Florida Chapter of the System Safety Society

Winter '95 - Volume 2.2

FL Chapter News

Combined SSS/HFES Meeting Scheduled

For our quarterly meeting, we have decided to get together with the Central Florida Chapter of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society. There are often times when HFE interests overlap into system safety's. The topic of discussion for our joint meeting will be "Acquisition Reform".

Many of our members work for or with the government on various projects and we all know that there is a movement to change the procurement process and content of specifications. The move from military standards towards commercial standards has vast implications in both system safety and human factors engineering. There are benefits and difficulties to writing and conforming to performance standards. At our meeting, we will have experts from the government and from industry discuss how these changes in acquisition affect engineering in our areas.

To open the topic, Tom Mazza, Chief of the Engineering Operations Division at the US Army Simulation Training and Instrumentation Command(STRICOM), will outline acquisition reform. Mr. Mazza holds a B.S. degree from Texas A&M University and graduated from the AMC Maintainability Intern Program. He is a member of the Army Acquisition Corp.

Representing system safety from the government's point of view is our local chapter's president, Connie Perry. Mrs. Perry is the senior Safety Engineer at STRICOM. After completing her B.S. in Industrial Engineering at the University of South Florida, she entered the Army School of Engineering. She has nine years of U.S. Army experience in safety engineering with the Aviation Troop Command in St. Louis, as well as with STRICOM in Orlando.

Ron Larch will be our industry expert on system safety. His college background includes a B.S.E.E. from West Virginia University, a M.E.I.E. from Texas A&M, as well as graduation from the Army Safety Engineering Intern Program. This led to positions with the Army R&D Center, Army Corps of Engineers, and Army Materiel Command Headquarters, all totaling 11½ years. Presently, he is with Lockheed Martin in Orlando, where he has worked on several projects over the last 9 years.

Al Galbavy will provide the government's viewpoint of acquisition reform as it pertains to human factors engineering. He holds an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design from Pratt Institute and advanced degrees in Product Design from both the Illinois Institute of Technology and FIT. He has worked for Ford Motor Company and US Steel. For 12 years, he worked in advanced concept weapons system design at US Army's Rock Island Arsenal. Galbavy has been with the Army Research Lab, Human Research and Engineering Directorate for the past 20 years. He is currently resident at STRICOM, where he continues his work of applying HFE principles to training devices.

Representing industry, is Brian Plamondon of Lockheed Martin Corp. He has an advanced degree in Experimental Psychology/Human Performance from the Ohio State University. His 11 years of experience include assignments with United Technologies Corp./Sikorsky Aircraft and LMC. Plamondon has been involved with numerous HFE and SS efforts dealing with advanced crew station R & D, engineering simulation development, and operator workload prediction methodologies.

These people bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the table. We can look forward to an educational and stimulating presentation.

WHEN: Wed., 11/29/95

at 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: Fat Boy's Bar-B-Q

10222 E. Colonial Dr.

Orlando

MENU: Buffet

COST: $9.00

(+$3.00 SSS cover)

See you at the meeting!

National SSS News

Planning for the 14th International System Safety Society Conference in Albuquerque, NM is on schedule. The conference isn't until August of next year, but there are things happening regularly. The Conference Chair, Perry D'Antonio, has been mailing monthly status newsletters to SSS Key Members. Some of the speakers are being lined up. Twenty (out of the 24 planned) session chairs have been filled. One of the workshops will be a Fuzzy Logic Tutorial. There are plans for 96 papers to be presented in 24 technical sessions. Remember, the deadline for abstracts is December 31, 1995. There will be three ASSE workshops prior to the conference: CSP Exam Prep Workshop, Hazard Analysis and Risk Reduction, and Safety Management. The CSP Examination will be administered on August 12, 1996. Last, but not least, this year's conference will be able to accept payment by VISA or Mastercard, so don't delay your registration. Contact the one of your local chapter's officers or the National Office(1-800-747-5744) for information.

The format for membership application has changed by simplifying the application process. See you Membership Chair for a brochure and information on how our organization can benefit system safety professionals who are not SSS members.

People You Know

Even though our group isn't large by some standards, there are many unique and interesting individuals in the Florida Chapter of the System Safety Society. This quarter, let's introduce two extremes: one of the most senior members and a man who just became part of our organization.

John Leech has been a member of SSS for over three decades. His safety experience goes back into the 1930's, when he worked in the steel industry. In 1941, he joined the USAF and became the Air Division Safety Officer in addition to his duties as a command and squadron pilot. He retired from the service in 1968 and took a position with an insurance company investigating airplane accidents. He was involved in automobile driving safety as well until he retired in 1975. Since then, Mr. Leech has been actively involved with the International Dark Sky Association, where he pursues his hobby of astronomy. Now that his professional endeavors have waned, John has been able to use his safety experience in a broader sense: he is working to better our community. He is working with county and city officials to improve street light design. Convincing the authorities to replace bulbs with the more efficient and less bright low pressure sodium type will not only improve astronomy conditions, it will significantly improve driving conditions. He is also lobbying to have the light fixtures replace with a flatter design, which directs light down, versus wasting light pointed up in the sky. Mr. Leech spends a lot of time teaching safety to youngsters at various public schools(over 2000 students to date) and at the Orlando Science Center. John Leech is an example of how safety professionals can provide a lifelong service to society.

Mike Willoughby C.S.P., recently joined our chapter after relocating from Sierra Vista, AZ. Mike holds a B.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Auburn University and a M.S. degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M. After completing the Army Materiel Command Safety Engineering Intern Program, Mike went to work for the U.S. Army Electronic Proving Ground (USAEPG) at Ft. Huachuca, AZ as a safety engineer. He worked for USAEPG for three years before transferring to Information Systems Command, Ft. Huachuca, AZ in July 1993. Mike transferred to STRICOM for a promotion in March of this year where he is the system safety engineer on various programs. He is STRICOM's POC for laser and radiation safety.

These two men represent the link between past and future for the SSS in Florida. Both bring their share of safety engineering expertise and can contribute to the rest of us in how we use the past to shape the future of our profession.

Other News

Ergonomics-related illnesses constitute the most common occupational illness loss for companies operating worldwide, according to a survey of top safety executives employed my multinational companies that are ranked in the Fortune 500. The study was sponsored by Liberty International, a subsidiary of Liberty Mutual Group. This and other related articles in the fall/winter edition of the Bureau of National Affairs' Communicator outline how ergonomics must be given attention. System safety engineers need to be aware of HFE principles and incorporate these in design to cut down on this growing problem. This is truly a systems issue as the interaction between man and machine is not always easily defined. With so much of our work being tied to our computers these days, how many people in the work force are using improperly designed workstations? This topic hits home with those aware of HFE, but it is up to safety professionals to enlighten others(most effectively through design).

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals(BCSP) has recently voted to change the requirements for CSP. A college degree will be a requirement of eligibility as of January, 1998. If you do not have a degree and are not a CSP, it is something to think about.

Safety on the World Wide Web is growing like the rest of the internet. Every day, there are more and more links to information safety engineers can use to do their job more efficiently. To aid you in finding safety links, we will try to publish useful sites. Try some of these:

http://hsdwww.res.utc.com/std/gateway/orgindex.html

- commercial and government standards

http://www.osha.slc.gov - OSHA updates, FTP, and gopher sites

http://www.cs.washington.edu/research/projects/safety/www - safety research, software system safety

http://www.cq.osd.mil/ens/sh - MIL-STD 882

http://technology.ksc.nasa.gov/PVS/PVS.html - Kennedy Space Center's system safety page

http://tecumseh.gsfc.nasa.gov/OFA/safety/Systy/html

- Goddard Space Flight Center's system safety page

http://www.sandia.gov/sys_saf_conf/intro.htm - Sandia National Lab's page, temporary home of 14th International SS Conference in Albuquerque

Miscellaneous

Chapter membership has gained two from the time of the last newsletter. We all know one or two safety professionals working in system safety that are not members of our chapter. Let's make a resolution to try to get them involved in our activities. Pass along news and mention our upcoming meeting. If you can encourage them to join SSS, that is great. There is a lot potential within the state to make our chapter one of the leading ones in the nation. A little individual effort goes a long way if you put it together in a group.

The Florida Chapter's roster of membership is continually being updated. If you would like a copy, contact the Membership Chair, Mike Kochmann. This contains valuable networking information such as phone numbers, fax numbers, and email addresses. Also, if you have recently changed companies, addresses, or if you just got access to email, let Mike know.

Next spring's newsletter will be out around Valentines Day, in time to announce the next quarterly meeting. If anyone has any news or contributions they would like to see announced to their fellow members, contact one of the POC's listed below.

Points of Contact

President:

Connie Perry (407) 823-9886

Secretary:

Ron Larch (407) 281-1140

Treasurer:

Lynn Smith (407) 452-3797

Membership Chair and Newsletter Editor:

Mike Kochmann (407) 366-2097

Meeting Coordinator:

Jack Dixon (407) 297-0273

Have a happy Thanksgiving and enjoy a safe holiday season!