Salem, OR — A two-day event in Pendleton will take a deep dive into a variety of workplace safety and health topics, offering employers and workers guidance about everything from the importance of safety committees and effective safety communication to commercial vehicle safety inspections and root cause analysis.
The 15th annual Blue Mountain Occupational Safety and Health Conference, which will be held June 5-6 at the Pendleton Convention Center, is a joint effort of the Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA) – a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services – Oregon SHARP Alliance, and employers and employees in northeast Oregon.
On Tuesday, June 6, keynote speaker Joe Estey will present “Active Safety: Achieving Safe Performance is Not the Same as Avoiding Injuries.” Estey is senior performance improvement specialist for Lucas Engineering and Management Services in Richland, Wash.
Estey’s interactive presentation will show participants how different companies in a variety of industries have connected the dots between safety attitudes and mottos, and actual methods, principles, and practices to create genuine sustainable safety cultures.
“Don’t confuse a safety slogan with a safety method,” Estey said. “Too many organizations believe stating a principle such as ‘maintain a questioning attitude’ is the same as helping individuals understand specifically the mechanics of a questioning attitude. A principle without a practice is simply a slogan, and a practice without a principle is a task that rarely becomes a value.”
The two-day event includes several pre-conference workshops. They include a presentation on improving fall protection programs; a table-top exercise and presentation about hazardous chemical releases and the impact of weather on the spread of fires; and a workshop presented entirely in Spanish: Creación de una cultura de seguridad excelente (Creating an Excellent Safety Culture).
Other conference topics include:
- Electrical safety at industrial locations
- Get with the program: creating programs and policies for safety
- Hazard identification
- Civilian response to an active shooter event
- New hire safety leadership
- Why mindset matters
- Processing grief in the workplace
Registration for the pre-conference workshops on Monday, June 5, is $40. Registration for the conference on Tuesday, June 6, is $100, which includes lunch. To register, go to
safetyseries.cventevents.com/blue23.