Conference to encourage safety in science , technology

Safety–Beyond Compliance, a conference that promotes a safe culture in local and regional businesses is coming to campus Thursday.

The Marshall University Division of Applied Science and Technology, Safety Technology program and the Safety Technology Advisory Board are hosting the conference.

The keynote speaker is senior advisor for Organizational and Safety Culture for Los Alamos National Laboratory Todd Conklin. He will begin his speech at 12:15 p.m.

There are laws and regulations in the workplace, but according to professor and chair in the Division of Applied Science and Technology Tony B. Szwilski it is not enough.

“We should look beyond and see what additional work is needed to make sure there are no accidents,” said Szwilski.

Under the OSHA, employers must be able to provide a safe working environment.

“It’s up the management of the companies and institutions to make sure that the workers are aware of the chemicals, what their properties are, what potential risks are by using those chemicals,” Szwilski said.

Many companies have some sort of safety regulations established in the workplace. An oil company would have a safety protocol to make sure there are no oil leaks much like how a hotel would want to make everything is clean for the customers.

“The most important thing is for employers to ensure that their employees have a safe and healthy work environment,” Graduate Assistant for the Safety Department, Matt Thompson said.

“Safety is very important in every industry. Every industry should have a safety department,“ Graduate Safety student, Hasham Khan said. “Because you are open to dangers. You can have fires and you have to take precautions so nothing bad happens.”

The audience is mostly going to be made up of Marshall students, professors and health/safety professionals.

The program is being held in Foundation Hall, at 519 John Marshall Drive and goes from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Registration can be found online and the fee is $95.

Matthew Prandoni can be contacted at [email protected].