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Geohazard Association Newsletter | Winter 2020

President's Note

A very belated welcome to 2020! It has been an especially busy start to the New Year at the AGHP. It started with our annual in-person meeting of the Board and various Committees held alongside the Transportation Research Board meeting in Washington DC in January. It was a time to reflect on our growth, trials and tribulations, and accomplishments over the past 7 years since our beginning. The association first began with two engineering companies, two contractors and two manufacturers, all from the United States. We now consist of more than 180 individual members from 53 engineering companies, 32 public or academic agencies, 10 contractors and 6 manufacturers, all from 12 countries. This year there are a lot of exciting projects that we are implementing. One project already well under way is the new Member’s interface of the new website. This will include the ability to view all of our past webinars. It will allow us to grow as an association and expand our resources offered to members. A perhaps grander initiative I would like to share with you is the vision of a North American Geohazards Industry Center. The proposed center will contain state-of-the-art examples of geohazard mitigation and monitoring technology, provide hands-on education and training, showcase installations and sample materials from leading manufacturers in the geohazards industry, as well as design practices and demonstrations of installation techniques. The site will be used for general education, technical seminars, product demonstrations, installation training, maintenance/inspection training, certification and testing, and commercial/industry workshops. It will offer a unique experience that allows for hands-on education and training in a safe environment, not offered anywhere else in North America and is based on a successful model already in use in Germany ( www.georado.de ). The AGHP is currently rounding up industry partners to participate in this endeavor, so if you think your group would like to participate, please contact the Association. These are just a couple of the exciting things to look out for in the months to come! Cheers, 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 Committee Announces 2020 Safety Recognition Program

The association encourages every company utilizing services requiring rope access to participate in the 2020 Rope Access Safety Recognition program. Presented annually to recognize outstanding achievement and efforts in the rope access safety programs of participating companies, this recognition honors best-in-class safety development and implementation initiatives within the geohazard industry.

Download 2020 Application

New This Year! This year we will be expanding our recognition concept to include an additional ‘owner’ category different from the performer’ contractor/consultant/user’ previously identified. Therefore, the AGHP is actively soliciting from our membership, names of owners that incorporate comprehensive safety requirements in their bid lettings & solicitations.   We ask that each recipient of this email also submit names and contact information for at least one ‘owner’ company that you identify as having comprehensive safety requirements in their proposal solicitation documentation. We’ll collect these company names and send them a questionnaire form requesting their company’s contractors’ safety criteria. Once received, we’ll evaluate their submission to our pre-established standard. Each company that incorporates a “safety minimum” will earn recognition as a promoter of workplace safety.

Recommend Owners

New Webinar Announced

Flexible Debris Flow Barriers:  Research Background, Design Approach, and Limitation  Debris flow and shallow landslides endanger people and infrastructure across the globe. The suddenness and difficulty of predicting the time and place of such occurrences are one reason why structural measures have a significant protective function. Due to high densities and flow velocities large impact forces affect structures. The more process knowledge and site-specific information is available, the more efficiently an adequate design and dimension can be performed.  Flexible Debris Flow Barriers are containment systems that have been installed worldwide for over twenty years and can withstand high dynamic & static loads. The load-bearing system consists of support ropes across the channel which are anchored laterally with a ring net constructed from high-tensile wire. These systems have been tested in a real-scale research framework, which resulted in a commonly used design approach and product offering.  The Webinar will take a close look at what’s commonly known about debris flow behavior, the critical parameters, the load concept, and design considerations when selecting mitigation solutions.

Learn More and Register

Photo Contest Winners Announced

Thank you to every member that participated in our third Annual Photo Contest. Please click the button below to view the winners of this year's competition which include: Best Corporate Photo, the three best Individual Photos, and the Student Winner.

View Photo Contest Winners

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   |   Meeting regularly Post Support System   |   Co-Chaired by David Scarpato   |   Launching new initiatives in January Rope Access   |   Co-Chaired by John D. Duffy and Marc Fish   |   Safety Recognitions, slope safety assessments, and more Standards & Specifications   |   Chaired by Ahren Bichler  |   Creating standards for the industry

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.