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#Nationalsafetymonth #Safety #PPE

How many of you have put on a hardhat made for men that’s too large for your ladylike head? Or have you had the experience of walking into a safety store to purchase steel toe boots and the salesman says, “I think you’ve got the wrong store.” 

Math Safety for Roofing

When assessing proper fall protection in relation to the roof you are working on how do you ensure that you will be safeguarded from injury?

Some mechanisms to consider prior to suiting up in your harness would be:

Once these questions are answered and you have done a thorough inspection to ensure that the harness is in good working order calculate the height of the potential fall by starting at your feet, measure the length of the lanyard and add 3.5 feet.

Falls are the number 2 cause of death on the job according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. OSHA indicates that fall protection is required at elevations over four feet in general industry, five feet in shipyards, six feet in construction and eight feet in longshoring operations. Fall exposure is calculated from the distance of where you are standing at elevation to the level below. Your fall protection calculation is based upon where your anchorage is located.

How can you calculate the fall arrest distance?

See the diagram above for further instructions.

New Workers vs. Newborns

Do you suffer from a high turnover of employees? You may be doing it wrong. The best chance new employees have at success is if we treat them like children. Read the latest Work / Life Balance blog from the Education Committee by Sue Drummond with HarnessUp.

Sue and the NWiR Education Committee also recently facilitated a webinar on this subject for NWiR. Watch the webinar from June 20th on Training and Retaining Employees.

If you have educational content to share with NWiR, send it to [email protected].

Did you know that we have 33 councils across the US? Find one near you on our website. If you don’t see one, why not start your own? If you are a new council just getting started and looking for ideas for meetings and activities, don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the other councils across the country. Just visit the councils page on the website and you can find contact info for leadership, along with a contact form. Here’s what some of our councils have been up to lately:

NWiR Seattle Council

Summer meeting schedule:

July Meeting

6:30pm, Thursday July 18th

Special Guest: Kelly McKay, McKay Wealth Management

Topic: “Women investing in their future”

Location: DoubleTree Suites, Tukwila

August Meeting

6pm, Thursday August 15th

Special Guest: Tracey Prociw

Topic: “Personal Branding”

Location: TBD

NWiR Dallas/Fort Worth Council

On 5/23 NWiR Dallas Fort Worth Chapter hosted a networking event at Top Golf in The Colony, where we also supported Red Nose Day. Please join us in supporting this wonderful cause to end child poverty! Thank you to all who attended

NWiR Northern New Jersey Council

We are very excited to share the details for our July Event - Let's Get Cheesy! As another step in the direction of education and self care, we will learn how to make our own mozzarella from Vinny Mootz and also have Jennifer Burns Katafigiotis, CEO and Founder of Weight Wellness Center to discuss nutrition and eating healthy on the run with us. We are grateful to Certainteed, who will be sponsoring this event. 

Space will be limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible. This event will free for members and $25 for non-members. If you've been thinking about joining NWIR, now would be a perfect opportunity!

Continuing our efforts to support the Center for Hope and Safety, we ask you to consider bringing any of the following to this event for donation: Cereal, Tomato Sauce, Juice boxes, cans of tuna chicken or ham, Rice, Sugar, Peanut Butter, Vegetable Oil, Pillows (must be new). 

Please RSVP by Wednesday July 3rd 

Event Details: Wednesday, July 10th, 6-8PM

Location: Vinny's Mootz, 265 Ridge Road, Lyndhurts, NJ 07071

Last week we had a fantastic June meeting, focusing on Work/Life balance. Jennifer L'Estrange from Red Clover facilitated discussions about how to identify what we need and how to create communities around us that help us get us there. We wrapped up with a very relaxing Chair Yoga session - it's amazing what you can accomplish and how much better you can feel even while sitting down at work! Thank you to Peck Brother's for sponsoring this great event!  

We welcome submissions to the newsletter and the blog by members and sponsors on career developments of NWiR members and product neutral education offerings; submissions for the upcoming month are due by the 25th of the previous month and may be submitted here.  

Carlisle Construction Materials

Due to the current challenges of labor shortages, material selection changes, regulations, and environmental responsibility, the commercial roofing industry is becoming more complex than ever before; construction professionals are installing challenging roofing and waterproofing systems every day. In the wake of these industry challenges, Carlisle Construction Materials invested in a brand new, state-of-the-art training and education facility in Carlisle, PA, to be in a better position to provide educational opportunities to the construction industry.

The company’s goal was to create an environment where people new to the industry, as well as seasoned veterans, can receive high-quality education. Ariel Andrejev, Carlisle’s National Technical Training Manager, was tasked with implementing an expansive new training program that includes 100- to 500-level courses. Carlisle now offers a wide range of classes on topics ranging from basic product knowledge to in-depth design and specification information. All trainings are designed to help individuals prepare for and foster a successful career in the commercial roofing industry.

The idea to implement this new program was driven by the realization that Carlisle’s training classes were targeting a small group of people who were authorized to install Carlisle products. “We identified a gap between the programs we were offering and the fact that our industry has people of all experience levels. Newcomers need to understand the basics, like common industry terminology, while more experienced individuals are interested in advanced systems, design concepts, and industry challenges,” Ariel said. She continues, “The industry changes every day and we need to provide programs to not only educate, but also to get people excited about a career in commercial roofing. This kind of continuing education is relatively new to the industry – we can now provide opportunities for individuals to master their trade.”

When asked about the importance of continuing education, Ariel says, “The labor shortage in our industry opens the doors for motivated people to learn a valuable trade that is often overlooked. Being knowledgeable and credible is extremely valuable in the roofing world.”

For more information about Carlisle’s training program, check out this video of PA State Representative Barb Gleim interviewing Janial Mack, Carlisle’s National Manager of Consulting Services, at the CCM Training & Education Center. Watch Janial and Barb discuss Carlisle’s training facilities and classes and the opportunities that are available to young professionals looking to break into the industry.

The Roofing Alliance

The Roofing Alliance is committed to shaping the industry’s future by funding education, research, scholarships and philanthropic initiatives, all for the purpose of securing the industry’s future excellence. Composed of 168 members representing extraordinary leaders from the contracting, manufacturing, distribution and service provider communities, the Roofing Alliance has committed $13 million to enhance the performance and long-term viability of the industry and allocated more than $5 million to fund 48 research, education, technical and philanthropic programs and projects.

NWIR at FRSA – July 17-19

NWIR will have a Networking Breakfast on July 18 from 9am to 11am and will be at booth 132 on the trade show floor. Registration for the show is through the FRSA.

Upcoming Events

The newly created Events Committee is looking for women to join the committee. Please contact Melissa Mulligan if you're interested.

Are you speaking at an upcoming industry event? If so we want to know about it and share that information with our members. Email the information to Communications Committee Chair Anna Anderson .