Australia is beginning the new year’s rounds of safety conferences. There is always a lot to criticise on OHS conferences but SafetyAtWorkBlog wants to hear about the best safety conference you have attended and what made it so good? (Teleconference and web-based conferences will be dealt with another time.
Was it the speakers? The venue location? The comfy chairs? The lunchtime food? The quality of conference attendees? Or the really cool USB of conference papers included in the ID card lanyard, as happened recently in Australia?
The most interesting comment will receive two OHS-related books from the SafetyAtWorkBlog review copy library (there may be scribbles in the margins).
reservoir, victoria, australia
I was scheduled to attend and present a session at AIHA\’s conference in Minneapolis in \’08 but my wife went into labour early! The interesting thing about AIHA conferences is they actually hold training and certification classes so practicioners can get dual benefit from attendance.
I\’ve been looking at a few options here this year, including APPEA\’s conference focused on safety in the oil and gas industry, and HFESA\’s conference in October (at the Sunshine Coast!).
I\’m working with brokers and practicioners to launch a comprehensive, low cost hosted OHS and workers comp Claims Management application in AU/NZ, so I\’m interested in networking and learning across the board.
Would be interested to hear opinions on which conferences are the most effective from these perspectives.
James
Last year I attended Hazmat in Sydney which is a \”two day conference on the latest directions and compliance requirements for chemicals, hazardous substances and dangerous goods to assist you to achieve sustainable outcomes.\”
The conference really is targeted towards people in the Chemicals industry, but I thought it was very well run, with speakers from both sides of the fence: Industry and Government. It certainly was interesting to hear the side of regulators with presentations on upcoming initiatives and changes, then have industry rebut with their side of the story, which normally involves difficulties in complying with what regulators have instituted.
This lead to some in-depth and health discussion regarding the direction that the Chemicals Industry is heading in Australia.
Hazmat is in Melbourne this year and I shall be attending again.
I can honestly say that the only conference that I have attended in the last 10 years that held my attention and made me actually want to do more in the area of return to work safely was the 2000 International Congress held here in Adelaide, the speakers were from every corner of the world, they spoke via translators with passion about the work that they did and they welcomed interaction between themselves and all those who attended Congress.
On top of that each of the presenters wanted to know what it was that I did and were happy to give me ideas as to work for the betterment of all concerned.
I remember speaking to a man who travelled from the very top of India, the story he told of how he travelled via many methods of transport just to get to an international airport, where he was mistaken for a baggage handler because by the time he arrived at the airport he was very dishevelled.
The level of humility this man spoke of was amazing, he spoke with passion about wanting to return to the airport and find out just what baggage handlers face every day and what needs to improve to make their lives safer and their workplaces better. [after that a group of us went to the Adelaide Oval so as this man could walk on the same ground walked on by Sir Donlad Bradman]