We believe that the best way to ensure safety on and around our waterways is through collaboration and sharing of knowledge.
Our monthly Waterway Safety Sessions serve as an open forum for industry leaders to come together, share insights, and help standardize best practices for waterway safety.
These sessions are designed to facilitate peer-sharing of information about the latest technologies and safety products that companies utilize to mitigate safety risks.
About the Waterway Safety Sessions
The Waterway Safety Sessions are a unique initiative by Arnco Safety, bringing together various stakeholders from companies operating on or around waterways. The goal is to identify, share, and help standardize best practices for waterway safety protocols.
By facilitating an open forum, we aim to build and construct resolutions to specific programs in place for mitigating safety risk factors. We also explore how oversight from governing and regulatory bodies such as OSHA, MSHA, Port Authority, and the Coast Guard can overlap and sometimes conflict with current policies and guidelines.
Mike Willi, Arnco Safety Account Manager, shared more about the Waterway Safety Sessions,
“Our Agriculture partner hosted the recent Waterway Safety Session. They did a fantastic job showing us around and explaining their dock design changes implemented at their facility. They gave the participants a tour of the loadout area and working platform where they load barges on the river. They also educated the group on safety concepts, how the layout came to be, and what to look for if these design features were to apply at other facilities.”
Goals of the Waterway Safety Sessions
- Facilitate Open Forums: Encourage members to share new ideas, collaborate, and resolve safety risk factors.
- Understand Regulatory Expectations: Lay out the expectations and understandings from OSHA, MSHA, Port Authority, and the Coast Guard, exploring overlaps and conflicts in current policies.
- Share Best Practices: Discuss and share current protocols and best practices, identifying deficiencies or gaps within them.
- Standardize Safety Protocols: Compile findings to identify enhancement opportunities and collectively work to standardize best practices for waterway safety protocols.
Facilitating Efficient Waterway Safety Discussions
The Waterway Safety Sessions are designed to be inclusive and collaborative. Participants are encouraged to share company-specific information with full confidence that it will be held in confidentiality. Session notes are recorded, and tasks and “to-do’s” are assigned with timelines for completion. The agenda progresses based on the development agreed upon by the group.
Participants are seen as peers and subject matter experts, promoting a collaborative effort to improve waterway safety across all business units in the industry.
The group meets virtually every month and in-person about once a quarter at a participating member’s facility. Topics are introduced and prioritized by the group for discussion, ensuring relevance and engagement.
A Growing Initiative for the Mississippi Valley Area
Mike Willi commented on the growing success of these Waterway Safety Sessions,
“The sessions are starting to come together nicely, and we now have representation from many companies that work within and around the waterways along the Mississippi River. We are just here to facilitate the sessions. The idea is to have an open forum discussion to share what processes and protocols they follow to see where ‘best practices’ fall across the board from a safety perspective.”
Join Arnco Safety for Innovative Approaches to Waterway Safety
Arnco Safety is committed to being a trusted resource for facilitating these valuable sessions. As the interest grows and the sessions develop, we continue to see the importance and necessity of this initiative across our customer base.
Contact us to learn more about Arnco Safety’s Waterway Safety Sessions. Leave Mike Willi a note on the form for more information!
