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Last month of November ended a special cycle for occupational safety and health practitioners, namely for Europeans: over the course of the last year, three major world´s events on safety and health were celebrated:
- the EU-OSHA´s Healthy Workplaces Summit, on 11-12 November 2013 in Bilbao;
- the ORP2014 Congress, 21-23 May 2014 in Zaragoza;
- the XX World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, 24-27 August 2014 in Frankfurt.
I say it was an interesting period for Europeans, because these three events were held in the old continent: Bilbao, Zaragoza, Frankfurt. This enabled me to attend at least two: the EU-OSHA´s Summit in Bilbao and the ORP2014 Congress in Zaragoza.
The fact that these three events were held within a year in a relatively specific nearby locations is an extraordinary circumstance, due to their global scope and that they aren´t celebrated each year.
For example, the EU-OSHA´s Summit is celebrated every two years. So, during 2014 there was no Summit and the next one is planned for November 2015 in an European venue to be confirmed.
The ORP Congress is celebrated every year in Spanish-Latinamerican cities, alternatively. However, breaking this sequence, the next two editions are planned in Santiago de Chile (23-25 November 2015) and Cartagena de Indias, Colombia (November 2016).
So, next November 2015 will be an intense month in congresses. Hopefully, EU-OSHA´s and ORP2015 in Chile won´t coincide.
Lastly, the next World Congress on Safety and Health at Work will be celebrated in September 2017. It will be the XXI Congress and will be hold in Singapore. I could´t attend the Frankfurt Congress and Singapore seems to be less accesible. Anyway, until 2017 many thinks may happen.
My experience with these kind of events is very positive. I think it is an essential sort of “professional maintenance” for the knowledge, tendencies, contacts and the deal of enthusiasm and spirit of professional union provided.