,” along with Mike Thompson – ASSE; Jakka Takala – Director of European Agency for Safety and Health at Work; and Alwai Shudder – Director of the Bahrain Center for Occupational Health and Safety. From the feedback received, the panel presentations, specifically my presentation, and the subsequent discussion went over well.

Wayne and I attended some of the sessions and met with a variety of people at the conference. One of most interesting meetings was with Sarah Hamilton, Director of International Affairs, Branches and Groups and some of the Chairs from groups who discussed how they have speciality or industry sector groups set up, including how they are run and what have been some of the successes and barriers or issues.

The day ended with a buffet reception event for social and professional networking. I believe a good time was had by all.

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

IOSH 2008 Conference, Telford UK

Day 2 (Monday)

Today was a day of international meetings. At 11:30 Wayne and I met with a group of international delegates to discuss some of our initiatives, share areas of growth and concern along with best practices and other helpful information.



In attendance Sarah Hamilton – Director of International Affairs IOSH; Dewy Witemore – ASSE; Past President Lisa Fowlie; Wayne and myself; Ministry of Labour and Social Policy from the Republic of Bulgaria – legal expert Atanas Kolchakov; IOSH – President Ray Hurst; ASSE – President Mike Thompson, IOSH Executive Director – Rob Strange, SC2 Singapore – General Manager - Harry Ho; and missing from the picture Sasha Lemon from International Affairs IOSH. After the meeting, more information discussions occurred at a late lunch with us departing at around 3:30.

Discussions continued later that evening with additional people from around the world. Ray Hurst – the IOSH president welcomed everyone to the evening. I presented and brought fraternal greetings and well wishes from the CSSE to the conference, along with representatives from USA, Singapore, Kingdom of Bahrain, and Malta.

What a great opportunity to meet other safety professionals and organizations from around the world. At the meeting in the afternoon and in the evening, we realized that most of our initiatives and strategies are heading in the same directions – we just are at different locations on the path. Our concerns and issues are relatively similar and we all do not want to have to reinvent the wheel. Relationships were built throughout the day that will help support CSSE activities and heighten our credibility at home and abroad.

Monday, March 24, 2008

IOSH 2008 Conference, Telford UK

Day 1 (Sunday)

The IOSH 08 conference took place once again in Telford UK. It really is a great conference center and a wonderful English community in which to have the conference. What a place to learn from each other about health and safety, as that was a big part of this community during the birth of the industrial revolution there, 251 years ago.

This year, I was accompanied by Wayne Glover, our Executive Director, for the first time. The Executive Committee feels that it is important that Wayne continue to accompany the CSSE President to these events to provide continuity with this ongoing relationship. Presidents come and go, but the Executive Director stays around for a while.

Relationships built at last year's IOSH Conference were celebrated and new ones were formed. I really want to thank IOSH and all of the wonderful people there for the kindness and generosity of time, information and friendship that they gave (and continue to give).

The first day started with getting my sleep and wake patterns adjusted and touching base with people that had already arrived. Wayne and I had a small strategy session and then met up with Mike Thompson the ASSE president for Dinner that evening.

Stay tuned for more details about the IOSH 2008 conference.

In health and done safely,
Eldeen E. Pozniak BA, BSc, CEES, CHSC, CRSP

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

The Advocacy Committee Met in February...

Definition of Advocacy: Advocacy is the process whereby we communicate with other parties in an effort to educate or provide information to allow others to make informed decisions and to compel them to take action on certain issues or topics.

The CSSE Advocacy committee met face to face for the first time in Toronto in February and I attended that meeting. I was very impressed with the committee, but more so with the individuals around the table and their commitment to the project. The set up of the committee is like that of other CSSE Strategic focus committees – Regional with Staff support. The committee members are: Ed Dyna – Chair, Andrew Smith, Bob Westhaver, Dawn Turner, Dorothy Beckett, Frank O’Rourke, Grazyna Momot, Spenser MacPherson and Wayne Glover. Congrats group for all of your hard work that was evident at the meeting and for the engagement that you have with this new adventure that the CSSE is going on.

The committee has outlined a 3 pronged approach and is putting together how each of these look and how each will roll out going forward: supporting the profession, supporting an issue/position, and representation on boards/councils.

At this meeting they discussed and initiated principles that will guide the committee in the future. They identified the need to understand just what a safety professional is and that fits with our other strategic focus areas within the education portfolio and the competency study. They further discussed options for and mapped out the process for our members to bring forth issues/positions and how the committee will deal with them.

The Advocacy Committee has outlined and implemented the process to select members to represent the Society on boards and technical committees, which is working well and they are now starting to explore opportunities where our members can do this. If you are interested in sitting on a committee keep your eye on the job posting area of the web site – posting and application processes and forms are there. You can contact Wayne at the CSSE office or Ed Dyna if you have a board or council you feel the CSSE should be participating on.

The Committee is going to conduct a survey so that they and the society as a whole can understand what our membership feels about Advocacy. So keep your eye out for it, and when it comes to you… please fill it out. It is short, to the point and full of info that we feel we need to have to represent you – the CSSE member appropriately.

Communication between the committee, people selected for the committees and the general CSSE membership was discussed and will be an item that will be addressed. As within the definition of Advocacy – communication is the foundation piece.

To find out more about the Advocacy Committee or the Plan they have, go to the Advocacy tab under the members area on the web site.

CSSE Advocacy Committee