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German Chapter
In April, the German Chapter launched an on-line database with annotated references to safety-related literature (http://www.systemsafety.de).
Members of the Chapter were involved in organizing the Rail Automation 2004 conference on Innovative Technical Safety Concepts in Theory and Practice, held in
Braunschweig, Germany, on June 3-4, 2004.
The German Chapter mailing list currently has 28 members, with 12 from Germany and 16 from other European countries, and is
growing.
Houston Chapter
The renewed Houston, Texas, Chapter had its first full membership drive and Chapter kickoff meeting on May 20, 2004, at the University of Houston-Clear Lake
campus. Frank L. Culberson Jr., International Space Station Expedition 3 Commander, was the guest speaker. The dinner meeting served to officially open the activities of the
newly reactivated Chapter to a new generation of engineers and safety professionals in the Houston area. Attendees included professionals from the aerospace, petrochemical and
metro-rail sectors.
Barry Richard chaired the meeting with support from steering committee members Patrick Mitchell, Diane Rivera, Derek Robins, Dr. Jeff Oakley, Velma
Zavalla, Gijs-Jan Peek and Robert Kotowski. Elections were held in June for full-term Chapter officers.
New England Chapter
New England Chapter members have been very busy with all the planning activity for the 22nd International System Safety Conference in August. It looks like
this Conference is shaping up to be one of the best ever. There will be over 100 papers presented, 15 tutorials to choose from, and some very informative and interesting
speakers. This year the ISSC will also host the Navy Weapon System Safety Symposium, which will provide an opportunity for Navy weapon system safety professionals to share
their knowledge.
To mark the occasion of hosting ISSC 2004, the Chapter sponsored a system safety paper competition for New England college and university students.
Students were invited to submit papers on system safety. The winning paper is "A Practical Guide to STAMP-Based Hazard Analysis" by MIT students Mirna Daouk,
Nicholas Dulac, Kathryn Anne Weiss and David Zipkin. The paper will be presented at the Conference by Mirna Daouk.
The 2003 System Safety Society’s Chapter of the Year
continues to promote the System Safety Society at every opportunity. Norman Gauthier and Kevin Horace set up and staffed the New England Chapter’s booth at the New England
Area ASSE Professional Development Conference in Mystic, Connecticut, on December 2. Dave Rice set up a booth at the Raytheon Company Engineers Day. Both of these events were
successful. In addition to promoting the System Safety Society and the New England Chapter, ISSC 2004 was highlighted.
Even with all that activity, members gathered
for the Chapter’s annual dinner meeting on June 17, 2004. The principal speakers this year were Mark B. Haskins, CSP, and Patti Cushman, CSP, of Practical Safety Solutions,
LLC, who gave some insights on the application Root Cause Analysis. The dinner was prepared and served by the Johnson & Wales Culinary Arts Facility at the Airport
Radisson Hotel in Warwick, RI.
Norman Gauthier received the Chapter's Professional Achievement Award for 2003-2004.
New Mexico Chapter
On April 29, 2004, Chapter members and guests assembled at the Sandia National Laboratories/FAA Airworthiness Assurance Nondestructive Inspection Validation
Center (AANC) for a tour of the facility and free lunch. The AANC mission activities include:
- Providing validation facilities for existing and new aircraft inspection, maintenance and repair techniques
- Providing quantitative application reliability data on these techniques
- Serving as a catalyst for new technique optimization with subsequent technology development and transfer to industry
- Providing an environment for the realistic assessment (technical and economic) of new inspection and maintenance techniques
The tour highlighted several testbed aircraft housed inside a large hangar fitted with sophisticated diagnostic machinery. Our thanks to facility manager
Gerry Langwell and AANC manager Dick Perry for their hospitality and providing an informative tour.
New Mexico Chapter member Dick Perry (third from right) provided information on
points of interest in the evaluation of aging aircraft performed by the Center.
Northwest Chapter
On April 30, the Chapter held a co-sponsored tour (with ASSE) of the Washington State region NIOSH test facility in Spokane, Washington.
Sierra High Desert Chapter
Ken Chirkis (Past President and Treasurer) and Steve Bussell completed their first course toward a Ph.D in Business Administration with a
specialization in Aeronautical Science Management. Both Ken and Steve expect to complete their doctoral programs in 2006.
Jerry Banister led the coordination of the PMA-201 Fuze Integrated Product Team (IPT) System Safety Working Group Meeting (SSWG) held on May 27, 2004, in Camarillo, California.
Jim Snipes and Jerry Banister attended the NDIA Fuze Conference and DoD Fuze IPT meeting during the week of April 26, 2004, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Congratulations go out to Steve Bussell, John Alves, Dave Sweitzer and Annette Roesler who completed training leading up to certifications under
the Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) in the Systems Planning, Research, Development and Engineering “S” career
field. Steve and John completed the two-week Systems Engineering Course for Level 3 “S” certification, while Dave and Annette completed the
one-week intermediate acquisition course toward Level 2 “S” certification.
John Leipper is a member of the 2005 planning staff for the International
System Safety Conference in San Diego, California.
Congratulations to John Alves, Steve Bussell and Dave Sweitzer on their
recent appointments to NAVAIR Principal for Safety for their respective programs.
Ken Chirkis, Jim Snipes and Steve Bussell are currently studying in
preparation to take the Associate Safety Professional and Certified Safety Professional Examinations. Steve completed a three-day CSP preparatory workshop in January of 2004.
The Sierra High Desert Chapter recently held elections for President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer for the coming year. Results will appear
in the next issue of JSS.
Tennessee Valley Chapter
At the Tennessee Valley Chapter’s (TVC’s) April 21 meeting, John Rankin (Chapter member and System Safety Society stalwart) presented a short
movie produced by Boeing in 1970 entitled “Safety: A Prime Factor.” This film looks at the design of the 747, including the crashworthiness. The film
also stressed the importance that program management placed on producing the safest possible airplane. In his introductory remarks, John
gave an overview of his many years of experience in system engineering and safety at Boeing. Afterwards, John shared technical information on and
insight into several accidents and related investigations, including the crash of an Eastern Airlines L-1011 in Florida. It was a great learning experience
for the Chapter members in attendance. Because of the interest of members outside of the Chapter, John’s presentation was recorded. The
Chapter has always tried to share presentation material, but this was the first attempt at a video recording. The Chapter is considering recording
future speakers and the possibility of using teleconferencing to tie-in “off-site” members.
Chapter members continue to be active in other related professional
societies. On May 6, the Alabama Society of Hazardous Materials Management had its spring 2004 dinner meeting, and David West (TVC
Vice-President) and other Chapter members were in attendance. The topic for the evening was what the Tennessee Valley Training Center does to
promote and facilitate the safety of contractor and owner employees through safety training to ensure that all training is consistent and current
with applicable owner and government rules, regulations and industry safe work practices up and down the Tennessee River.
In a change of pace for the May 19 TVC meeting, Mike Pessoney, a software safety engineer, gave a presentation on his experiences as a
“Safety Steward” for the local area Twickingham Auto Club. Mike has been very active in the Auto Club for many years. Co-workers had presented
several interesting software safety analysis topics in the past year, and their employer (L-3 GSI) once again graciously provided lunch.
As reported in the last issue of the Journal, Josh McNeil was selected as the Chapter’s Professional of the Year and was honored along with several
other local professional society honorees at the Huntsville Area Technical Societies (HATS) annual dinner on April 1. The picture below is proof that
Josh did indeed get the award (and a free dinner).
From left: TVC President John Livingston, Josh McNeil, Rhonda Barnes (Josh’s Manager), and TVC Vice President David West.
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