Save The Dates February 26th through February 28th 2020!!! PACNY's Environmental Conference Is Set!!

The Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) have announced the dates for their annual Environmental Conference to be held on February 26th through February 28th, 2020.  It will be held at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.  To register for the conference or sponsor the conference click here!

NYSDOL Asbestos & Mold Control Bureau 

This year Future Environment Designs  is working with PACNY to put together the Wednesday, February 26th, 2020, Proficiency Day.  We are working with the regulatory bodies to start the conference with a bang and get the professional development points for professional engineers/architects, which would also apply for the American Council for Accredited Certifications (ACAC) and the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH).  We are focusing on Asbestos Contamination Assessments - what is expected by the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) Engineering Department to approve a Site-Specific Variance and What NYSDOL Enforcement expects in the cleanup process?

Professional Presentations

On Thursday, February 27, 2020, will be the Professional Day this day will include information on Vinyl Asbestos Tile (VAT) removal; exposure updates on talc; mercury flooring; waste management, recycling, and your carbon footprint; New York State (NYS) harassment training; and NYS Women-Owned Business Enterprise (WBE)/Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) requirements.  The Vendor Exhibit Hall will also open on Thursday.  As usual Future Environment Designs will have a booth and we will have our book for sale "Do As I Say Not As I Did" and it can be signed by the author Angelo Garcia, III.

Vendor Exhibit Hall

On Friday, February 28, 2020, will be Regulatory Day.  The day will open with a round table panel and discussion including survey requirements expert panel discussion.  Afterward, the NYSDOL Asbestos Control Bureau will once again be present to update us and answer questions from the attendees.  It plans to be another fantastic conference and we look forward to seeing you there!

Future Environment Designs Attends the Plattsburgh Safety Expo and the PACNY Fishing Tournament

For a while there, it felt like Future Environment Designs was traveling all over the place.  We were in Plattsburgh/Montreal area at the end of June.  We were in Ohio/Michigan for the 4th of July week.  Then we were on Lake Ontario the week after.  We also developed two new online courses that allowed us to initiate a new training service.  The two new online (e-learning) courses are the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Hazard Communication and the New York State Right-to-Know Hazard Communication training courses.  Both courses were developed to meet the training requirements in the OSHA Hazard Communication standard (1910.1200).  While the NYS Right-to-Know course meets the New York State Right-to-Know training requirements in New York State Labor Law Section 551, Articles 48 and 28 and Title 12 of New York Code of Rules & Regulations Part 820, these laws are enforced by New York State Department of Labor's Public Employee Safety Health (PESH) division, in addition to the OSHA Hazard Communication standard (1910.1200).  The addition of these online courses to our training catalog allows us to provide a training subscription service that can meet your annual training requirements under the OSHA standards and New York State laws.  In some cases, we can reduce your training costs to $20 per student.  Contact us if you are interested.

Our Display at the NASHC Safety Expo 2019

On June 27, 2019, we attended the North Adirondack Safety and Health Council's (NASHC) Safety Expo 2019 at West Side Ballroom in Plattsburgh, New York.  The Safety Expo had a short agenda but the presentations were excellent.  Our favorite presentation was "Hazards of Working on or Near Energized Electrical Circuits" by Mr. John Olsen, of Blue Collar Safety.  His presentation on Arc Flash/Blast was particularly eye-opening.  Ms. Lola Miller's (of the Volvo Group) presentation "Preventing Serious Injuries & Fatalities" was also interesting especially since she was using Menti,com to make the presentation interactive.  Her presentation was challenging Heinrich's Triangle, which is the theory of industrial accident prevention.  It says if you reduce the number of minor accidents there would be a corresponding fall in serious accidents.  Her data with working with the Volvo Group did not indicate that.  Her view was you need to evaluate Serious Injury & Fatalities (SIF) precursors and make sure these are addressed.  There were 15 vendors at the Safety Expo 2019, Reynolds and Son's display had an interesting variety of catalogs including a catalog called Cut Safe.  The Cut Safe catalog had a variety of cutting tools that use ceramic technology, visit their website for more information.

Mr. John Olsen of Blue Collar Safety at NASHC Safety Expo

Our next trip was 4th of July week to Ohio (OH) & Michigan (MI).  Though this trip was more pleasure than business, we did write the July issue of Safety Suzy during this trip.  As many people know, we are a beer enthusiast.  So on this trip, we hit several of my favorite breweries Hoppin Frog Brewery (OH), Founders Brewery (MI), Brewery Vivant (MI), and New Holland Brewery (MI).  We had a great time and drank a lot of great beer.  In addition, we got to see and put our feet into Lake Michigan, which a week later we went fishing on Lake Ontario.

Sunrise on Lake Ontario

On the morning of July 10, 2019, we attended the 6th Annual Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) Fishing Pro-Am Tournament.  It was a beautiful day for fishing the water was still and the sun was warm.  There were 15 boats in the tournament this year.  They were:

1. Dival - Reel Excitement

2. Cornerstone Training Institute (CTI) - Sunrise 2

3. CTI- Legacy

4. AAC- Shotgun

5. AAC- Troutman

6. NRC- Reflection

7. Abscope- Rusty Lure

8. Future Environment Designs (FEDTC)- Catchin’ Hell

9. SES- Intimidator 

10. Aramsco- Pleasure Unit

11. Paradigm - Free Spirit

12. Sienna- Get Hooked

13. Expert - Irish Thunder

14. Expert - Screaming Reels

15. ECG - Richmond 4 

My big catch for the day!

We had the good fortune to catch just enough Salmon & Steelhead to last us the entire year and fill our freezer again!  Thank you, Darren Yehl, of Cornerstone, for giving us his catch to add to what we caught!  The winners were:

So far the summer has been entertaining but is going quickly and soon it will be fall and the rush for asbestos and mold refresher classes will be on.  This year is the 4-year anniversary of Article 32 the Mold Law and most everyone's license will be expiring between September and January 2020.  See you soon!