South Texas Chapter Meetings

The South Texas Chapter currently meets the third Monday of each month at:

SWRI Cafeteria
Southwest Research Institute (SwRI)

6220 Culebra Road
San Antonio, Texas 78238
Phone (210) 684-5111

Click here to customize driving directions to SWRI using Google Maps.

Currently there is no need to RSVP. The Cafeteria accepts cash, Visa and MasterCard. Please check the current newsletter for topic of discussion.

The following is our current luncheon agenda:

  • 11:00-11:30 Registration / Mixer / Open Meeting / Lunch
  • 11:30-11:45 Chapter Roundtable Discussion
  • 11:45-12:00 Chapter Business / Announcements
  • 12:00-12:50 Speaker Introductions / Technical Session / Q&A

All meeting and event information is posted under the Photos area. Once you are there you can click on the event item.

  • Contact Person for Questions: Brian Weatherly, MBA, CSP; 210-336-4924

The following is our tentative topic schedule:

2008 South Texas Chapter Calendar of Events

Date Topic Speaker
Feb 18 Contractor Safety: Managing it in the Field Rolando Cedillo
Mar 17 It's the Culture, Stupid! TBD
Apr 21 Aerial Lift/Scissor Lift - Train the Trainer - What You Need to Know!

• OSHA requirements for aerial lift devices
• Become familiar with the ANSI standards
• Develop a training method that works here
• Recordkeeping method for all issues toward aerial lift devices
Brian Weatherly, MBA, CSP
May 19 Accident Review and Roundtable

Chapter Elections - Come and get counted...
Carl Centennial
June 16 DOT Hazardous Materials - Shipping/Receiving Updates and more...

Chapter Election Announcement and Change
Jim Shelburn, President
Quality Safety Services, Inc. (QSSI)
July 21 Emergency Response Willie Davis, H.E.B.
Aug 18 Lighting
Lighting in the workplace plays an important role in employee productivity and safety and is often overlooked. Did you ever feel that your lighting was inadequate or needed to be updated? Most employers do not know that 88% of the cost to operate lighting in your facility is due to the electricity and not the light fixtures themselves?

You, as safety managers can serve as the company’s beacon on this initiative and save your company as much as 40% in operating costs by upgrading your lighting—especially in light of rising fuel costs. The Safety of your employees also plays a large role in these decisions. The appropriate lighting in the workplace can also improve the color and appearance of products as well as positively affect people’s moods. Come listen as GE walks us through recent trends in lighting which impact our energy consumption and improve safety while providing environmentally friendly alternatives to corporations.
John B. Murnane
John has been with GE since 1994, primarily focused on lighting and energy saving products. During the last 14 years, John has held various roles in sales, marketing and national accounts. John has recently relocated to San Antonio from Dallas where he was responsible for national retail and property management accounts. His current role involves distributions sales in Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Laredo.
Sept 15 Hazardous Waste - Updates and More Michael Carr
Oct 20 High-Intensity Communication Skills

The past two decades have brought an unprecedented degree of change to our culture, our society and to our workforce.

The way we interact with others—both personally and professionally—has changed as well. Toss in an increased measure of intensity or emotion, and the interaction may evolve into something that many professionals admit they are inadequately prepared to attend to.

This presentation of High-Intensity Communications Skills has been customized for the safety professional,
and will offer the participants new insight and skills in the areas of:

  • The Physiological, Cognitive and Emotional Aspects of Interpersonal Communications
  • Maintaining an Authoritative Presence and Defusing Volatile Situations Without Being Rude or Overbearing
  • Discovering the Underlying Issues of Conflict and Facilitating Resolutions
  • Creating “Win-Win” Solutions
Randy Dickson

Take a crucial topic, wrap it in Randy Dickson’s tongue-in-cheek, humorous presentation style, and you have a presentation that is both enlightening and enjoyable. A former law enforcement officer, EMT, and crisis counselor, Randy honed his communications skills in some of the most demanding and difficult situations imaginable, serving as a direct-service provider with local and national groups in their responses to such incidents as the bombing of the Murrah Federal Building, the attacks on the World Trade Center, and thousands of crimes and critical incidents. He is a board certified expert in traumatic stress, a diplomate of the American Academy of Experts in Traumatic
Stress, and a licensed or certified trainer for a number of state and national organizations. Randy is called upon by state and federal agencies and national associations
as a subject matter expert, assisting in the development of training curricula, lesson plans,
presentation materials, and serving as a facilitator in train-the-trainer and trainer-development programs. He has written numerous articles and is the co-author of one of the most highly regarded books available on the subject of critical incident response. Randy is a graduate of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas. He resides with his wife and
15 year-old son near Austin, TX.

Nov 17 All Threat Corporate Emergency Preparedness AND Society Question and the 2009 Safety Event Chief Hank Austin, CSP, MS

Hank has been involved in firefighting, emergency response and rescue operations since 1974 when he began service as a volunteer firefigther. In 1982 Hank attained the rank of Fire Chief and Emergency Manager for the City of Shavano Park (held for 10 years). During this time Hank attended the Texas A&M Haz Mat Response School, many advanced firefighting schools, was certified as an EMT, attended the UTHealth Science Center Swift Water and High Angle Rescue School and became an instructor at the annual Texas A&M Municipal Fire School.

In 1988 Hank went to work at USAA becoming the Safety/Environmental Affairs Manager. While there, he implimented company wide evacuation drills, wrote the first all encompassing emergency response plans and started the USAA Emergency Response Team. This team became proficient in specialized interior structural frefighting, confined space and high angle rescue and nuclear, chemical and biological response. In the wake of over 100 "suspicious powder" responses protecting the company fom potential agents in the mail, Hank became an inventor on U.S. patent #7,170,023 B1 System and Method for Processing Mail for technology developed to protect the mail operations of this Fortune 200 company. Hank is a Certified Safety Professional and holds a Master of Science in Safety Engineering from Texas A&M University. Hank is a member of Texas Task Force 1 - FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team having held the positions of Task Force Leader and Safety Officer and is currently Vice President of N.L. Austin & Associates, Inc. Safety Consultants.
Dec 11 The 3 Steps that can Turn Anyone into a Excellent Communicator - No matter what you do, communication is vital! In an age of stiff competition, it is easy to see that those who convincingly get their point across will succeed the most. There are three strategic things necessary to succeed in all communication; neglect these and your failure is almost guaranteed.

Dinner RSVP Form (pdf)
Dinner Menu (pdf)
Dr. Fred Lybrand: Published Author, Speaker, Consultant and Leader. Fred’s interest in communication, teamwork, and individual giftedness has led him into human resource consulting with a variety of companies and firms. Fred is fantastic and you will be glad you came.