Former NASA astronaut featured as keynote speaker
The Central Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Conference is coming to Bend on Sept. 24–25, 2014, with the theme Launch safety and health to greater heights. The conference is being held at the Riverhouse Convention Center.
Oregon’s Occupational Safety and Health Division (Oregon OSHA), a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, encourages workers and employers to attend the event to help improve safety and health performance. The training can help organizations reduce injuries and accidents, and decrease workers’ compensation costs.
Keynote speaker and retired NASA astronaut Mike Mullane will present “Stopping Normalization of Deviance,” on Wednesday, Sept. 24. His program will focus on the lessons learned from the space shuttle Challenger tragedy, enlightening audience members on the dangers of an incremental “creep” away from best practices.
“Many people use the word accident to describe what are actually predictable surprises (the correct description of the Challenger disaster),” Mullane said. “In the autopsy of these surprises, there are always found to be long-term indications of imminent disaster. But, for various reasons, these warnings were normalized as acceptable to the team.”
The event will also feature workshops specifically designed for fire and emergency services, created in partnership with the Oregon Fire Chiefs Association.
Some of the other topics featured at this year’s conference include:
- Job hazard analysis
- Confined space – regulatory update
- Safety communication
- Disaster preparedness and emergency planning
Registration for the two-day event is $135, with an optional pre-conference workshop for $65. For more information about the conference or to register, call Oregon OSHA’s Conference Section, 503-378-3272 or 888-292-5247 (toll-free), then option one or visit the Conferences webpage at www.orosha.org/conferences.
The conference is a joint effort of the Central Oregon Safety and Health Association and Oregon OSHA, with additional support from the Oregon and Central Oregon Fire Chiefs Associations and Bend Fire and Rescue.
Oregon OSHA, a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services, enforces the state’s workplace safety and health rules and works to improve workplace safety and health for all Oregon workers. The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon’s largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. For more information, visit www.orosha.org.