Phil La Duke to Speak At At Peruvian Mining Symposium

Jan. 26, 2010 - PRLog -- (ALLEN PARK, MI) Internationally renowned speaker and safety expert, Phil La Duke, will travel to Lima, Peru this March to address the XIV International Seminar in Mining Safety   The conference, which runs from March 24-26, 2010, brings together mining professionals who work in the Peruvian Andes and deals with preventive measures to avoid mining injuries. La Duke will present, Selling Safety In Tough Times a presentation that he has previously made at the National Safety Council and at the Michigan Safety Conference.  The presentation will be made in English and simultaneously translated into Spanish.  
“I’m incredibly honored to participate in this conference” says La Duke, “I think this topic is on everyone’s minds these days, but I really don’t see a big difference between selling safety in tough times and selling it in boom times.”
The well-attended and popular session at the 97th annual National Safety Council (NSC) 2009 Conference and Expo in Orlando, FL was the subject of an article in the November 2009 issue of EHS Today, a popular trade magazine for safety professionals.
“I think that (EHS Today reporter) Laura Walter did an excellent job of summarizing the session” recalls La Duke “The response to the session was really overwhelming, I received a lot of very positive feedback, and I attribute most of that to the article.”
La Duke is no stranger to the speaking circuit, having made multiple trips to the podium at the Michigan Safety Conference, Northern Utah Manufacturing Alliance, the Canadian Society for Safety Engineering (CSSE), the Society for Applied Learning Technology (SALT), Automation Alley, and the Society for Manufacturing Engineers (SME) Lean and Green Symposium at EASTEC.  2010 will see La Duke making presentations at the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), the Michigan Safety Conference, and potentially several more.
“ The deadline for abstracts to the 2010 National Safety Council isn’t for another 2 weeks, so there is no telling whether or not I will speak there, though I would certainly like to present,” says La Duke “and I have several journal articles that are in the final consideration for publication and, if so, I may be headed to Europe to present.  Additionally, I'm in the process of negotiating with publishers for a book based on Selling Safety In Tough Times so it’s tough to say how extensively I'll be speaking beyond what I already have booked.  I started speaking (on performance improvement issues) about three years ago soley to promote O/E's worker safety management offering, SafetyIMPACT! (www.safety-impact.com), O/E developed SafetyIMPACT! based on all the things we learned about worker safety over the last 25 years but because it was an innovation we thought we needed to make a concerted effort to promote it, and speaking engagements were just a small part of that PR effort."
SafetyIMPACT! is an accelerated Health and Safety system based on the beliefs and practices of the world’s safest companies.  O/E distilled what it learned from benchmarking the world’s safest companies down to six simple values that governed four basic activities.  The companies who have taken worker safety to the next level all believed and did similar things and managed the safety of the workplace just like they did any other business element.  Those who achieved the best results toward reducing worker injury rates all believed that:
1. All injuries are preventable
2. Safety begins with compliance
3. Prevention is more valuable than correction
4. Safety is everyone’s job
5. Safety is a strategic business element, and
6. Safety is owned by operations
“SafetyIMPACT! really is the intersection between Lean Manufacturing, Risk Management, Performance Improvement and traditional worker safety” explains La Duke, “I truly believe there's nothing on the market like it; we’re seeing sustained improvements in safety data and reductions in injuries and the corresponding Workers’ Compensation cost of over 80%!”

About Phil La Duke
Phil La Duke is an internationally recognized speaker on culture change and performance improvement topics, particularly worker Safety and Lean Manufacturing.  Mr. La Duke has over 20 years manufacturing experience and has provided manufacturing training in five countries.  Mr. La Duke is currently Director of Performance Improvement for O/E Learning, a Troy-Michigan based company that specializes in productivity solutions.
In his role as Director of Performance Improvement for O/E, Mr. La Duke was a lead developer of UAW-Chrysler’s major corporate change initiative, Bringing Excellence to Safety Teams (B.E.S.T.)  Mr. La Duke also led an O/E team in the design and development of SafetyIMPACT!
Prior to joining O/E, Mr. La Duke was Director, Training & Organizational Development for ASC Incorporated, a global tier-one automotive supplier.  During his eight-year tenure at ASC Mr. La Duke was responsible for designing, developing and executing organizational change interventions; founded the continuous improvement department; advising the Exec Team on corporate change strategies; and developing and administering ASC University. In addition to Safety, La Duke has extensive experience in problem solving techniques, Lean Manufacturing, Quality Operating Systems, and Trans-Cultural Training.
Mr. La Duke is an accomplished and engaging speaker who has presented at dozens of national and international venues including multiple trips to the podium at the National Safety Council; and upcoming presentations at the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE); XIV International Seminar in Mining Safety at Lima – Peru; Mr. La Duke’s 2009 National Safety Council presentation, Selling Safety In Tough Times, was the subject of an article in EH&S Today magazine.
An ex-newspaper reporter and columnist, Mr. La Duke is the author numerous articles most recently, Electronic Performance Support: The Changing Face of Safety Training for the November 2009 Issue of Facility Safety Magazine, and What’s Wrong with Safety Training and How to Fix It for the upcoming June 2009 issue of Fabrication and Metalworking (F&M) magazine, and was interviewed for the Industry Spotlight feature of the June 2009 (National Safety Month) issue of Safety+Health magazine and for the March 2010 issue of Go  magazine. La Duke is the author of a worker safety blog: www.philladuke.wordpress.com
LaDuke is a graduate of University of Michigan where he earned a Bachelor’s of General Studies in Education and a Certificate of Training Development and Design.

For further information about this press release, please contact:

Phil La Duke
Pladuke@oe.com
248.816.4442
www.oe.com
www.safety-impact.com
http://philladuke.wordpress.com