Monday morning’s general session has Polly LaBarre sharing her insights on pushing your workplace to the future. If we want originality, invention and game-changing disruption – we need people who ignore rules, flout convention, defy the gravity of the status quo, question constantly, and experiment fearlessly, she says.

Flash sessions began Sunday afternoon at Safety 2018. These quick, 15-minute presentations are meant to grab attendees’ attention as they browse the expo floor. They’re held in different booths, whose companies have sponsored the sessions.

The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) and the American Society of Professionals (ASSP) conducted a 33-question salary survey in March of nearly 10,000 safety, health and environmental professionals based primarily in the United States and Canada, identifying the typical salary, benefits, credentials and experience of these individuals.

Is safety culture driven from the top down or the bottom up, asks Patrick Karol, CSP, ARM, of Karol Safety Consulting. Karol explained key factors to successfully sell safety to front line employees on Tuesday afternoon. Safety can be a tough sell. Even the word “safety” has negative connotations when we connect safety to terms like investigation, audit and disciplinary action, Karol said.

AIHce showed a movie matinee on Tuesday. The documentary, “Complicit,” takes the audience to the worldʼs electronics factory floors, revealing the situations under which Chinaʼs youth population has shifted by the millions in search of a better life. The documentary focuses on exposures to benzene and n-hexane and the workers and activists putting pressure on the major companies and brands to prevent the exposures that changed their lives.

Peter Greaney, MD, wants you to know that there is value in the act of working, regardless of health status. Why is the value of work so important, he asked Tuesday morning at AIHce EXP. Not working carries more risk than many killer diseases and the most dangerous jobs.

As usual, AIHce offers many opportunities to learn about new products via “learning pavilions” on the expo floor. The pavilions have various presenters throughout the day, continuing each day of the conference, who showcase their latest products and technology while answering questions. Software and intelligent technology were on display Monday.

A panel discussion Monday morning offered some insight into the first 17 months of OSHA under the Trump administration. Some questions that arose include: How has the mission or strategy of the Agency changed? How might these changes at the Agency affect worker safety and health? What do we expect based on the regulatory agendas? How has enforcement been affected?

Last year, Toronto Star reporter Sara Mojtehedzadeh went undercover at a Toronto factory where a temp agency worker died to find out how the rise of precarious work is impacting worker safety and reshaping our economy. On Monday afternoon at AIHce, she discussed her findings working inside one of the continent's biggest industrial bakeries that relies heavily on temps.

This year’s AIHce EXP features keynote speakers who are sure to inspire. The opening keynote speaker Monday morning kicks things off with “Three Megatrends and Four Best Practices That Will Shape Your Business Future.” Rich Karlgaard is a respected forecaster and offers a unique vantage point on the trends driving the business and economic climates, which in turn influence the decisions we make in the IH/OH industry.