December 2009 Vol. 236 No. 12

Business Meetings & Events

December Association News

At September’s International Pipeline and Offshore Contractors Association (IPLOCA) convention in San Francisco, Ledcor Pipeline was awarded the Health & Safety Award for the design, engineering, manufacturing and testing of Roll Over Protection Structures (ROPS) installed and retrofitted on pipelayers. The award was presented by Becky Roberts, president of Chevron Pipe Line Co.

Ledcor Pipeline’s ROPS is a reinforcement apparatus that can be installed on heavy equipment, such as a pipelayer or sideboom, to protect the operator in the event of a rollover accident. The seat-belted equipment operator is provided with an adequate amount of survival space, reducing the risk of head, neck/spinal, and upper torso injuries. ROPS generally limits a rollover to 90 degrees and provides an important safety/survival zone for the operator.

On a broader scale, the ROPS retrofit program has potential for wider safety applications and several research papers have identified the adoption of ROPS as a technology that should be applied to vehicles like tractors and All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs).

The GTI Public Interest Advisory Committee (PIAC) added four members: Colette Honorable, commissioner, Arkansas Public Service Commission; Dennis O’Brien, commissioner, Minnesota Public Utilities Commission; Ted Boyer, commission chairman, Utah Public Service Commission; and Gerald Braun, associate director, University of California Davis Energy Institute.

T.D. Williamson, Inc. announced the appointment of Dick Williamson, board chairman, to a fellowship with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). An induction ceremony was held Nov. 15 at ASME’s International Mechanical Engineering Conference & Expo in Lake Buena Vista, FL.

Williamson has participated in many key growth initiatives including the International Pipeline Conference. He and fellow members founded Rio-Pipe, the sister biennial event for the South American industry, and created the International Offshore Pipeline Forum, now in its fourth year, and the India Oil and Gas Pipeline Conference, preparing for its third event in 2010.

Tom Fry will retire as president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA) in 2010. Randall Luthi was named his successor by the NOIA Board at the fall meeting in Colorado.