The 2009 National COSH conference will be held in Philadelphia, PA from Wednesday November 4 through Saturday November 7. The conference is scheduled to tie-in with the American Public Health Association annual meeting, which begins on Nov. 8. This year's conference will have three distinct elements:
Wed. Nov. 4,  1:00pm through Thurs. Nov 5 5:00 pm: COSH Conference and Annual Business Meeting
Fri Nov 6,  8:30 am to 5:00 pm:  Construction Safety and Health Conference
Sat. Nov. 7, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm: National Worker Health and Safety Summit
 
The detailed agenda for the full program follows below.
 

Agenda for National COSH Conference, November  4-7, 2009
Holiday Inn Historic District 400 Arch St. Philadelphia
 
Wednesday Nov. 4
(Lunch on your own)
 
1:00—1:30  Introductions.  Introduce Roundtables.
 
1:30—2:15  Roundtable discussions I: information and strategy sharing among COSHes. 
 
2:20—3:15  Roundtables II
 
3:15-3:30 Break
 
3:30—5:00   Business Meeting Part 1: 
Treasurer's Report
Report from the President
Introductions of current Board members.  Share information on terms—whose terms expire and who is eligible for re-election. 
Open the floor to nominations of new Board members. 
Report from Marilyn on the national OSHA grant.
 
5:00        Adjourn
 
Dinner together outside hotel, location TBA.
 
 
Thursday Nov. 5 
 
9:00-10:30 Plenary Session: Green Jobs, Health and Safety, and Coalition-Building. The role of COSHes in Green Jobs issues, including how we work to build bridges between labor unions and community-based organizations, which don't always have the same agendas. Brief presentations followed by open discussion.  Presenters: Dave Newman, NYCOSH; Tolle Graham, Masscosh; Rick Engler, NJWEC; and Jim Celenza, RICOSH. 
 
10:30--10:45 Break
 
10:45—12:00    Workshops: 
 
1)Protecting Workers from H1N1 Pandemic Flu : Sharon Simon
2)Recordkeeping and the new OSHA Enforcement Initiative: Tom O'Connor
3)Chemical Exposure/Inherently Safer Technology: Rick Engler
 
12:00--1:30 Lunch: Committees meet over lunch—Blue-Green, Immigrants, Policy
 
1:30—3:00 Workshops: 
1)Effective Joint Health & Safety Committees: Sharon Simon
2)Aggressive H&S tactics including challenging programs that discourage injury reporting: Peter Dooley and others 
3)H&S issues for Healthcare workers: Cecilia Leto and Roger Cook
 
3:00—3:45 Update and discussion of future of National COSH.
 
3:45—5:15 Business meeting Part 2: Board elections, decisions on dues, discussion of next year's annual meeting, other business.
 
Adjourn
 
Evening: Dinner on your own. Social gathering afterwards at hotel. 
 
 
Friday Nov. 6
 
Current Issues in Construction Health and Safety
 
8:30-9:15 Welcome and Overview  
 
9:15-10:45 Panel on:  Current Initiatives on Construction Issues:  Chair: ????
Tower Cranes:  
Tony Lusi, OE 542
NYCOSH
Solar Panel Installation:  
Jim Dollard, IBEW 98
Mast Scaffolding:  
Pam Susi, CPWR
Roadway Safety Plus 
Walter Jones, Laborers Fund
 Bridge Work

 
 
11:00-12:00 Breakout groups (4) on:
 
“Are there policy issues or other opportunities to work with the trades on current safety initiatives like those presented on the panel?”
Developing a national cosh strategy to work on construction H&S hazards – What needs to happen?
Who do we need to be connecting with?
What possible sources of funding are there?
 
12:00-1:15 Lunch with program speaker(s)

1:30-2:45 Workshops:
4)How are teaching OSHA 10 and 30 hour classes helping to organize workers, and promoting safer workplaces?
(Max Neuberger or David Pratt, NYCOSH;  Philaposh(?), and another COSH)
5)The Challenge of Reaching Small Contractors (Philaposh, OSHA Labor Liaison(?), and maybe Vince Gallagher)
6)Health Hazards:  An Opportunity for greater COSH involvement with the construction trades (Jerry Roseman, IH, Pam Susi)
 
3:00-4:15 Panel:  Construction, Day Laborers and Immigrant Workers: Overcoming Challenges in Improving Workers’ Safety and Health
Carmen Martino, Rutgers University 
Valeska Garay, Director, JUNTOS 
Al D’Imperio, Philadelphia Area Director, OSHA
SocalCOSH representative
 
4:15-4:45 Wrap Up
Overview of Summit and APHA programs
Written Evaluations
 
Awards Banquet
6:30-7:30 Social Hour 
7:30 Dinner
8:30 Awards Presentation
Music and Dancing
 
Saturday Nov. 7
2009 Worker  Safety  and  Health  Summit
A New Era for Safety and Health Activism
 
8:30 – 9:00 - Registration
 
9-10 - Meet and Greet - COSH groups will have materials available on tables as well as latest PAWA materials while folks walk around and mingle. At 9:30 we would have folks sit at a table and then each table would flip chart who is at the table, affiliation.
 
10 – 10:45 – Opening Plenary – Brief outline on some issues that face us – Marcy Gelb Goldstein/Isabel Lopez – Masscosh; Richard Miller, House Cmte on Education and Labor; Peg Seminario – AFL-CIO (???); Eric Frumin CTW; Tammy Miser – USMWF; Celeste Monforton – Moderator 
 
10:45 – 11:45 - Small group discussions on Protecting American Workers Act [PAWA] overview and other Health & Safety legislative initiatives. What H&S issues are affecting workers and what needs to be done to fix the problems? 
 
11:45 – 12:15 – Speak out [including family members] from small groups - what we need to do to fight for change. [Tom O’Connor]
 
12:15 – 1:15 – Lunch and Speaker – Jordan Barab – Acting Assistant Secretary of Labor 
 
1:15 – 2:15 – Workgroups 1 – Will divide groups by specific issue areas: Ergonomics, Immigrant Workers H&S, Hazardous Chemical Policy, Family and Victims Rights, Worker Education and Training Programs, and PAWA.  The task is to develop the national work plan to move agenda in these areas.  People choose workgroup they are most interested in. 
 
6 workgroups with at least 2 facilitators in each room. Identify strategies to promote our agenda in each of these areas. Also identify how we build the H&S Activist movement and worker rights movement as we work on legislative/regulatory campaigns. [Alliance folks]
 
2:15 – 3:15 – Report back from working groups on strategies to work on these issues and plans for continuing the work on these issues as well as keeping connected on the broader national campaign on PAWA.
 
3:15 – 3:30 – Break
 
3:30 – 4:00 – Specialty Topics –
Work Organization – Charley Richardson
International H&S Activism and Networking – Garrett Brown
Greeting to special guests – Eduardo 
 
4:00 – 5:00 – Panel discussion – Plans for follow-up on legislative initiatives and networking activism reported by small groups.   [Ergonomics, Immigrant H&S Rights, Hazardous Chemical Policy, Family and Victim Rights, Worker Education and PAWA]