Hundreds expected to convene in Birmingham in November for short courses, tech talks and more.
By Donna Schmidt
A southern setting has been selected for the annual Southeast Mine Safety and Health Conference, scheduled to be held November 1-4 at the Ross Bridge Hotel and Convention Center in nearby Hoover, Ala.
Organizers from the nonprofit Southeast Mine Safety and Health Conference Executive Committee told North American Mining magazine, who will be in attendance at the gathering, that more than 375 attendees are expected along with dozens of vendors for its expo floor element.
Curated for mine safety and health professionals in coal and metal/nonmetal, the 2022 conference will include a number of technical elements beginning with short courses to be held during a pre-conference itinerary on Nov. 1. Wednesday, Nov. 2 and Thursday, Nov. 3 will be full schedules, and the meeting will adjourn after a half-day schedule on Friday, Nov. 4.
A number of featured speakers are scheduled to appear, the first of which will be Jeannette Galanis, who is the new deputy assistant secretary for policy at the U.S. Mine Safety and Health Administration. Following Galanis will be Chris Stricklin, a business management consultant and motivational speaker.
Adam Kreek is also scheduled to take the stage to talk about responsibility for success and the success of one’s team. The business coach and author – not to mention Olympic medal winner – has the training, coaching and teaching of hundreds of thousands of people from companies large and small under his belt and will be bringing his insight to the Alabama audience.
Presenting “Vision – Mindset – Grit: Success Strategies to Help You Stand up to Any Challenge” will be Scott Burrows, and Chad Pregracke will offer his perspective on leadership, work ethic, perseverance and teamwork with a strong emphasis on safety. Wrapping up the group will be Mike Lutzenkirchen, executive director of the Lutzie 43 Foundation, whose talk “Philip’s Legacy…what legacy are you leaving?” will focus on the 43 Key Second Initiative, which has a mission to reduce the number of crashes, injuries and fatalities due to distracted and impaired driving.
The technical sessions for the conference agenda were still being finalized at press time, and organizers said booth space is also still available, though historically the spaces sell out – so they encourage any potential sponsors or vendors to contact them as soon as possible.
More information on registration, sponsorships, lodging and other topics is available at https://southeastmineconf.org.
Finally, nominations have just closed for two special sets of recognitions planned at the conference: the 40-Year Safe Miner and the Hero Award, open to any employee who has worked four decades or longer in the southeastern U.S. mining community without injury and those miners who have been part of life-saving events.
“The award presentation event will be held during the opening session on Nov. 2, when mining professionals from across America will be present. The conference executive committee will review all of the nominations and honor the top 15 recipients from our mining community.
“Safe job performance should not go unrecognized,” the committee said. “The best safety records always affect your bottom line, and recognition of these miners will further your safety cause.”
Watch for more from the Southeast Mine Safety and Health Conference on the social media pages for North American Mining magazine.