Welcome to the 17th edition of our monthly newsletter!

Our goal for the newsletter is to connect our members to relevant safety resources, all linked together in one convenient location every month. We hope you find this resource useful and valuable!

Please share with your colleagues!

SAFETY RESOURCES:

1. Using Virtual Reality to Improve Safety. Can virtual reality help improve workplace safety? Eric Irwin, Founder of Speculr thinks so! We caught up with him at the 2019 Ohio Safety Congress in Columbus to discuss how he’s using virtual reality technology to help companies improve their safety performance! (11:52)
2. Exoskeletons & Ergonomic Risk Reduction.Is Sci-Fi coming to life to help improve workplace safety? We caught up with Jason Gillette, Ph.D., Associate Professor at Iowa State University, at the 2019 Ohio Safety Congress in Columbus to discuss how exoskeletons can help reduce ergonomic risks at work! (9:10)
3. Confined Spaces. We caught up with Glenn McGinley before his presentation at the Northeast Ohio Safety Expo to chat about confined spaces! Glenn is the Director of the Public Employment Risk Reduction Program (PERRP) at The Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation. (14:32)
4. Crisis Communications (Live Training). This episode is a live recording of our monthly workplace safety luncheon on Feb. 14, 2019. The topic was Crisis Communications & Crisis Management and it was presented by Thom Fladung, Managing Partner at Hennes Communications. (47:20)
5. April’s Safety Update from the Ohio BWC Library. Each edition provides up-to-date news & safety information.
6. Tornado Safety from Ready.gov.
7. Tornado Safety Checklist from the Red Cross.
8. Emergency Action Plan Checklist from OSHA.
9. Protecting Yourself While Removing Post-Disaster Debris From Your Home or Business. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)
10. PCSC Podcasts: Our podcasts are now available on iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Podbean, & Stitcher! Access local & relevant workplace safety information right through your phone! Subscribe today!

PCSC NEWS:

• NEXT MEETING: Thursday, May 9, 2019, 11:30am-1:00pm. This meeting will be our Annual Safety Awards & CEO Day! Our keynote speaker will be Coach Frank Hall, Chardon Schools & The Coach Hall Foundation. . RSVP deadline is 12pm on Monday, May 6th.
• The PCSC is a 2018 Safety Council of the Year Finalist! Out of 82 Ohio Safety Councils, the PCSC is ranked in the top 14! We’ll find out more next month! Keep your fingers crossed we place in the top 3!
• The Portage County Safety Council Podcast has published over 1,000 minutes (or 17 hours) of workplace safety & health content!
• New Podcast Archives! We’re excited to announce that new free PCSC Podcast archives are now available on our website under the “Podcasts” tab! You can now easily search for podcasts by topic, format or episode number. 

EXTERNAL TRAINING CREDIT OPPORTUNITIES:
Please Note: these are not PCSC sponsored events but do qualify for 1 external training credit for PCSC members.

• May 17, 2019 – Lake County Safety Expo.

PROGRAM UPDATES:

• BWC Updates: These are the power points presented by BWC Representative Nic Coia at our monthly meetings.
• Monthly Meeting Power Points. We post them on our website after the presenters send them to us and give us permission to publish. If the speaker provides additional info, we’ll post it there as well.
• External Training Credit Opportunities: We post them on our blog as outside organizations send them to us. A maximum of 2 external training credits are allowed per program year to help members earn the 10 minimum attendance credits required by the rebate. Please Note: ETC certificates of completion must be submitted by June 30 every year in order to qualify. Click here for ETC guidelines.
• Rebate Participation Spreadsheet. Rebate eligible members can review how close they are to fulfilling the minimum rebate eligibility requirements by reviewing the Participation Spreadsheet which is typically updated on a monthly basis. Please Note: new monthly updates for FY19 are currently available!