PENDLETON, Ore.- The 18th annual Blue Mountain Occupational Safety and Health Conference is set for June 16-17 at the Pendleton Convention Center.
Now in its 18th year, the Blue Mountain Conference is a collaboration between Oregon Occupational Safety and Health (Oregon OSHA)-a division of the Department of Consumer and Business Services (DCBS)-the Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program (SHARP) Alliance, and employers and employees in Northeast Oregon, that works to help organizations strengthen their safety culture.
The two-day event will feature workshops and Spanish-language sessions on a variety of topics and issues, including farm machinery safety, the prevention of heat illness for workers, and the proper selection of personal protective equipment, as well as emergency preparedness, safety leadership communication, forklift safety, and many more.
According to DCBS, the schedule for June 16 will include workshops on root cause analysis and best practices for improving safety and health performance, as well as Spanish sessions on hazard identification in agriculture, machine guarding, incident investigation, and safety committees.
Luke Betts, a Senior Safety Management Consultant with the State Accident Insurance Fund (SAIF) Corporation will deliver the keynote presentation: “You Get More Flies With Honey: The Importance of Recognition” on June 17.
According to event organizers, Betts’ presentation emphasizes the importance of cultivating a culture where positive actions are intentionally recognized and reinforced.
2026 Blue Mountain Occupational Safety and Health Conference topics
- Effective quarterly safety inspections
- I’m on the safety committee, now what?
- Nutrition and wellness in the workplace
- Building a safer workplace: Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Hazard Assessments
- Training Evolution: Raising the standard of incident command system training
- Practical strategies to prevent same-level slip, trip and falls
- Hazard identification
- Safety on the move: Tractors, equipment, and ATVs
- The value of voluntary compliance
Registration for the preconference workshops on June 16 is $60. Registration for the Spanish-language sessions is also $60 and includes lunch. For June 17, registration is $130 and includes breakfast and lunch.
Registration is now open online. More information on the conference is also available by contacting the Oregon OSHA Conference Section at Oregon.Conferences@dcbs.oregon.gov, or by calling 503.947.7411.
The Pendleton Convention Center is located at 1601 Westgate in Pendleton, OR.
