Chairman's Page

A Message From Chris Redfearn, Weyerhaeuser Corporation               General Chair of the Pulp and Paper Safety Association

                                                                                                                                                                                                            August 3, 2009 

Focusing on the critical few   

Members in my first communication to you as the PPSA General Chair I would like to bring you up to speed on the current position of the PPSA and our plans for the next 12 months.  

With your help and support we have just completed the work needed to bring the organization back to a sound financial footing. This allows us to once again focus more energy on our primary objective of supporting continuous improvement of safety throughout all aspects of our industry. 

We also completed a very successful annual conference, which was held at the Caribe Royale Hotel and Conference Center in Orlando, June 15^th. – 17^th, 2009.  One hundred and forty one (141) conference attendees experienced a broad array of informative sessions presented by nationally recognized experts and industry representatives. Feedback from attendees on the conference program and the hotel was excellent.

As we enter the third quarter of 2009 the Board of Directors are seeking to build upon these successes. Just as we would do in safety planning, (if we want to be successful) we need to focus on the critical few. Why the critical few? With limited resources and in an economic downturn we realize some basic truths from our risk management backgrounds:

 #1 everything can’t be done at once.

#2 some things are more important than others.

#3 we need to do the most important things first. 

The Board members met this month to identify those activities that will bring the organization and members the best return on our investment of time and resources. Our priorities for the immediate future are:

·         Ensure that the 2010 PPSA Safety Conference builds upon the success of the 2009 conference. The 2010 conference will be held at the Charleston Marriott in beautiful Charleston, S.C. Southern hospitality, famed golf and a stunningly beautiful locations will make our conference productive and memorable.  

·         Continue to produce timely and high quality quarterly reports.

·         Upgrade the PPSA website to be more current, user friendly, and seen by members as a source of relevant safety information for our industry,

·         Conduct training seminars on those safety topics of interest to our members at a minimal cost which cannot be obtained elsewhere and finally,

·         Identify and share solutions to those safety issues facing our industry and members. 

General Chairman – PPSA, Chris Redfearn