Newsletter: VSRA Dec. 2012/Jan. 2013 Newsletter

VSRA needs volunteers for Career Day events!  You will have the opportunity to attend Career Days to promote Ship Repair as a valuable asset to the community and encourage students to consider a job in the ship repair industry.  Come and Share your Work Knowledge!

We need Career Day Volunteers for the following Career Day events:  

• Hunter B. Andrews, Newport News PK-8 School, February 27 or 28, 2013 (Hampton)
• 4th Annual Vo-Tech Non-Traditional Extravaganza, Thursday, February 28, 2013 (Suffolk)
• Phoebus High School Industry Day, Thursday, March 21, 2013 (Hampton) 
• Huntington Middle School, Newport News Friday, March 22, 2013 (Newport News), 9:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.
• 22nd Annual Suffolk Career Expo, Thursday, April 18, 2013 (Suffolk) 

Please contact Sylva Bell, at (757)233-7034, e-mail:  sbell@VirginiaShipRepair.org

On November 20, 2012 Casey Tarnowski was awarded the VSRA 3^rd Quarter Safety Suggestion award. AMSEC employee, Casey Tarnowski invented a safety device which helps to maintain positive control of stanchions during maintenance. The device worked so well for the group he designed it for they want another one made. Casey was prompted to design the device because of two incidents that occurred over the last few years. In the first incident, a flight deck stanchion rolled off the flight deck of an aircraft carrier and fell about 40 feet to the hanger bay below. In the second incident, a flight deck stanchion was being installed on an aircraft carrier and the craftsman lost positive control of it and dropped it straight down onto an elevator 40 feet below. Amazingly, no one was injured either time by the 40 plus pound stanchion. The device Casey designed is being called a stanchion stabilizer. It will prevent stanchions from rolling off the flight deck or from being dropped through the flight deck stanchion holes.

VSRA Members_

Please click here to view a copy of the 2013 Sponsorship Packages.  For a quick view at a glance of the 2013 Sponsorships, please click here to view the 2013 Sponsorship Flyer. 

The Sponsorship Packages were developed to give VSRA member companies an early sponsorship choice of the activities that best match their own outreach goals.  Many of our industry focused projects allow companies to increase their leadership and exposure footprint through sponsorships. The package is divided into two sections, sponsorships for the Virginia Ship Repair Association and sponsorships for activities conducted by the Virginia Ship Repair Foundation.

Please plan on supporting these and many other events which bring positive attention and awareness to the ship repair industry. Note: contributions to the 501(c)3 Foundation are tax deductible. Together we are the Strength Behind the Fleet. 

Try it out today! Nomenclature and Compartment Location are available NOW! Contact VSRA for a FREE trial code. All courses available in DVD format as well for classroom use. http://otraining.virginiashiprepair.org

Nomenclature: An introduction to the words and terms frequently used in ship yard environments, this 45 minute course includes an assessment of student understanding. Terms reviewed include ship parts, tools, activities and location references.

Compartment Location: An orientation to locating compartments and structures on a ship; this 40 minute course is for anyone who will be working on a ship. It is not only important for locating working spaces, but for evacuation.

Topics:

• Review of Parts of a Vessel
• Review of Directions on a Ship
• How Naval Vessel Compartments are Named
• How Locations are Labeled
• Interpreting Compartment Labels
• Commercial Vessel Compartments

As an initial step to offering more relevant training to VSRA members, we launched entry-level courses in Nomenclature and Compartment Location. We believe these will be not only valuable for new workers, but for students in technical schools that are looking to work in ship repair. The highly successful Safety Orientation on-line program led to members requesting more courses they can use to train workers in ship yard specific topics. As we listened and learned more, VSRA found that the value to members was in two areas: 1.) consistency of course content for the region and 2.) the flexibility of using that material in either a classroom or on-line format. As a follow-on step, In order to determine where VSRA should place its resources and prioritizing efforts, the Safety Committee ran a survey to estimate demand and interest. The top choices were very consistently rated by the 78 responding companies: Hazard Communication, Overview of Confined Spaces Issues, Work Authorization Forms (WAF) and Introduction to Standard Items. Although we don't have release dates for these new developments, any member company is welcome to join the content review committees.

VSRA Members now have the option to note on their Member profile that they are a SWaM or Veterans Owned Business. Companies who are looking for ship repair industry services and provide preference for these small business designations will have an easier time finding your company! Have your Member Administrator login to our website to add this to your Member Company Profile. If you do not know who your Member Adminsttrator is, please contact Sylvia Bell at sbell@VirginiaShipRepair.org

7th Annual Lego competition has officially been launched! Application packets have been mailed to all Public and Private schools in our area. Just as we have in past years, this year we will need technical advisors, judges, and volunteers. This is a great opportunity to give back to the community and represent your company!

Duties of technical advisors include:

1. Contact the Team Leader (teacher)
2. Attend the Team Event Kick-Off on the date the Team Leader has set.  You will meet the team and the teacher to discuss their design ideas.  The VSRA office will make sure you are well stocked with VSRA give-aways to bring to the meeting. Please let the VSRA office know when you plan to meet with your team so we can give you VSRA branding items / giveaways to bring to your introductory meeting.  
3. Review their progress by e-mail/phone 2-3 times during March
4. Visit the team when the design is almost complete – offer advice for improvement (this is the ‘Mid-Engineering Critique’)
5. Watch the students practice their presentations and offer feedback
6. Attend the Preliminary Competition
7. Attend the Final Competition (accordingly)
8. Required Time Spent:  10 hours (minimum)

Judges:

1. Expected to attend “Judges” meeting to review the score sheets (accordingly)
2. Arrive on the day of Preliminaries, and judge performances according to the scoring sheet (accordingly)
3. Offer advice/feedback

For the month of January only, the General Membership Luncheon meeting has been MOVED from the 3rd Tuesday of the month to the 4th Tuesday on January 22, 2013 at the Portsmouth Renaissance Hotel, 425 Water Street, at 12 noon.  Please mark your calendars to reflect this change.

Communications Committee

The Communications Committee met on November 29, 2012  to review the December Newsletter. The committee invites anyone interested in participating to join them at the next meeting. The committee meets the Thursday following the General Membership Luncheon meeting at 9:00 a.m. at QED Systems, Inc. at 4646 N. Witchduck Rd, Virginia Beach, VA 23455. The next meeting will be on December 20, 2012. 

Contracts Committee

The Contracts Committee met on November 1, 2012.  The Contracts Committee meets the 1st Thursday of every month at the Norfolk offices of Troutman Sanders, Sixteenth Floor, 150 West Main Street, Norfolk, Virginia. The next committee meeting will be on December 6, 2012.

Environmental Committee

The Environmental Committee met on November 8, 2012.  The committee reviewed that the EPA is proposing to insert Numeric Limits in NPDES (VPDES) Permit for ballast water from commercial vessels under the Vessel General Permit Program. The committee hosted guest speakers Sharon Baumann, Ashley Severin and Victor Gonzalez from Naval Station Norfolk (NAVFAC) who gave a presentation on storage tanks brought onto the base, containment requirements and updated procedures forthcoming.  The committee meets the second Thursday of the odd numbered months at 10:00 a.m. in the General Dynamics NASSCO-Earl Industries (formerly United Coatings Corp.) Training Room, 650 Chautauqua Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707. The next meeting will be on January 10, 2013. 

Human Resources Committee

The Human Resources Committee met on November 7, 2012. The guest speaker was Ryan Holloway with the American Heart Association who shared statistics for Cardiovascular Disease.  He also introduced some of the workplace resources that AHA can offer to assist companies with promoting activity and awareness.  There was a general discussion of how best to implement workplace wellness programs.  The next regularly scheduled committee meeting will be at the Norfolk offices of Wilcox & Savage – 22nd Floor, 440 Monticello Avenue, Suite 2200, Norfolk, Virginia, at 11:00 AM on Wednesday, December 5, 2012.  Our Guest Speaker for this meeting will be John Di Dio, who will address hot issues in workplace EEO compliance.

Quality Assurance Committee

The Quality Assurance Committee met on November 13, 2012. The committee discussed the QA Audit Database.  They are working to bring the database up-to-date.  The committee was updated by the Sub-committee on their review and revision of the QA Audit and revision of the Auditor training. The following item was discussed during the Industry/CNRMC QA Monthly Conference call and was shared with the QA Committee - (G)-Points in EPCP’s are HOLD POINTS. Do not proceed without NSSA.  The committee meets the 2^nd Tuesday of the month at 10:30 a.m. at Q.E.D. Systems, Inc., 4646 North Witchduck Road in Virginia Beach. The next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Tuesday, December 11, 2012.

Safety Committee

The Safety Committee met on Thursday, November 8, 2012 at the HII-AMSEC facility, and had a Mock Safety Inspection Tour conducted by Mr. Kyle Hopf.  The VSRA Safety Orientation review sub-committee is in the process of updating the VSRA Safety Orientation Video.  Suggestions have been collected.  The 3^rd Quarter Safety Suggestion Award Winner is to be announced and honored at the VSRA General Membership Meeting on November 20, 2012.  The committee discussed Fire Drills and preparations to comply with requirements.  The committee meets the second Thursday of the month at 9:00 a.m. in the General Dynamics NASSCO-Earl Industries (formerly United Coatings Corp.) Training Room, 650 Chautauqua Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707.  The next meeting is on Thursday, December 13, 2012.

Security Committee

The Security Committee met on November 13, 2012 at General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT).   The committee discussed the implementation of protecting an individual’s Personal Identifiable Information (PII), the social security number column on the Contractor Visits Spreadsheet (MARMC spreadsheet) by replacing it with a “Visitor ID”.  NSSA has indicated that it could be sometime in December before they are ready to put this in effect.  The committee was briefed on the process of obtaining a new facility clearance (FCL).   It was recommended and agreed by attending committee members that there will be NO MEETING in December.  The next Security Committee meeting will be Tuesday January 8, 2013.

Worker’s Comp Committee

The Worker’s Comp Committee did not meet in November. The committee meets the second Thursday of the even numbered months at 10:00 a.m. in the General Dynamics NASSCO-Earl Industries (formerly United Coatings Corp.) Training Room, 650 Chautauqua Avenue, Portsmouth, VA 23707. The next meeting is on December 13, 2012.

VSRF

The Virginia Ship Repair Foundation met on November 14, 2012.  They are in need of Technical Advisors for the Lego Competition.  They need volunteers for Career Days.  WAF is in the process of being developed.  It is time to begin revisions to the 2013 Safety Orientation.  NTC welding classes are going well. The next meeting is December 12, 2012.

The guest speaker for the November General Membership meeting will be Michael Barakey, District Chief of the Virginia Beach Fire Department.  He was the first on-scene and will be speaking on the Lessons Learned from the April 6, 2012 F/A-18 Crash in Virginia Beach.  His topic will be centered around safety, risk, and preparedness.  Mr. Barakey was the special keynote speaker at the recent VSRA Safety & Health Seminar held on Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at ODU where he provided an outstanding presentation.   

Michael Barakey is currently assigned to personnel and development.  He is the former chief of training and is the department’s accreditation manager.  Barakey is a HazMat Specialist, Instructor III, a National Registered Paramedic, and a Plans Team Manager for VA-TF2 US&R Team.  He deployed to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002.  He has also been to various Hurricane deployments, including Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans in 2005, and the Haiti Earthquake in 2010.  Barakey has a Master of Public Administration from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA, and is a graduate of the NFA’s Executive Fire Officer Program. Barakey is a classroom instructor for Fire Department Instructor’s Conference (FDIC) and publishes regularly in Fire Engineering Magazine.   

At the October meeting, the Board of Directors approved two new member companies.  The new member companies are APS Marine Services and On Point, LLC.  This brings our membership total to 233 companies.