Pacific Maritime Association

PMA Coast Director Gerald Swanson receives the 2017 Person of the Year award from the National Maritime Safety Association. New ILWU-PMA Training Site at the Port of Oakland. 21 P A C I F I C M A R I T I M E A S S O C I A T I O N 2017 | The Year in Review In 2017, injury rates on the West Coast waterfront reached record lows. This improvement is due to many factors, including an increasingly collaborative approach to safety between the PMA and ILWU both coastwide and locally. The Joint Area Accident Prevention Committees and their subcommittee work groups are active in each port on the West Coast, carefully considering current issues and solutions to make the waterfront safer. These groups provide meaningful opportunities for employers and workers to get deeply involved in operational safety issues. In many cases, these work groups provided feedback to vendors, leading to improved equipment design, better procedures, and the development of new technology. Specific priorities range by market. In the Pacific Northwest, for example, work groups addressed safety issues related to lashing, working at heights, and responding to emergencies. In Southern California, top-handler safety remained an important topic. At a coastwide level, advancing new approaches to training continues to be a critical aspect of PMA's efforts to improve safety on the terminals. In 2017, new training modules were developed centrally with the involvement of area leadership and training departments for operating bulldozers, forklifts and cranes, and for General Safety Training. These newly developed training products were distributed to areas across the coast to ensure consistency in the training regimen. Comprehensive training site opens in Oakland A new ILWU-PMA training site at the Port of Oakland became operational in 2017, consolidating all training needs for various types of workers into one comprehensive five-acre center, which includes a crane training simulator, classrooms, offices, and clerk testing areas. The new training center is also adaptable, with the ability to hold up to three different types of classes on the same day. Cyber security Cyber security continues to be a major focus and an even more pressing issue within the industry due to more aggressive and sophisticated attacks from hackers. In recent years, the United States Coast Guard has developed voluntary guidelines to help ports meet recommendations in the National Institute of Standards and Technology Cybersecurity Framework, which PMA distributes to member companies. In November 2017, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 3101, the Strengthening Cybersecurity Information Sharing and Coordination in Our Ports Act, introduced by Rep. Norma J. Torres (D-CA). The PMA began reviewing this new act, and looks forward to sharing information about it with member companies in 2018. Person of the Year The National Maritime Safety Association (NMSA) awarded PMA's Gerald Swanson as the "Person of the Year" at the organization's annual conference in Charleston, South Carolina. Swanson, who serves as PMA's Coast Director of Accident Prevention & Security, received the award for his long-standing commitment, dedication, and leadership roles promoting longshore safety. Swanson served as an NMSA Board Member and Secretary from 2011-2017. The award, presented since 1979, includes past honorees such as members of the. U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. House of Representatives, and influential maritime industry leaders who have advanced safety on the waterfront. 21 P A C I F I C M A R I T I M E A S S O C I A T I O N

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