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Safety is, or should be, of primary concern to every employer in the construction industry. It IS an important issue to contractors in the insulation industry. NIA formed the NIA Health and Safety Committee in 1998. When the committee was initially formed, its first matter of concern was the proposed agreed rulemaking for fiberglass. The committee concentrated all of its efforts on that particular topic for the first year or two and successfully represented NIA members with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) on that very important issue.

While the committee’s efforts were focused on fiberglass during its infancy, members of the committee recognized the need to provide association members information concerning safety and health topics in our industry.

The committee has worked diligently over the past several years, following resolution of the fiberglass issue, writing articles for the newsletter; reviewing and updating the NIA Safety Handbook; and developing, judging, and awarding the Theodore H. Brodie Distinguished Safety Award each year for the last three years. Now, we want to bring the valuable information that we gathered directly to you.

During the 2005 Committee Days meeting of the Health and Safety Committee, several members suggested that the committee could provide additional value to NIA members. Different concepts were considered, and the committee proposed to conduct a half-day safety roundtable at Committee Days each year. The venue of Committee Days was suggested for several reasons–primarily to schedule the opportunity for education during an event that is economical for contractors to send individuals who work for them in the safety area. The committee also considered various concepts of training. Because of the success of the Safety Best Practices Roundtable at convention, it determined that this would be the approach to use for the inaugural half-day safety education forum at NIA Committee Days in November 2006. Thus, the first annual Safety Roundtable will commence on Thursday, November 9, 2006, at 1:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Reston, Virginia. The Roundtable will immediately follow the Health and Safety Committee meeting and will run approximately four hours.

During this session, members and their safety directors will have an opportunity to receive and share information with other insulation contractors on a variety of important topics. There will be no standup presentations. Dale Haden, Safety Director for PCI, and I will serve as moderators for the session. We plan to cover quite a few different topics that have raised questions from contractors in the past. Topics to be covered include OSHA recordkeeping requirements, the importance and use of transitional duty programs to return employees to work following an injury, how to participate in an OSHA inspection, the importance of safety pre-task planning, owner-controlled insurance programs, a comparison of the use of industrial clinics versus emergency rooms for treatment of work-related injuries, liability to employers for the use of company-owned vehicles, and thoughts about controlling the costs of workers’ compensation claims. Even with just a half-day set aside for the safety roundtable, there will be something for everyone in attendance. In addition, the committee plans to set aside approximately thirty minutes for attendees to bring hot topics of concern in the safety area before the roundtable for discussion and, it is hoped, good ideas. Because we want to be sure we sufficiently cover the topics most important to attendees, we will send each advanced registrant a list of topics about thirty days before the roundtable. This will give everyone an opportunity to prioritize them. We will take this information and prepare the agenda for the session to cover those you pick as of most interest first.

As NIA General Counsel, someone who defends employers across the United States in occupational safety and health matters, and one who has seen a wide range of industrial injuries and their impact on companies’ bottom lines, I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having someone from your company at this safety roundtable. Because the committee and the NIA Board believe that some companies will want to send individuals to this roundtable who may not attend the remainder of Committee Days, a separate, small registration fee is being charged for participation in the roundtable. Attendees at the roundtable will have an opportunity to network and continue discussions on topics of interest at a reception for attendees immediately following the roundtable. The committee hopes to make this roundtable the first of many educational opportunities for NIA members to learn more about safety and the insulation contractor.

To register for this event, click here to download the registration form  ^PDF. Please fax completed registration form back to 703-464-5896.