The 71st Annual Governor’s Industrial Safety and Health Conference was held in person after a 3-year hiatus. Attendees, speakers, sponsors, exhibitors, staff, and volunteers were all on hand at the Greater Tacoma Convention Center September 28-29th. Once again we came together to gather, learn, share, and experience two days of sessions and workshops. This event represented the hard work of 16 industry-planning committees comprised of both labor and management, putting forward sessions representing safety topics that would educate and inform.
The conference kicked off with an opening ceremony that included a tribute to 17 Lifesaving Award recipients involved in 11 different events, emceed by Drew Mikkelsen of KING 5 News. The finalists of the Pole Top Rescue competition were announced and Dr. Charlie Cartwright presented his keynote titled The Heart of Safety. Pole Top Rescue finalists competed during lunch in the Tollefson Plaza wowing attendees as the final 4 teams raced to be the top team in the state-congratulations to team Avista Utilities.
The second day of the conference over 200 attendees started their day with keynote Rick Gleason as he presented, Over 100 Years of Safety and Workers’ Compensation in Washington State.
The exhibit hall had 79 exhibit booths presenting the latest in safety related products and services. Attendees were able to visit old favorites, like the Texting Maze and the GISHAB Board booth as well as check out new vendors and suppliers.
This year’s conference included 50 sessions presented by 74 speakers over the two days with 743 attendees learning, sharing, and networking. CEUs were available through four workshops including an all-day preconference titled Basic Investigation Principles: Digging into the Root Causes taught by Rocco Meraglia.
A big shout out to the 17 conference sponsors and dozens of volunteers who helped to make the conference possible! Plan to meet again in Spokane on September 27th and 28th 2023.
