So, what about the conference!
The British Columbia Municipal Safety Association represents individuals working for municipalities, and together they help employers improve the health and safety of workers in the local government sector, and to ultimately help reduce costs through fewer injuries and lower assessment rates.
The Public Works Association of BC represents individuals working for municipalities, utility companies and engineering consulting firms, in BC and Yukon. They represent approximately 350 members who all share the same dedication to improving the quality of life for citizens.
Our conference is a two-day event of presentations and panels featuring over 30 presenters from across North America, attended by up to 450 people complemented by a dynamic trade show with over 100 exhibitors.
The education program at the conference provides a dynamic forum for information exchange and it is divided into three streams: Public Works/Utilities, Safety and Leadership. Our goal is to provide delegates with a diverse range of topics to optimize their learning experience, take advantage of emerging technologies, understand and prepare for challenges that lie ahead, and provide better services to their organizations and communities.
Public Works
Stream
Asset Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Software and database solutions, mobile technologies, web-based tools, cloud technology, 3-D modeling, enterprise solutions for reporting
- Data collection technologies such as unmanned aerial vehicles (drones), LiDAR mapping, GIS, GPS, telematics, time-phased photographic inspection, robotics, AVL, RFID
Issues/solutions:
- Leveraging asset management into daily public works operations—solutions for small city, large city, and county systems
- Dealing with siloed operations/departments, determining what to measure and how to use the data, communicating with the public and stakeholders about asset management, and getting buy-in from officials and staff
- Explaining the foundational components of a good asset management system. Success stories that demonstrate the process, challenges, and solutions. Where to begin and how not to be overwhelmed
- Examples! Tools, templates, road maps, and sample documents
- Workforce issues: skills public works professionals need to implement asset management, maximizing productivity with minimal staff
- Funding/budgeting: cost-effective asset management; creative budgeting, grants, and other financial options to implement asset management; funding solutions for small cities
Future trends:
- Asset management in the Internet of Things (IoT) era
- Less field work and more desktop reconnaissance
- Asset management for green infrastructure
- Smart cities, smart assets
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) based asset management
Emergency Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Emergency management software, tablets, and phones replacing desktop solutions
- GIS mapping, use of drones in post-disaster inspection
- Traffic Incident Management: Automated Flagger Assistance Devices, portable traffic signals
- Role of smart cities technologies in emergency management
- Cybersecurity—what are the threats, and what are the best solutions?
Issues/solutions:
- Public works as first responders
- Collaborating with police and fire
- Mutual aid programs
- Risk assessment and resiliency planning
- Factoring climate change into emergency management planning and preparedness
- Dam safety requirements, flood preparedness, and response
- Rapid damage assessment, post-disaster condition assessments, cleanup, debris management
- See something, say something—public works role in threat identification
- Active shooter training
- Outlines and templates for active shooter tabletop exercises or drills
Future trends:
- Trends and new developments in cybersecurity programs
- Mobile alert systems—targeting devices by physical location rather than area codes
- Increased focus on cybersecurity tactics and solutions
Engineering, Construction/Project Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Data collection and construction inspection using drones, GIS, tablets, and smartphones
- Web-based tools for plan submission and reviews
- Electronic bidding technologies, electronic plan reviews, submissions, and approvals
- Project management software
- Using technology: monitoring climate, weather adversity, flood monitoring, prediction tools/early warning systems
Issues/solutions:
- Innovative budgeting and funding solutions for capital improvement programs (CIP)
- RFP process, bid and contract management, consultant and contractor relationships
- Project management skills/project tracking systems
Future trends:
- 5G installation and capital improvement program management
- More use of 3D construction plans, 3D modeling, 3D printing
- New CIP funding models to replace gas taxes and other funding mechanisms
Facilities Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Energy efficiency: renewable energy production in buildings, distributed heat and power, solar, heat pumps, etc., smart meters to measure energy use, water conservation
- Computer Aided Facility Management (CAFM); Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
- Drones related to facilities and grounds inspections
Issues/solutions:
- Building security: risk assessments, workplace violence
- Developing a municipal facility maintenance plan (maintenance, repair)
Future trends:
- Augmented reality for building management
- Self-powered and smart buildings
- Building security advancements, i.e., proximity door locks
- Sharing economy—maximum use of facilities
Fleet Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Fleet management software
- On-board GPS, cameras for route optimization
- Fuel station software
- Fleet management of autonomous and connected vehicles
- Electric vehicles (EVs) and charging stations
Issues/solutions:
- Workforce solutions: technician recruitment and retention, performance measures for fleet professionals, essential skills and knowledge for new fleet managers
- Fleet operations as part of the emergency response team
- Vehicle and equipment replacement programs
- Managing fleet budgets, internal services fund approach, lease/purchase pros and cons
- Guidelines for ethical fleet management
Future trends:
- Car sharing vs. owning fleet
- Converting fleets to electric
- Biometric logins
- Driverless truck technology
- New fuel requirements, alternative fuels management
Grounds, Parks, and Urban Forestry Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Tree inventory technologies: GPS systems, drones for canopy management
- Internet of Things (IoT) relating to parks and grounds management
- Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS)
Issues/solutions:
- Urban forestry plans: forestry practices and standards for maintenance
- Utility issues: canopy issues and underground utilities, tree trimming and above-ground utilities, tree species that can be planted near utilities
- Green infrastructure solutions for stormwater management, stormwater management through park design
- Trail construction and management
Future trends:
- Advances in solar lighting options
- Impacts of climate change, extreme weather, long-term droughts
- Maximizing ecosystem services, passive park lands, and educating users on their design and purpose
Solid Waste Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Advanced software for route planning, GPS routing systems, mobile apps for tracking in real-time
- Landfill technologies: bioreactors, emission measurement using drones, bio-covers, waste to energy technologies
Issues/solutions:
- Circular economy strategies
- Composting—food waste
- Leaf pick-up programs
- Post-disaster debris management
- Managing solid waste contracts
Future trends:
- Bans on plastics—establishing public policy
- Internet of Things (IoT) impact on collection and management
- Mining and reclamation in old landfills
Sustainability/Resiliency
Technology uses and trends:
- Electrification of fleets
- Localized climate modeling to inform infrastructure decisions
- One Water framework for sustainable water systems
- Triple bottom line software
Issues/solutions:
- Creating the business case for sustainability/resiliency. Learning to understand the true life-cycle costs of implementing sustainability into projects vs. the costs of not doing so
- Incorporating social equity into decision-making
- Climate mitigation, changing decision-making to reduce impacts
- Impact of workforce diversity in building more sustainable solutions
- Green Infrastructure (GI). How do cities plan for resilient infrastructure?
- Permeable pavements as a resilience strategy
- Climate adaptation for coastal areas, sea level rise
Future trends:
- Use of “Green Bonds” for infrastructure
- Using the Internet of Things (IoT)/real-time data for decision-making
- Regulation of Autonomous Vehicles (AVs) to reach city livability goals
- Building community resilience
- Building learning communities (how do we educate our community members to reach more informed outcomes?)
- Public works and creating “circular economies”
Transportation: (Streets/Roads/Bridges, Traffic Engineering, Bicycle/Pedestrian Infrastructure, Transit)
Technology uses and trends:
- Driver feedback sensors
- Autonomous/connected vehicles
- Intelligent transportation systems
- New materials in pavement construction, use of fiberglass dowel bars
- Next-generation GPS, LiDAR
- Smart cities technologies and apps
- New technologies for making work zones safer, automated flagger assistance devices, portable traffic signal solutions, innovative use of reflective markers (under traffic cones)
- Cybersecurity for traffic management systems and networks
- Use of tethered drones in active areas
Issues/solutions:
- Innovative funding options for transportation projects: options to replace gas taxes, public/private partnerships, economic development programs, transportation corporations, revolving funds, federal funding, project streamlining
- Broadband implementation and expansion: new construction, existing utility tie-in, acquiring right-of-way, partnerships
- Infrastructure readiness for connected and autonomous vehicles
- Infrastructure for bikeable/walkable communities
- Infrastructure for mass transit
Future trends:
- Autonomous/connected vehicles will change the face of infrastructure and how people live
- How will a mostly electric vehicle (EV) fleet change Canadian infrastructure?
- More bicycles, e-bikes, e-scooters, hoverboards
- Will driverless vehicles impact mass transit?
- Traffic engineering for low-flying vehicles, delivery drones
- Solar roads, bike paths, sidewalks
Transportation: (Winter Maintenance, Snow and Ice Control)
- Snow and ice control methods and technologies
- Emergency management in severe winter events
- GPS/AVL uses
- Chemical, liquids usage and selection
Utilities/Public Rights-of-Way Management
Technology uses and trends:
- Subsurface Utility Engineering (SUE), drones for mapping SUE, ground-penetrating radar
- AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) and IoT (Internet of Things) for data gathering, measurement
- Trenchless technologies
Issues/solutions:
- Legislative proposals that preempt local zoning regulations allowing 5G “small cell” installation in the public rights-of-way or on public assets/facilities such as streetlights
- Cost of replacing or upgrading aging infrastructure
- Dealing with the jungle underground—separate cable systems, lines, borings
- Dig once policies—multiple telecommunication companies accessing ROW at different times
- Post installation inspection on stormwater utilities, using technology on new construction
Future trends:
- Changes in the role of utility coordinators
- Small cell, 5G technology installations and their impact on the right-of-way
- Impact of drone technology and new right-of-way access laws
- Internet of Things (IoT) impact on collection and management
- Broadband deployment within cities and counties
Water Resources: Potable/Drinking Water, Wastewater/Sewers
Technology uses and trends:
- Trenchless technology for pipe repair and replacement
- Smart water meters
Issues in need of solutions:
- Climate change impacts on water quality
- Waters of the United States (WOTUS): Impacts of WOTUS rules on local projects and political support, state reactions to WOTUS rule changes
- Coastal management, sea level rise
- Renewable water resources, aquifer storage, and recovery
- Emergent contaminants, gray water, backflow prevention
- Crisis management—what to do when water isn’t safe to drink
- Water meter replacement programs, including options for when residents own the meter
Future trends:
- Combined water treatment plants for sanitary and potable water systems
- Aquifer storage recovery (ASR)
- Expansion of water reuse technologies and approaches
Leadership/Administration
Stream
Leadership
- Strategic planning and decision-making, bringing clarity to vision
- Using the community approach to deal with pace of change/technology use and integration
- Managing and engaging staff from different generations
- How to stretch shrinking budgets by leveraging resources, shared services, shared equipment, mutual aid, shared facilities, grants
Career and Personal Development
Professional development:
- Developing presentation and communication skills
- Ethics for local government professionals at all levels
- Educating future leaders in the functional aspects of public works or occupational health and safety
Legal Issues/Managing Liability
Legislation & Regulation
Workforce issues and solutions
- Succession planning: recruitment, retention, engagement
- Rethinking the performance management and evaluation process
- Developing programs to transfer knowledge and skills from retiring boomers to new workforce
- Balancing outsourced and in-house staff
- Respectful Workplace
Technology uses and trends
- Training software and technologies
- Computerized workforce management programs
- Asset management and benchmarking to inform levels of service
Future trends
- Identifying, creating and/or rebooting workplace culture: framing and implementing the change process, building capability and engagement
- More emphasis on finding a trained workforce for public works functions that require specialized skills but not necessarily college degrees
- Shared services and positions across communities
Psychological Health & Safety
- 13 Factors of Psychological health and safety
- Impairment in the workplace (fatigue, drugs, alcohol)
- Financial impacts of poorly managed Psychological Health & Safety
- Opiate crisis hazards for public workers
- Psychological Health & Safety Standard Implementation
- Work/Life Balance
Communication
- How to leverage communication skills for success
- How to communicate for better understanding and collaboration
Diversity & Inclusion
- Impacts of a cross generational workforce
- Strategies to decolonize your OHS and DM programs
Occupational Health and
Safety Stream
Human Factors
- Ergonomic programs
- Fatigue management
- Workplace stretching programs
- Use of AI in human factors
- Occupational Biomechanics
- Work Physiology
- Human Kinematics
Safety Culture
- Training & Engagement
- Effective feedback skills
- Safety intervention skills and how to be an effective change agent
- Upcoming trends in OHS culture
- How to increase workplace safety by motivating employees
Strategic Planning for OHS
- OHS Programming for vulnerable workers (young, new, aging, plus migrant/immigrant workers)
- Program Evaluation
- Diversity and Inclusion initiatives for OHS
- Long term trends and strategies in OHS
- OHS strategies for the aging workforce
Risk Management
- Risk based decision making
- ALARP
- Quantitative Human Reliability Assessment (HRA)
- Virtual Reality and its ability to reduce risk in high hazard sectors
Injury/Disability Management
- Measuring the effectiveness of your Disability Management Program
- Future trends in Disability Management
- The cost of doing nothing, Disability Management Edition
- Effective return to work and stay at work principals
Emergency Preparedness
Confined Space
- Upcoming trends and changes in OHS
- Advanced confined space for the safety professional
- Confined space essentials for public works
Effective Safety Committees
- Leveraging your Safety Committee for success
- Measuring effectiveness
Hazard Identification
- Positive reinforcement strategies to enhance your hazard identification program
- Vehicles and heavy equipment strategies for hazard identification and incident prevention
- Working around electricity
- Behaviour based safety
Incident Investigations
- The role of technology and AI in incident investigations
- Digging Deeper: how to find and utilize the true root cause of incidents for success
- Unconscious bias and its effects on incident investigations
- Incident investigations in a remote working world
- How to analyze incident investigation data to prevent reoccurrence
Injury Prevention
- Occupational Disease, understanding and preventing it in local government
Safety Leadership
- Safety leadership best practices
- Safety leaders vs safety managers
- Effective safety intervention skills
- Behavioural Safety Leadership
- Developing the skills of your emerging safety leaders
- The role of emotional intelligence in safety leadership
Impairment
Technology
Strategies on how to integrate safety technology into the workplace to reduce injuries and illnesses, focusing on real-world applications of both new and time-tested solutions, as we offer a look at the future of safe work. Potential topics include (but are not limited to):
• Smart PPE
• Ergonomics
• Cybersecurity
• Wearables & Mobile Devices
• AI, Machine Learning & Data Analytics
• Using Robots and Drones to Enhance Safety
Occupational Wellness
- Wellness & Total Worker Health
- Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Initiatives in OHS
What are the rules?
No sales pitches! Direct promotion of a speaker’s/company’s products, services, or monetary self-interest are not appropriate for education sessions. Our audience appreciates learning about technologies, services, concepts, and new approaches, but is sensitive to the sales promotion approach. We recommend that you describe in your proposal how the end-user perspective will be featured in your presentation.
Speaker registration and travel expenses: JAC does not pay speakers of concurrent technical and professional education sessions. Speakers are responsible for making arrangements and paying for travel and other expenses associated with attending the conference. Speakers may qualify for a complimentary single-day registration. Speakers attending the full conference are expected to register and pay the appropriate registration fee.
