Networking for health and safety

The National Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Board (NOSHEBO) 2012 Conference will be held at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Midrand on June 19 and 20, alongside OSH Expo Africa 2012

The NOSHEBO Conference takes place every second year and is hosted by four professional associations – the Institute of Safety Management (IoSM), the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH), the Southern African Protective Equipment Marketing Association (SAPEMA) and the Safety First Association (SFA).

These bodies have joined forces so their respective members can network with each other as well as others in the industry who are also dedicated to occupational health and safety. Delegates will leave the conference having gained new insight and fresh knowledge of the industry in which they work.

Three plenary sessions will be presented by well known industry players. Safety specialist and author Ron C McKinnon will speak on changing safety paradigms, while Professor Cas Badenhorst, occupational hygiene specialist at Anglo American, will discuss the impact of occupational hygiene practice on operational risk management. The final plenary session will see Lucinda J van Rensburg, MD of Implex Legal Compliance Solutions, discuss the implications of the Consumer Protection Act on occupational health and safety.

The conference will then break away into IoSM and SAIOH sessions.

The IoSM sessions will feature presentations by, among others, IoSM president Philip Fourie, aviation specialist Dries Wehmeyer, Kobus Verreynne from the Department of Defence and Johan Nell from Basil Reed.

SAIOH members will be able to claim Continued Professional Development (CPD) points for their attendance. Breakaway speakers here include Jaco van Rensburg from Gijima; Richard Spoor, an attorney specialising in industrial cases; Jessica Hutchings from the Ergonomics Society; Julie Hills, vice chair of SAIOH; and Eben Smith, an occupational hygienist and SANS17020 specialist. Delegates will also be able to attend presentations by various representatives from the Department of Labour – including Milly Ruiters (director, occupational health and hygiene), Bulelwa Huna (manager, AIA and physical stressors), Elize Lourens (manager, chemical stressors) and Jabu Mhlophe (manager, biological stressors).

SAPEMA members will be supporting the OSH Expo Africa, while the SFA journal National Safety is one of the event’s media partners.

NOSHEBO will hold its annual awards dinner on June 19, and all four participating professional bodies will hold their Annual General Meetings during the two days of the conference.