Are You Taking in 2009's Biggest Safety Shows?
Between the National Safety Congress and A+A, taking place amid Dusseldorf's lovely scenery, the world's PPE providers and safety professionals will have plenty to chew on before the holidays.
The U.S. safety profession and its suppliers have long built their budgets and calendars around the National Safety Congress, which will revisit Orlando's Orange County Convention Center this month. Time was, large PPE manufacturers had vast booths staffed by dozens of technical and sales employees, and everyone had a new product to showcase.
This year's Congress & Expo is sure to be busy and fun, coming as it does less than a week before Halloween. The giant booths will be smaller but not entirely gone -- the online floor plan for the event indicates three 2,500-square-foot booths will be erected near the hall's main entrance, with only the National Safety Council's booth, listed as 70 feet by 70 feet, being larger.
One week later comes A+A 2009, International Trade Fair for Safety, Security and Health at Work. The Nov. 3-6 event in Dusseldorf, Germany, may not equal the 50,000-plus attendees of past A+As, but, like the Congress, it will be a stellar event nonetheless, with more than 1,400 exhibitors occupying 500,000 square feet of space in seven exhibit halls. The National Safety Council has a role there, too, sponsoring the North American Pavilion.
Disaster Preparedness & Response Forum
For the first time, this year's A+A features a full-day disaster control forum on Nov. 4. Titled "Overcoming Disasters –- A Challenge for the Population, the State and the Economy," it will be augmented by live demonstrations in front of Hall 3 by the German Federal Agency for Technical Relief, the German Works Fire Service Association, the German Red Cross, the professional fire brigade of the City of Düsseldorf, the German Federal Police, and Drägerwerk AG & Co. KGaA/Safety Division.
"Disaster control requires comprehensive, coordinated measures of all parties involved, regardless whether it is in overcoming natural disaster, dealing properly with pandemics or resisting criminal or terrorist threats. The target groups particularly relevant in this area within organizations focused on public safety -- such as the police, the THW, the fire brigade, and rescue services, and also those in charge at public agencies -- all traditionally show great solidarity with A+A," said Birgit Horn, project director of A+A 2009.
For information about visiting or exhibiting at A+A 2009, contact Messe Düsseldorf North America at 312-781-5180, fax 312-781-5188, [email protected], or http://www.mdna.com. The company's blog can be found at http://blog.mdna.com, and more information is available at http://twitter.com/mdnachicago.
If You Go
To make hotel and travel arrangements, contact TTI Travel, Inc. at 866-674-3476, fax 212-674-3477, [email protected], or www.traveltradeint.com. Show organizer Messe Dusseldorf North America sells advance entrance passes ($28 each for a one-day pass if ordered before the show) and show directories ($24). The entrance passes can be used as free public transportation tickets on all buses, streetcars, underground trams (U-Bahn), urban railway (S-Bahn), and German rail service within the Rhine-Ruhr regional network of Dusseldorf. From downtown Dusseldorf, Tram No. U78 goes to the North Entrance of the fairgrounds, Tram No. U79 goes to the East Entrance, and Bus No. 722 serves the East and South entrances. Bus No. 896 serves all entrances.
This MDNA page offers advice for making telephone calls and exchanging money, and it links to local weather forecasts and two German publications -- including Deutschland magazine.
Show hours are 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. In Hall 7a will be a new "Innovation Park" devoted to products and services for handling hazardous substances. Hall 10 houses the "Safety + Health" meeting point, traditional first point of contact for visitors to meet non-profit exhibitors. Taking place along with the exhibits will be the A+A Congress with its "Innovations for a Safe and Healthy Business" theme developed in lectures by some 350 speakers.
PPE, workwear, and safety equipment will be in Halls 3-5, 9, and 10. Fire and environmental products and services, and measurement and control technology and equipment, will be in Hall 6. Occupational health exhibits will be in Halls 5, 6, and 7. Workplace design and office ergonomics will be in Hall 7a.