StoneDimensions

The Marble Institute of America has added free safety meeting outlines to its ever expanding list of exclusive content in the Members’ area of its website. The safety meeting outlines, or toolbox talks (as they are commonly referred to) provide everything a stone fabricator or distributor would need to conduct safety meetings at their facility. Each meeting contains an executive summary, an accident summary relating to the topic at hand, an outline for the meeting itself and a sign-in sheet.

MIA Industry Research & Information Manager, Mike Loflin, said, “It is our goal to encourage every MIA member company to conduct these monthly meetings. By providing every employee of every MIA member access to these valuable tools, companies will have no excuse for failing to educate their employees on safety in the workplace.” Loflin added, “All of the safety information is the cumulative work of our Safety Committee. The Safety Committee is a group of volunteers from the distributor community who identified a need for safety resources within the stone industry. Over the past several years they have delivered the goods and continue to bring new content to their fellow members.”

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In an effort to further facilitate stone industry safety initiatives into Canada, the MIA hosted it's second roundtable discussion in Toronto with several wholesale slab distributors in attendance. This June 20th meeting was hosted by Granquartz Canada and centered on several key topics that will impact employee safety in both distributor and fabricator facilities. MIA's Mike Loflin showcased the upcoming release of the "Safety in the Stone Business" Canadian version which has been produced in both English and French/Canadian. While Granquartz Canada and Polycor funded the translation project, it was agreed that many distributors will need to assist in distributing this new resource throughout Canada.
 
Feedback was also solicited about the MIA's global project to develop an industry wide container loading standard. Several distributors (including the newest member to the MIA safety committee Vikas Sheel of Hilltop Granites Ltd) agreed to help with the reveiw of the draft standard.

 
Finally, MIA Member Marty Gould (Focalize Now) gave the attendees much to think about when he presented the "5 common mistakes made by stone companies when using online marketing". His presentation (see picture) gave everyone real world advice about how to connect with more customers/clients with your website and other social media communication tools. Marty will also be one of three keynote speakers at the MIA/Stone World June 22th fabricator-focused seminar also being held in Toronto.

MIA member firm Granquartz Canada hosted a MIA meeting of over 20 stone distributors to talk about safety initiatives for Canadian firms. MIA safety committee members Petar Kefar (Omni Surfaces) and Paolo Mantenuto (Marble & Marble) were also on hand to assist MIA Vice President Jim Hieb provide an overview of 2011 accomplishments, 2012 initiatives, and how to expand the vast array of MIA safety offerings into Canada.

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The MIA's Safety Committee (comprised of leading safety experts from 15 companies from the US and Canada) met at StonExpo to review recent accomplishments and set their 2012 priority list. The 2011 committee accomplishments included:

1. Distributed hundreds of Safe Slab Handling II videos.
2. Introduced two new Spanish training resources.
3. Established a monthly safety toolbox talk (meeting outlines) subscription service.
4. Prepared competency exams for employee safety testing.
5. Offered face-to-face training in three cities.

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Day 2 of StonExpo/Marmomacc Americas 2012 is complete and it was another eventful day for the MIA. Here are the highlights:

• Britishstoneworks of Lakewood, OH won the Grande Pinnacle Award during the annual MIA Awards Luncheon for its Spirit of the Ocean Fountain project outside of the Santa Barbara County Courthouse in Santa Barbara, CA. Congratulations to Nick, Nathan and the rest of their dynamic team. Eddie Mendoza of All American Stone and Tile Care won the MIA Scholarship Award, Daniel Catania of Miller Druck won the MIA Natural Stone Craftsman of the Year award, and Ron Busse won the MIA Migliore Award for Lifetime Achievement. In all, over 15 awards were handed out.
• MIA's Safety Committee met to review its 2011 accomplishments which included recognition from the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) for excellence in service to the industry.  The entire stone industry will benefit from four new programs that will be introduced in 2012 - stay tuned for details.
• The MIA CEU Committee (chaired by Josh Levinson of Artistic Tile) met with over 30 companies in attendance. Two new powerpoint presentations were introduced for use in 2012. The MIA and its outstanding member speakers gave over 140 CEU presentations in 2011 and have laid the groundwork to expand for many years to come.
• Michael Twiss of Columbia Stone became the 2012 MIA President at the MIA Annual Meeting. He received overwhelming support for his Member Get a Member Campaign.
• Outgoing MIA president G.K. Naquin completed his term with a spectacular President's Reception in his suite at the Mandalay Bay overlooking the strip. G.K. - thank you for your vision, new ideas, and years of service to the MIA!