OSHA Region III's Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Area Office reaches approximately 1,000 members of the Pennsylvania safety and health
community through its participation in the annual Pennsylvania Governor's Occupational Safety and Health Conference.
The Harrisburg Area Office works closely with a number of state agencies and other organizations to plan and present the
conference, including the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry, the Pennsylvania OSHA On-site Consultation Program,
labor groups, and employers.
In recent years, OSHA has become more active in helping to plan the Conference. Dale Glacken, a Compliance Assistance Specialist
(CAS) with the Harrisburg Area Office, is the co-chair of the Conference's Program Committee, which develops topics for Conference
presentations and finds speakers. He also serves on the Conference's General Advisory Committee, which plans and coordinates the conference.
OSHA also provides speakers and an OSHA exhibit booth at the conferences. For example, during the 2008 Conference, held on October 27-28, 2008
in Hershey, Pennsylvania, OSHA put on two presentations: 1) Construction – Excavation Hazards and Safety (100 attendees), and 2) Construction – Fall
Hazards at Construction Sites (106 attendees). During the 2007 Conference, held on October 16-17, 2007 in Hershey, OSHA also gave two presentations
that were each provided twice: 1) Overview of OSHA’s Revised General Industry Electrical Standards (140 and 60 attendees), and 2) Dust Explosion
Hazards and Controls (70 and 45 attendees). In addition, then Assistant Secretary Edwin Foulke was a keynote speaker at the 2007 conference.
The conferences also recognize employers who demonstrated the success of labor and management cooperative efforts in reducing workplace injuries
by presenting them with the Governor's Award for Safety Excellence. In 2008, the award went to the following seven companies: U.S. Steel – Mon Valley,
Med-Tex Services Inc., Weston Solutions Inc., Channellock, MI Metals Inc., General Dynamic Land Systems, and Bayer Healthcare LLC.
"OSHA's participation in the Governor's Occupational Safety and Health
Conference has been an important part of our outreach efforts in Pennsylvania,"
said Bryan Seal, Area Director of the Harrisburg Area Office. "Our speaking,
exhibiting, and planning activities help us promote OSHA's compliance assistance
resources and cooperative programs and help raise our exposure in the safety and
health community."
In addition to the Harrisburg Area Office, representatives from the Regional Office and other Areas Offices in Pennsylvania participate in the
conference by speaking or attending. Region III OSHA representatives that attend the conference include the Regional Administrator, Deputy Regional
Administrator, Area Directors, Compliance Safety and Health Officers, and CASs.
The 2009 event, which will be the conference's 83rd year, will be held on October 19-20, 2009 in Hershey. For more information, please contact
Dale Glacken.
As of February 2009.
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