If you attended this week’s 2018 Indiana Safety and Health Conference & Expo, you most certainly came away with enhanced knowledge, new industry connections and the determination to make your workplace a safer and healthier one.

The largest safety and health conference in the state provided over 70 education sessions, leading industry speakers and access to more than 100 exhibitors and safety vendors over the course of three days in downtown Indianapolis.

The conference was sponsored by Gibson and presented by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the  Central Indiana Chapter of American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), in partnership with INSafe and the Coalition for Construction Safety (CCS).

Kina Repp, keynote speaker for the opening general session (“It’s Your Safety, Don’t Give It Away”), shared her story of lessons learned from losing her arm to a moving conveyor belt 40 minutes into her job at a fish processing plant. She spent two months in the hospital and endured 11 surgeries.

At the time, Repp knew what she was doing was not safe. Today, she describes the ripple effect – the impact the accident had on her family, co-workers, supervisors and more.

“I made choices that day that hurt all those people,” she told the hushed conference attendees before posing two questions: “Whose life are you willing to change? What is it that you’re willing to trade your safety for?

Life – and safety – come down to choices, Repp attests. In looking back at her decision to take advantage of her second chance, while at the same time offering guidance to others in determining their safety outcomes, she relies on a Henry Ford quote: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”

March 14 keynote speaker Sgt. Sammy L. Davis delivered a poignant recollection of the Vietnam War. A powerful philosophy guided him during the battle that won him a Congressional Medal of Honor: “If I don’t do my job, the guys behind me don’t stand a chance.”

Davis’ actions on November 18, 1967, inspired the wartime service depicted in Forrest Gump, including his citation ceremony with actor Tom Hank’s head added on top of Davis’s via computer-generated imagery. This week, Davis was bestowed Indiana’s highest honor, the Sachem Award.

On Wednesday, the Governor’s Workplace Safety Awards were presented to organizations and individuals that have made health and safety a priority. Find the press release with a list of winners here.

See photos from the awards luncheon and the conference here.

Ice Miller is the conference’s platinum sponsor. Gold sponsors are Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP); Community Employer Health; and RMS-Safety. Silver sponsors are Athletico Physical Therapy; CLMI Safety Training; Faztek, LLC; Indiana Safety & Supply; Indiana University School of Public Health Safety Program; KHA Online SDS™; Safety Management Group; and Sentry Safety Services, Inc.

The dates are already set for the 2019 Indiana Safety and Health Conference & Expo! Mark your calendars for February 26-28, 2019 at the Indiana Convention Center in downtown Indianapolis.

Find conference materials and more at www.insafetyconf.com.