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Geohazard Association Newsletter | Fall 2019

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President's Note

Since the last newsletter, there are a few great things I would like to highlight: Congratulations to the recipients of the Rope Access Safety Recognition . These groups are leaders in our industry for keeping our colleagues and the public safe while carrying out technically demanding and dangerous work. The number of applicants continues to increase and the AGHP is very excited about the momentum building behind this initiative. A big thanks to the Education and the Marketing Committee for their excellent work in promoting our industry and education through various channels. The association continues to grow and extend its influence across not only North America but throughout the world. We have seen a large increase in membership from South Pacific, Asia and Europe. Please check out some of the social media streams and help contribute to its content. The more we share, the more we learn! Last month's webinar held by Ellen Yeh of Rocscience was a great success with a large audience. She presented some of the exciting new features of the RocFall software such as the integration of guidelines for catch fence application as well as barrier sensitivity analysis. At the end of September, many of our members attended the Canadian Geotechnical Society’s Geo St. John’s conference in St. John’s Newfoundland. It was another great meeting with some great discussions. Coming up next is the Highway Geology Symposium being held in Portland, Oregon from October 21-24. I look forward to seeing you there!  Sincerely, Ahren Bichler President, Association of Geohazard Professionals AGHP BOARD OF DIRECTORS, TERM 2018 – 2020 President   |   Ahren Bichler, Trumer Shutzbauten  Vice President   |   Colby Barrett, GeoStablization International Secretary   |   Pierce Runnels, Geobrugg Treasurer   |   Mike Koutsourais, Maccaferri Corporate Member Rep   |   Kris Holm, BGC Engineering Individual Member Rep  |  Martin Derby, Golder Associates Inc. Learn more about the Board of Directors

Rope Access Safety Recognition Recipients for 2019

To promote safe work environments within the Geohazard industry, AGHP initiated its industry-wide  Rope Access Safety Recognition Program . This annual program recognizes companies that develop and implement safe rope access work procedures, provide education and training to their personnel, and commit to enhancing the safety culture within their organizations. A review of the applicants’ safety program and performance metrics is conducted including Total Incident Rates and Lost Time / Modified Duty Rates statistics. Additionally, the review process measures management involvement & commitment to the firm’s safety program, reviews their written rope access safety procedure, and determines adherence to industry best practices. View Press Release

Recipients of AGHP's 2019 Safety Recognition:

Arcadia Mountain Guides

Caltrans Rock Climbing and Bank Scaling Training Program

GeoStabilization International

Global Mountain Solutions

GZA Geoenvironmental Inc.

McMillen Jacobs and Associates

Washington State Department of Transportation

Yeh and Associates

New Webinar Announced

The AGHP Anchor Testing Committee will be hosting a live webinar on Thursday, November 14, 2019 from 2:00 - 3:00 pm Eastern Time titled “Selection and Testing of Ground Reinforcement and Ground Anchorage Systems – Matching CQA and Testing to Installed Components”. This webinar will discuss PTI testing, anchor components, testing of complex & simple anchors, and the applicability of such testing to rock reinforcement such as tensioned rock bolts and passive rock dowels. Attendees should be able to review the type of ground elements they are installing and establish which test elements are germane to the installation being completed.

Learn More and Register

Student Member Profile: Cameron Ross

AGHP student member Cameron Ross is a Ph.D. student at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) in Kingston, Ontario. His research is on using numerical modeling techniques to improve the understanding of how deep permafrost responds to climatic variability and anthropogenic forcing at the surface over the long-term.   His broader interests within the geohazard and geotechnical community are on cold-region geohazards and mitigation, and on geotechnical design and construction in challenging mountainous terrain and permafrost ground.  Learn more about Cameron Ross

Webinar Survey

One of the core missions of the Association is to provide high-level education content in the form of webinars for the geohazards community. To better serve our members and the industry at large, the Association is requesting your input on future webinar topics. Please click the "Take Survey" button below to provide your input.

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Coming Soon! Member’s Annual General Meeting Forum:

The Board of Directors will be hosting an interactive online forum in December, which will be open to members of the association. The purpose of the forum is to give members the opportunity to interact with the Board of Directors and add your thoughts about AGHP’s direction and offerings. A presentation will be given that reviews where the AGHP came from, what has been accomplished over the years and the future goals of the association. Watch for an email invitation soon.

Welcome New Members

The Board of Directors would like to formally welcome the newest members of the Association of GeoHazard Professionals : Joseph McElhany from Kane Geotech, Inc. Matthew Graves from the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet Craig Erdman from GeoEngineers, Inc. Devin Tompkins from BBA Christian Obregon from McGill University Bjorn Raasch from Davis Ogilvie and Partners Ltd. Edward Anthony Zavala from Piteau Associates Peru SAC Lorenz Meier from GeoPrevent Bruma De Souza from the University of New Hampshire Bradford Miller from Haley and Aldrich, Inc. Matt Buche from Gannett Fleming Inc. Hjohn Head from Head and Associates LLC Jeremy Dierking from Tetra Tech Gary Quinn from Terracon Consultants

AGHP Committees

The AGHP Committees are a great place to stay up to date on hot topics and have an influence on initiatives that will shape the future of the industry. Most committees meet monthly via tele- or web conferencing. Everyone is highly encouraged to join a committee and get involved in the association on a much deeper level and take advantage of the wealth of knowledge from your fellow members. Please review our committees below and sign up today! Anchor testing   |   Chaired by David Wood   |   Currently drafting an anchor testing guideline Debris Flow and Steep Creek Hazards Mitigation   |   Chaired by Clarence Choi   |   Met at the DFHM7 Education and Marketing   |   Chaired by Frank Amend   |   Offering a full year of webinars Geohazard Monitoring and Instrumentation   |   Co-Chaired by Martin Derby and John Metzger   |   Hosted a webinar Post Support System   |   Co-Chaired by David Scarpato   |   Launching new initiatives in August Rope Access   |   Co-Chaired by John D. Duffy and Marc Fish   |   Safety Recognitions, slope safety assessments, and more Standards & Specifications   |   Chaired by Ghislain Brunet   |   Testing test methods for mesh

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AGHP The Association of Geohazard Professionals (AGHP) was created to support the development of standards, specifications, and best practices concerning the design and implementation of geohazard-related technologies and products; and to support and provide education to the Geohazard Community and those it serves.