Fall '96 Volume 3.2

System Safety Society

FL Chapter News

Meeting Announcement

OSHA Priorities: An Update, Looking at the Future

We are fortunate to welcome a local expert to our upcoming meeting of the FL Chapter of the System Safety Society. Alicia M. Sweeney, of Workplace Safety, Inc., is well known for her consulting work with various organizations throughout the state of Florida. She will bring her perspective on what is taking place in safety by discussing OSHA's priorities for the year as well as what is changing in the organization. She will also touch on some proposed standards.

Ms. Sweeney is an alumnus of the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She is a certified OSHA instructor in Construction Safety and Health, as is recognized by OSHA as a Competent Person in confined space entry, as well as in trenching and excavation. She holds an Associate Safety Professional designation from the Board of Certified Safety Professionals. Currently, Sweeney is an officer and board member with the American Society of Safety Engineers. Also, she is actively involved with the Florida Division of Safety, the Manufacturers Association of Central Florida, and the National Safety Council.

Workplace Safety, Inc. (WSI) is a leading safety and health consulting firm which specializes in providing services to the construction and manufacturing industries. WSI provides written programs, personnel training, inspections, industrial hygiene and risk management assistance to both public and private industry.

Unique to their approach is the understanding of the interrelationship between safety, risk management, and cost reduction.

We are looking forward to Ms. Sweeney's presentation. Her reputation as a speaker, consultant, and business person should allow an interesting forum for what is going on with safety engineering in our area.

In addition to the guest speakers, look for some interesting dialog concerning chapter business. There are a number of issues in need of discussion. Several members have ideas to strengthen our presence in Florida. We hope you can take the time to join us.

WHEN: Wed., 9/18/96 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Fat Boy's Bar-B-Q 10222 E. Colonial Dr., Orlando

MENU: Buffet(BBQ pork & chicken, beans, potatoes, cole slaw, beverage)

COST: $11.00(incl. SSS cover).

RSVP: Mike Willoughby at (407) 384-3923

National SSS News

Of course, most of the news comes from the 14th International System Safety Society Conference that took place in Albuquerque, NM, last month. If you were one of the fortunate who attended the activities, you will agree that it was a magnificent event. Look to the upcoming issue of Hazard Prevention for more details, but for now, here are a few of what is happening.

Next year's conference planning is well underway. The people in the Washington, D.C. chapter are doing a great job in promoting what promises to be another fantastic conference. The theme for the '97 event is "System Safety in a Changing World." Mark your calendars for August 9-17 next year. Actually, it would be wise to make your reservations early as there are incentives(free room upgrade, chance for free conference registration) for making early arrangements at the hotel. Contact Paige Ripani at (703)413-6262 or pripani@ccmail.aot.com for more info.

There was considerable pressure on attendees from Florida to volunteer to host the 16th conference, which will be in 1998. This sounds like a long way off, but there is a lot of work to putting on one of these conferences. The New Mexico chapter used two and a half years to put this year's event together. Even if we wanted to host, there would be a rush to put it together. Various ideas were discussed that might help us organize. One was hiring a third party to help organize the event. Regardless, this is going to have to be a topic of discussion by chapter members to see if we are up to the task. Stay tuned. A decision must be made by December of this year.

There was considerable discussion on the status of the membership directory. Currently, it is in an 80% draft form. Look for copies to become available. In the meantime, there are lists around. If you need to contact a particular person or need particular expertise, contact one of the chapter officers and they can help you find a person.

Currently, there are no student chapters. If any of you know of interested students, or possibly a contact at your alma mater, contact Ellen Overton at (408)982-9283 x14 or enoovertop@aol.com.

Statistics: As of the time of the conference, there were 745 registered members in the society. Forty-five of them were new members that came on board for the conference. We are pleased to announce that the Florida chapter had 8 representatives in attendance. That is almost 20% of our members! Nationally, there are 16 corporate sponsors. Our chapter could use some work in this category. The total number of registered attendees for the conference was almost 400. There were a couple of dozen different countries represented this year. None have formed chapters, but look for news from Russia and Sweden, as they both had very strong representation at the conference.

There were many interesting speeches given at the opening and closing ceremonies, as well as at various lunches during the week. One of the highlights was the talk given by Mr. Sid Guiterrez. He was very entertaining in his rendition of describing the missions he flew aboard the space shuttle. His humor put a light twist on the serious topic of shuttle safety. Many outstanding papers were presented in the technical sessions. The hot topic this year was software safety. All the papers have been published and these proceedings are available. Nancy Leveson put on an excellent software safety tutorial. Of course, the Electonics Industry Association's G-48 committee met to discuss the status of MIL-STD 882C. There were some great tours available too. One of the most popular was the Air Force Accident Investigation Training Facility tour.

If you missed out on this year's conference, ask one of your colleagues to tell you what you missed. This was a real boost for the society and the profession as a whole. and it is great to see one of them recognized.

Please make a note that the national office of the System Safety Society has a new email address. If you need to send Cathy Carter any information(change of address, etc.), send it to syssafe@ns.gemlink.com. Of course, if you prefer to call, the number is (800)747-5744.

FL Chapter News

Congratulations to Connie Perry for being named the System Safety Society Engineer of the Year! Mrs. Perry received her award at the 14th International SSS Conference on August 17, 1996.

The Engineer of the Year Award is presented annually to an individual member of the Society who has made contributions to System Safety by development of engineering methods, standards or designs that have contributed significantly to the safety of operations or use of systems or products. Selection is based on individual actions that significantly contributed to the safe design and operation of a major effort such as: a) Development of a major system or product design where it can be demonstrated that a significant contribution to the safety of the user has been achieved through the use of engineering practices, and/or b) Development of engineering standards that contribute significantly to the safe design and operation of a major segment of the system or consumer product safety community. In addition, Mrs. Perry held the office of President of the Florida Chapter of the System Safety Society during the 19951996 year and is currently an active member of the Executive Council.

Congratulate Connie when you get a chance. This is a real honor and is also great exposure for our your chapter. We have a lot of talented professionals among us and it is great to see one of them recognized.

Our chapter's homepage on the World Wide Web has been giving us a lot of exposure as well. In the month of August alone, it received over 600 hits. This is great, considering we hadn't gotten that many (cumulatively) since it was first launched back in June. We can credit some of this to advertising aimed at attendees of the annual SSS conference. The hosts in NM were very receptive to announcing our site and posting the address in numerous places. Also, just recently, the site was added to a number of search sites. If you search the web on system safety, our page is one of the first to appear. So, look for much more exposure from this medium.

If you haven't had a chance to see what all the excitement is about, point your browser to http://pegasus.cc.ucf.edu/~mck44380/flsss.htm. The contents are updated about once a month and contain the most current information on things going on with our FL chapter as well as with the system safety profession on a national and international basis. Many chapter members have contributed items. If you have something you would like to see on-line, contact Mike Kochmann at kochmanm@stricom.army.mil.

Since our last meeting, there have been some additions to our membership here in Florida. Please welcome these system safety professionals to our chapter:

Richard Andree - Melbourne

Dennis Curran - Winter Haven

Lee Flint - Navarre

Fernando Fuentes - Orlando

Peter Mazur - Titusville

Steve Pue - Orlando

Darrel Stokes - Lakeland

As you can see, we are growing. Although we are still a small group, there is strength in quality. Congratulations to the above for adding to our organization.

We are always looking for new members. If anyone knows of someone who may be interested, especially on the Space Coast, please contact Frank Zelesky.

Many of our members have indicated that they are reachable via email. With the growth of this communication media, soon everyone will be on-line. If you have an electronic mail address, please send a note to Mike Kochmann, so that he can include you on electronic distribution of the newsletter. Hard copies are still nice to read, but emailed versions get to you quicker. Since time is important to all of us, take advantage of technology and help keep us connected to you.

Other News

Did you know that the Underwriters Laboratories has published a software safety standard? Many manufacturers are using a combination of microprocessors and increasingly complex software to create innovative products. In safety-related applications, the use of these technologies is replacing the use of more traditional electromechanical devices. To address potential safety concerns, UL has developed the Standard for Safety-Related Software, UL 1998. This standard requires a risk analysis that addresses the software aspects of a computerized product, including how the product's functional and safety requirements are fulfilled by software. Also discussed are configuration management, documentation, and testing of a system's software. To order a copy of UL 1998, call Underwriters Laboratories at (708) 272-8800, ext. 42612 or 42622.

Fire Prevention Week 1996 is October 6-12. The National Fire Protection Association has sponsored this event since 1922. The NFPA is celebrating 100 years of advancing fire protection. Over this time, they have produced almost 300 codes and standards. From a design standpoint, alarm technology has come a long way. Precise detection using air sampling and lasers linked to computer controlled distributed intelligence systems offer the state of the art in life safety. If you haven't kept up to speed on what is happening with fire protection systems, take the time during Fire Protection Week.

Orlando's Orange County Convention Center is the location for the 1996 National Safety Council Congress and Exposition. This event runs from October 26th through November 1st. There are several system safety program sessions planned. On October 29th, which is World Safety Day, there will be a keynote session entitled "The Future of National and International Safety and Health Standards." A panel of top-level American and International safety leaders from government, business and labor will discuss new OSHA, MSHA, and EPA rules and standards. This is the largest safety and health show in North America. For details and more information take a look at their website, http://www.cais.net/nsc/congress.html.

Points of Contact

President: John Wolf (407) 671-7699

jcwolf@aol.com

Secretary: Ron Larch (407) 281-1140

ronald_J_larch@ccmail.orl.mmc.com

Treasurer: Lynn Smith (407) 452-3797

michael.l.smith@den.mmc.com

Membership Chair:

Frank Zelesky (407) 645-5881

fzelesy@aol.com

Newsletter Editor and Webmaster:

Mike Kochmann (407) 366-2097

kochmanm@stricom.army.mil

President-Elect and Program Chair:

Mike Willoughby (407) 384-3923

willougm@stricom.army.mil