Workplace safety, health event coming to Portland, offering training opportunities across industries

Salem - A three-day workplace safety and health conference in Portland in May will offer employers and workers across industries multiple education and training opportunities, including how to improve safety leadership, build a culture of safety and health, and how to achieve effective communication.

Those learning opportunities - and more - will be available during the 29th annual Northwest Safety & Health Summit, to be held May 13-15 at the Holiday Inn Portland - Columbia Riverfront in Portland.

The workplace safety and health event is offered by the Region X Voluntary Protection Programs Participants' Association. The nonprofit group aims to reduce workplace injury and illness by pursuing safety, health, and environmental excellence through cooperative efforts among labor, management, and government. The event is designed for all industries and worksites, even if they are not part of the Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), which encourages companies to protect workers by going well beyond minimum safety and health requirements.

The event's keynote speakers are safety advocates Russ and Laurel Youngstrom. They will emphasize the importance of personal accountability in workplace safety and of the long-term consequences of ignoring safety precautions. They will share ideas for leaders on how to move safety from their team members' heads to their hearts.

They will deliver their keynote presentation - "It Won't Happen to Me" - on Wednesday, May 14.

The Northwest Safety & Health Summit offers everyone from operations personnel and project managers to safety managers and safety committee members opportunities to receive exceptional workplace safety training and to develop relationships with others in their line of work. It includes a full-day workshop on how to complete a successful VPP application and how to achieve safety excellence at worksites.

Event topics include:

• Dust Happens: Silica Hazards and Prevention Strategies
• How to Build a Hand Safety Program: Reduce Hand Injuries and Improve Worker Safety
• Next Generation in Safety: What Is New and On the Horizon in PPE
• Improving Driver Safety Through Engagement
• To Lift or Not To Lift? One Question to Prevent Sprains and Strains at Work
• Heat Stress and Wildfire Smoke: Protecting Workers in a Changing Climate
• Combustible Dust Hazards
• Unique Role of a Union Safety Representative and Employee Health Advocate
• Our Journey to Achieve VPP Recognition
• Nutrition and Wellness in the Workplace

Fees for full-day workshops (Tuesday) range from $200 to $250. Registration for the conference (Wednesday and Thursday) is $375 for VPP members and $400 for nonmembers. The fee for one day (Wednesday or Thursday) is $200.

To register, go to https://safetyseries.cventevents.com/vpp25. For more information, contact the Oregon OSHA Conference Section, 503-947-7411, or email Oregon.Conferences@dcbs.oregon.gov.

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About Oregon OSHA:

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. For more information, go to osha.oregon.gov.

The Department of Consumer and Business Services is Oregon's largest business regulatory and consumer protection agency. For more information, go to www.oregon.gov/dcbs/.