The Marine Chemist Association held a Board of Directors (BOD) meeting on March 26th in Los Angeles at the Hilton Airport Hotel. This was preceded by the second in-person sectional seminar following the pandemic. Information on the seminar, board meeting and general Marine Chemist activities follow.
At our sectional seminar there were 6 Chemists and 8 board members in attendance along with NFPA representative Larry Russell.
Typically, attendance at sectional seminars averages 20 chemists. While the attendance numbers are increasing the Board believes that the low turnout is due to the large number of chemists who attended the virtual meetings in the past and who do not require an in-person seminar to fulfill their educational requirements. This trend is expected to continue for a few more years until the five-year recertification cycle associated with the virtual seminars ends. At the sectional seminar members in attendance commented on the importance of face-to-face interactions that occur vs the virtual seminars. The seminar had numerous questions and interactions that virtual seminars did not generate.
Spring 2023 Sectional Seminar
In an effort to continuously improve the sectional seminars the BOD reviewed the presentations at the Chicago sectional seminar. In general, the presentations were well accepted and generated a significant amount of discussion on the theme of Safe for Limited Hot Work. Some minor changes were made to improve the presentations for the spring seminar.
