Chapter News

Summer Cruisin' Down the River!

Thursday, August 6, 2009 - 3:00pm - Docks of St. Croix & Packet Co., Stillwater, MN

The Summer Boat Cruise was a big success! Almost 70 people came together for a nice afternoon cruising down the St. Croix River. The weather was great, the food was excellent, and the chance to meet with fellow EH & S professionals was the best! Many thanks to the organizations that were sponsors for the event. They were:

ARS Environmental
CLMI Safety Training
Encore Unlimited, LLC
Med Compass
3M
Wenck, Inc.
TriHydro Corp.

The Builder’s Group of Minnesota
Vic’s Crane & Heavy Haul
Meadowbrook Insurance
Grove’s WorkReady
Multicare Associates
Pace Analytical Labs
Minnesota Safety Council

See our new Photo Gallery page for more photos from the event!

Northwest Chapter Exhibits at the Minnesota Safety Conference

The Northwest Chapter continued an annual tradition by participating in the Minnesota Safety & Health Conference. The conference was held at the Minneapolis Convention Center from May 13 – 15 and was well attended by representatives of many organizations from around the Midwest. The Northwest Chapter staffed a booth in the Exhibition Hall where there was a steady stream of visitors. Having a booth at this conference is a great way to connect with many of our Chapter members and to encourage others to join ASSE. Many thanks to Dawn Westin who did a lot of work to coordinate this event!


A visitor to the Northwest Chapter exhibit at the MN Safety Conference gets information from Chris Flegel, one of the Chapter’s Members at Large.		Rick Johnson, one of our Northwest Chapter House Delegates and our Communications Chair, discusses ASSE literature with a visitor to the Northwest Chapter booth at the MN Safety Conference.

Northwest Chapter Concludes 2008-2009 Meeting Season with Tours of New Football Stadium

Northwest Chapter concluded the 2008–2009 chapter meeting schedule with Technical Tours of the University of Minnesota TCF Bank Stadium construction site. On May 12th, representatives of Mortenson Construction’s Safety Team led two one-hour tours of the future football home of the Minnesota Gophers. A total of 28 Chapter members participated in the event which provided a sneak-peek at what will be a beautiful football venue. In addition to seeing the facility, the groups learned about the safety programs and procedures that have been implemented throughout the construction phases that have resulted in an outstanding safety record for this large, multi-employer construction project. The Northwest Chapter Technical Tour is an annual event that takes place each May and consists of a safety-related tour at various locations. Proceeds from the event are used to help with travel costs for Northwest Chapter’s student sections as they attend various safety conferences. This year's Technical Tour raised over $400.


The new University of Minnesota football stadium. Will the contractors finish in time? The first game is scheduled for September 12, 2009 against Air Force.	Just hours after finishing their last finals, some of the members of the Northwest Chapter's Student Section in Duluth, MN came to Minneapolis for the stadium tour.	Group photo of those who attended the 2:00pm stadium tour.
		Photos courtesy of Tim Dachtera.

Northwest Chapter Named Chapter Star for 2007-2008

ASSE’s Chapter Stars program is designed to recognize chapters that have gone above and beyond the minimum requirements to maintain their chapter charter and have been dedicated to serving their members during the chapter year. It allows them to earn points for events, activities, meetings and services provided to their members, in addition to many other leadership items. Top point-earners are awarded Chapter Stars status and are then eligible to compete for chapter of the year. Chapter Star awards were presented during a special luncheon at Safety 2009. Contact ASSE’s Chapter Services for more information.

Pictured are the Region V Chapter Stars Award Recipients including our very own Scott Huberty!

Enterprise Minnesota Offers Safety Workshop

Enterprise Minnesota is a non-profit business consulting organization that helps small to medium-sized manufacturers, education services, and government entities in Minnesota. One of the things they do is offer various seminars and workshops. Enterprise Minnesota is partnering with the RJF Agencies to offer a special workshop called “Boost Work Performance Through New Safety Solutions”. This three-hour seminar is scheduled for June 24th and features several experts who will talk about best practices for safety and how they affect an organization’s bottom line. The program is being hosted by RJF Agencies and will take place at their office in Plymouth. The Northwest Chapter is supporting this event by encouraging area safety professionals to check out this opportunity. Check their website for more details and registration information.

Minnesota Passes New Seatbelt Rules

Effective June 9, 2009, Minnesota’s seat belt law is a primary offense, meaning drivers and passengers in all seating positions must be buckled up or in the correct child restraint. Law enforcement can stop motorists for seat belt violations. A seat belt ticket can cost between $25 to more than $100.

Effective July 1, 2009, a child who is both under age 8 and shorter than 4 feet 9 inches is required to be fastened in a child safety seat that meets federal safety standards. Under this law, a child cannot use a seat belt alone until they are age 8 or 4 feet 9 inches tall. It is recommended to keep a child in a booster based on their height, rather than their age.

See the attached documents for more information.

Child Safety Seat Guidelines (pdf)
Don't Skip a Step (pdf)

UMD Student Section Receives Cash Award

The University of Minnesota – Duluth Student Section recently received a $500 cash award from ASSE Society for meeting the Annual Minimum Criteria for ASSE’s Student Section of the Year Award competition. Student Sections from throughout the ASSE organization competed for this annual honor and UMD was one of ten Student Sections to receive the cash award. The monetary award is sponsored by ASSE and is intended to recognize those Student Sections who complete a detailed application and activity summary. The money will help with the Section’s annual budget. Special recognition goes to Devon Boushek and Andy Biondich of the UMD Student Section for taking the lead in completing the application process! Incidentally, the UMD Student Section received the top honor in 2006. This year, the 2009 Outstanding Student Section of the Year Award went to the Oakland University Student Section, which is part of the Greater Detroit Chapter.

Northwest Chapter Approves Change to Bylaws

At the February Chapter Meeting, the members of the Northwest Chapter approved the proposed changes to the Chapter By-laws. The change affected the term for the Treasurer and increased it to two years, rather than one. As anyone who has held this position can relate, the job of Treasurer has a bit of a learning curve. The two year term will give the incumbent time to learn the position and be more effective in their responsibilities as Treasurer.

Click here to review this change (see page 5).

UW Stout and UMD Looking for Summer Internship Opportunities

OK, admit it. The economy is still looking for the “reset button” and some of us have had our own positions cut. However, somewhere out there someone has an internship opportunity for a student. UW-Stout needs to find about 15 internships this summer for students in the MS in Risk Control program and UMD is looking for 12 internships for its Master of Environmental Health and Safety (MEHS) program.

Think about that task that simply doesn’t get done: Developing or improving written safety programs... Developing or improving safety training programs... Conducting safety and health audits... Performing JSA or hazard assessments... Performing ergonomic assessments... Conducting IH sampling... Washing the bosses vehicle. The possibilities are endless!

Each Stout student has successfully completed 1-2 semesters or more of coursework and the UMD students have completed all of their Masters coursework. Both of these groups are motivated and capable of hitting the ground running. If you could use some help this summer, please contact Elbert Sorrell at 715-232-2630 or sorrelle@uwstout.edu or Dr. Todd Loushine (tloushin@d.umn.edu, 218-726-7783) or Pat Wollack (mehs@d.umn.edu, 218-726-8117).

Record Turnout Braves the Cold for Northwest Chapter's January Meeting

Sub-zero temperatures and icy roads could not prevent 112 safety and health professionals from “heading south” to Bloomington to attend a special ASSE Chapter Meeting on January 13, 2009. This joint meeting with the Northwest Chapter and members of the Upper Midwest Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (UMS-AIHA was the largest turnout ever for this event.

Attendees were treated to a special presentation by noted safety trainer and presenter, Michael Melnik. We also had a brief message from ASSE's Vice President for Professional Development, Rick Pollock.


Guests check in at the Registration Table and are greeted by Northwest Chapter Secretary Carol Keyes.		Scott Huberty presented lucky recipient Diane Curelli of Aveda with a complimentary admission to the Northwest Chapter Professional Development Conference (PDC) coming up in February.

Northwest Chapter Conducts Member Survey

A special thank you goes out to all Chapter members who participated in the survey sent out this summer. With over 25% response, this gives us a fantastic amount of feedback on what we want to do with our Chapter and how the Board can best serve the membership. One of the items noted was a request to conduct meetings at different locations. Based on this feedback, we will be presenting the PDC in Bloomington and we will be having a special ASSE member breakfast meeting in conjunction with the Minnesota Safety Council, Northern Safety Day in Duluth.

The survey was our first experience with a web tool and based on the relative ease of setting up the survey and tremendous response, this looks like a great way to communicate with the Chapter in the future. Click on the following to see the results of the survey!

Northwest Chapter Survey Summary (pdf)
Northwest Chapter Survey Supplement (pdf)

ASSE NW Chapter Celebrates 65 Years of Service

The Northwest Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers is pleased to be celebrating its 65 Anniversary. The Chapter was granted its Charter on August 2, 1943 and thus initiated a long history of service to the Safety and Health Professionals in the Upper Midwest. With over 700 members, we represent a vast body of professionals who support the goal of improving the safety, health and environment within their organizations, companies and the community. Congratulations to all!

Click here for a short Chapter History!

Safety Training Special Interest Group

Rick Swanson, Training Manager for Health, Safety and Environment at Valspar Corporation in Minneapolis, is interested in forming a Special Interest Group (SIG) for local training managers, trainers or other professionals with training responsibilities in the fields of health, safety and environment. If you have responsibility for managing training, conducting training or are genuinely interesting in training, this group is for you!

The goal for the SIG is to provide a forum for participants to share best practices, resources and success stories. Initial plans include monthly meetings and perhaps having a web based discussion board available. If you are interest in participating, please contact:

Rick Swanson, Training Manager - Regulatory Affairs
Valspar Corporation
612-851-7662 office
612-812-7387 cell
rswanson@valspar.com

Northwest Chapter News Archive