Opening + General Sessions

 
Sponsored by Factory Direct Safety & Environmental Inc.
and United Phosphorus Limited

Opening General Session, Monday, 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.

Failure Is Not an Option

Gene Kranz
NASA Flight Control Director and Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient
Houston, TX

Gene Kranz is best known as the leader of the “Tiger Team” of flight directors who brought the Apollo 13 spacecraft and its crew of three astronauts back to Earth on April 17, 1970, after its oxygen system failed.

The hit film Apollo 13 chronicles Kranz’s extraordinary struggle to improvise and devise a rescue plan under a scenario of extreme time pressure, many unknowns, and no real precedents. A New York Times best-selling author, Kranz’s book Failure is Not an Option chronicles his work in NASA’s Mission Control from Project Mercury through Apollo 13 and beyond.

Kranz served as flight director for the 33 missions of Projects Gemini, Apollo, and Skylab and led the flight control team during its first lunar landing. For demonstrating extraordinary courage and heroism, he was corecipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded by President Nixon for the Apollo Mission and was designated a Distinguished Member of the Senior Executive Service by President Reagan.

After 37 years of service at NASA and in the Air Force, Kranz retired, keeping very busy with consulting and speaking to professional, civic, and youth groups. He built an aerobatic biplane and serves as flight engineer on a B-17 “Flying Fortress” performing at air shows throughout the United States.

Tuesday General Session, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

Green Chemistry: A Strategic Opportunity for Industrial Hygiene

Michael P. Wilson, PhD, MPH
Associate Director for Integrative Sciences
Berkeley Center for Green Chemistry, University of California
Berkeley, CA

Seventy-four billion pounds of industrial chemicals enter the United States daily. Many are toxic, and most will survive long-term to impact life on earth. Global chemical production will double in the next 24 years.

As the Integrated Sciences Associate Director of UC Berkeley’s new Center for Green Chemistry and 2002 Switzer Fellow, Dr. Michael Wilson defines the cutting-edge of the emerging field called green chemistry. The principles of green chemistry include the need to design safer chemicals and products. This benign-by-design approach incorporates consideration of chemicals’ effects on public health and the environment..

Dr. Wilson has advanced the work of green chemistry and chemicals policy at state and national levels. The author of numerous published articles in scientific, technical and public policy journals, Dr. Wilson has also testified before the United States Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Among a number of topics, Dr. Wilson will discuss:

• How green chemistry provides a long-term approach to reducing environmental damage and worker exposure to hazardous chemicals at the earliest stage of development;
• Scientific, technical and public policy challenges in green chemistry;
• The industrial hygiene role in helping business understand green chemistry’s potential for reducing or eliminating worker exposures, improving product stewardship and innovation, and accelerating competitive advantage.

After his presentation, Dr. Wilson will participate in several roundtables.

Wednesday General Session, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.

OSHA: Initiatives, Challenges, Directions

David Michaels, PhD, MPH
Assistant Secretary of Labor, OSHA
Washington, DC

Under the leadership of Dr. David Michaels, OSHA has launched new initiatives and made significant progress. Hear OSHA’s plans for the future and current initiatives articulated and learn how they may affect your practice of occupational and environmental health and safety. The audience will have an opportunity to contribute questions for Dr. Michaels.