Source: United States Navy
The Naval Safety and Environmental Training Center (NAVSAFENVTRACEN) hosted the virtual PDS on April 22-26. The PDS was open to Federal personnel, Federal contractors and students pursuing coursework in related fields. Presented online since 2013, the symposium has continued to grow in both the number of attendees and the topics offered.
This year’s PDS provided over 18,000 continuing education certificates to more than 3,000 registrants. Thirty-four percent of attendees were from the Navy, 4% were Marine Corps, 19% were Army, 1% were Coast Guard, and 13% were Air Force. The remaining 29% were from other DoD organizations and agencies. A global audience was reached, with viewers in 19 countries and 15 time zones.
“The NAVSAFENVTRACEN team has outdone themselves again this year with the successful completion of another symposium for a global audience. This year’s 32nd symposium was another great joint event with over 150 presentations provided throughout the week, including four engaging keynote speakers,” said Commanding Officer Cmdr. Cody Schaal. “As an attendee, it is difficult to see how much effort is required to effectively put on a symposium of this scope. The success of this symposium would not have been possible without the selfless dedication of the volunteer presenters, keynote speakers and the NAVSAFENVTRACEN staff.”
This year’s keynote speakers were Rear Adm. Christopher Engdahl, Commander, Naval Safety Command; Mr. Peter Lynch, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Safety; the Honorable Meredith Berger, Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Energy, Installations and Environment (EI&E) and the Honorable Douglas Parker, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health.
Presenters from government, industry and academic agencies participated in the event and speakers presented from locations worldwide on topics such as health and safety for disaster response and recovery, general safety, operational safety, occupational safety and health, industrial hygiene, occupational medicine, environmental protection and other trending topics.
Engdahl gave a keynote presentation and discussion to over 1,200 online participants. He spoke fundamentally about mishaps and the Safety Management System (SMS) for the naval enterprise.
“The Navy’s SMS establishes a principles-based ecosystem to influence decision-making and behavior across the enterprise in all activities,” said Engdahl. “Our assurance processes are critical to a successful defense-in-depth, including 1st, 2nd and 3rd party assessments. Normalization of deviation or where the accidents happen occurs when these assessment levels accept a lower standard of performance, and that lower standard becomes the “norm” for them.”
Engdahl also presented an informative recent case study for a Nimitz Class 4-Wire CVN configuration near-miss event. Engdahl broke down the value of organization learning and what NAVSAFECOM Enterprise Safety Activities are doing to get after risk and preventing mishaps.
“Inputs by safety professionals to Department of Defense operations are critical to mission success. This symposium is a vehicle to provide training that is both ready and relevant, and industry-aligned,” said Engdahl.
For those interested in participating next year, the symposium is an opportunity to learn about the latest trends, technology, and best practices while allowing participants to interact with subject matter experts of various disciplines. The symposium counts toward continuing education credits from an ever-growing variety of safety, occupational health and environmental topics. The 33rd annual joint PDS is scheduled for 21-25 April 2025.
“The virtual meetings and sessions provide attendees with a great opportunity to gain a wealth of knowledge and continuing education credits without the burden of travel or conference costs,” said Schaal. “This aligns with our accredited training center’s year-round shore-and afloat-based training efforts with 36 safety, occupational health and environmental courses provided across the Navy and Marine Corps in resident and online formats.”
For those registrants who may have missed a session or want to rewatch, recorded sessions are available for viewing at https://events-na2.adobeconnect.com/content/connect/c1/889710285/en/events/event/shared/3613076134/event_landing.html?sco-id=3613093305. You can click on the interactive schedule, select a topic, and press play to start the recording. Viewers can also receive a certificate with CEU credit for watching the recording.
Those interested in presenting during next year’s PDS can email the symposium’s planning committee at NAVSAFENVTRACEN_JOINT_PDS@navy.mil