More than 2,300 Americans died in 2007 from occupational transportation accidents. That’s 2 out of every 5 work-related deaths for the year.

In other words, that’s:
- 2,300 times the number of fatal shark attacks worldwide
- 127 times the number of U.S. skydiving deaths
- 51 times the number of fatal U.S. lightning strikes
- Or over 3 times the number of global airline fatalities for that same year

But you don’t need to trudge through the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics or be a safety expert to know that number is way too high. The worst part is that virtually all of those accidents were avoidable.

As a company focused on positively impacting the safety training industry, Convergence Training constantly looking for new opportunities to help our customers reduce accidents and ultimately saving lives.

Everyone knows that safe driving habits can reduce or even avoid tragic human costs, but improving commercial driving safety also makes solid business sense. So, we plan to release our new Commercial Driving Safety series in late-August.

The first course in our Commercial Driving Safety series will be Introduction to Defensive Driving, followed by Seat Belt Safety and Vehicle Preparedness. Introduction to Defensive Driving will cover the fundamental concepts of collision avoidance, economics of safe driving, and vehicle knowledge. And as you’ve come to expect, our material will represent the insights, regulations, and best practices of leading organizations, including the National Safety Council, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and OSHA.

Do you have suggestions for other safety training courses that would make your life easier or safer? We want to hear from you. Call or email us to let us know what you need.

We would like to welcome two new designers to the Convergence Training team, Caleb Tilton and Michael Reese.

Caleb and Michael bring unique design, animation, and 3d skills to our creative team and will help us continue to meet our project deadlines and business goals. Caleb is currently working on a custom visitor/vendor/contractor training course and Michael is helping us with a site-specific paper machine training project.

Check out their professional portfolios below:

Caleb Tilton – http://www.calebtilton.com

and

Michael Reese – http://www.mikereese3d.com

To view a short bio for Caleb, Michael, and the entire Convergence Training team, visit the “About Us” section on our website.

This is an article that I was a part of writing that was published on the Paper360.org site. I posted the full article on my personal blog, and to minimize duplicate content, below you’ll find links and info on the full article.

Teaser:
Surgeons, dentists, airlines, and the US military are all using 3D models and animations to train their next generation of workers. Will pulp and paper producers be the next industry to leverage this new technology to gain a competitive advantage?

Click here to view the full article.

Click here to download this article in PDF format.

We are all over the country this week! From our offices in Camas, WA, to the northeast and all the way down to Orlando, FL.

Orlando, FL
Randy and Bjorn are representing Convergence Training at AGG1. Here are a couple shots of our booth with our MSHA Part 46 Products on display:

Alabama
Roman has been meeting with prospective customers in Alabama. After a few days on the road with sunny and moderate weather, he’s on his way back to cold rain here in Camas.

Northeast US
A couple of our technical writers are on-site with a new customer on the East Coast. They will be spending the week out there getting trained and gathering technical information. In addition, Matt and I will be headed out to the same location next week to install Convergence Server and provide administrator training.

Convergence Training will be hosting a booth at AGG1, the 2009 Aggregates Forum and Expo. The conference will take place March 9-12, 2009 and will be co-located with the World of Asphalt 2009 Show and Conference in Orlando, FL.

We will be displaying our suite of MSHA Part 46 compliancy solutions ranging from Surface Miner Training Basic ($349) up to our Surface Miner Training Advanced with MSHA Compliancy Tools ($1,399). If you would like to stop by and visit us, our booth number is 426. See a map of our booth at the convention.

For more information about AGG1, visit the official AGG1 site here.

For more information about the World of Asphalt 2009, visit the official World of Asphalt site here.

For more information about our Surface Miner Training products that offer MSHA Part 46 compliancy solutions for Surface Mines and Mining Contractors, visit our MSHASafetyTraining.com website.