|
Bay Area Chapter News
The Bay Area Chapter of Northern California is seeking volunteers to serve as officers in the local Chapter. A nominating committee is being formed by David Adams, current vice-president, to replace departing President Mike Jeung-Wesoloski and to relieve the current officers (already in their second term). Enthusiastic individuals are being sought to lead the Chapter back to operating success and to champion the cause of system safety through this vehicle. Contact David Adams at
, or call 408-756-0753 if you would like to serve as an officer or participate on the Nominating Committee.
Eastern Canada Chapter News
The Eastern Canada Chapter Executive Committee met in early September of 2006 to launch another year of system safety activities. The Chapter's first presentation took place on Friday, October 13, 2006, with Heather Henderson speaking on "Implementing a Corporate Safety Management System." The Chapter will host four noon-hour presentations and a half-day major event in late May of 2007. The Executive Committee is in the process of identifying and accepting capable volunteers to operate the Chapter and to take responsibility for all aspects of a healthy chapter. Most of the positions have been filled; however, there is a list of new ideas that the Chapter would like to pursue. If you know of anyone who would enjoy spending some time building up this system safety chapter, call Bob Fletcher at 613-248-6926.
New England Chapter News
The New England Chapter continues to promote system safety through its continuous efforts to reach out to other organizations. Early this summer, Kathy Larson organized a system safety panel discussion at the 2006 Undersea Human System Integration Symposium in Mystic, Connecticut, hosted by the Naval Undersea Warfare Center. The panel was moderated by Alan Southwick and included Ann Boyer, Norman Gauthier, Steve Porter and John Tubb. The panel introduced system safety as a new dimension to the Human System Integration community that was gathered for this symposium. Some participants acknowledged that they had never before considered the relationship between system safety and human systems integration. The New England Chapter participation brought positive recognition to the System Safety Society and helped promote the cause of system safety to a new audience.
The New England Chapter had 18 members — about 45 percent of the Chapter membership — attend the 2006 International System Safety Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Chapter members presented papers, chaired sessions, were part of the organizing committee and provided three corporate sponsors for the conference.
New England Chapter officers elected for the current year are: president, Norman Gauthier; vice president, Ricky Milnarik; secretary, Alan Southwick and treasurer, Kathy Larson. The Executive Council of the Chapter met in September to plot a strategy to revitalize the Chapter and to discuss plans for a major system safety event for the New England area.
Tennessee Valley Chapter
The Chapter's July meeting was held at the Software Engineering Directorate (SED) of Redstone Arsenal, located near Huntsville, Alabama. Thirty-five members and guests were present. Tom Pfitzer of APT Research invited all to attend the panel discussion "Bringing Discipline to Our Discipline" at the International System Safety Conference (ISSC). He also announced that APT had begun managing the software safety contractor support effort at SED, and was teaming with Dynetics to bid on the Marshall Space Flight Center Mission and Safety Assurance contract. The guest speakers, Josh McNeil of SED and Mike Pessoney of A-P-T Research, then presented their topic, "Software Hazard Criticality Assessment." The paper, which was presented at the ISSC, investigates improvements to existing software safety criticality assessment approaches, provides a viable means of assuring the integrity of each level of software hazard criticality; and proposes a means by which evidence of the software's integrity can be used in a final hazard risk assessment. The presentation prompted a lively discussion on this important topic.
During the week of July 31 to August 4, the Tennessee Valley Chapter had another successful trip to the ISSC in Albuquerque. Twenty-six members attended the conference and the Chapter presented a total of 13 papers, 2 panels, and 1 tutorial. At the ISSC Awards Banquet, the Tennessee Valley Chapter was again recognized as the Chapter of the Year. This makes three years in a row and seven of the last nine years (1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006). Additionally, several individual awards were presented to Chapter members: Rhonda Barnes was recognized as the "Manager of the Year," Sid Smith was recognized as the "Educator of the Year" and John Livingston received a President's Award.
The Chapter's September meeting was also interesting, with Captain John Shaw, U.S. Navy retired, coming to Huntsville to reprise the presentation on submarine safety he gave at this year's ISSC Awards Banquet. Captain Shaw, formerly a nuclear submarine commander, is currently manager of Sandia National Laboratory's Corporate Safety Basis Department, which is responsible for the quality of nuclear and non-nuclear facility hazard analysis, and the subsequent determination of safety controls and presentation of residual risk to the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA).
Washington DC Chapter News
The Southern Maryland Chapter of INCOSE and the Washington DC Chapter of the System Safety Society held a joint dinner meeting on September 19, 2006, at St. Mary's Landing in Charlotte Hall, MD.
After dinner, the program consisted of three short presentations. First, Paige Ripani reviewed recent DoD-related system safety activities, then the Chapter reviewed preparations for the 2007 ISSC in Baltimore. Finally, members of INCOSE discussed recent system safety working group activities of the INCOSE specialty Engineering Committee.
Winners Circle Chapter News
The Winners Circle Chapter president attended the Society's Executive Council meetings at the ISSC in Albuquerque and presented the Chapter's status to EC members. Although a general meeting was planned at the ISSC, unfortunately, there were only two people attending the Conference from Kentucky and Indiana. An action item was given to the Directors of Chapter Services and Membership by the EC to resolve the difficulty in finding System Safety Society members living in this area. Currently, there is only one space available on the Conference registration form and membership application/renewal form for an address. If the Society member puts down his or her work address, then it is possible to have a business address somewhere else in the U.S. while living within a Chapter's boundaries and not know it. Finding a solution will be very helpful to all chapters.
The Chapter is planning a general meeting at one of the local large businesses in the area. A joint meeting with the local chapter of ASSE is also being planned.
Meetings of the Chapter's Executive Committee are being held monthly. Most are call-in meetings, with a face-to-face meeting scheduled once per quarter.
|
