Upbeat Messages During General Session

 During the General Session on Wednesday, in addition to hearing from Ty Pennington, we heard from:

 Here are some snippets from each speaker's time on stage:

- Welcome Address, SPFA’s Executive Director, Kurt Riesenberg

We have more breakout sessions than ever. We have record pre-registration numbers. I will be talking more tomorrow at the Committee Reports. There are so many people to thank. The support helps us help you. We have a different mentality on things. We are mission focused. We have to think differently than many of you. We are not here to get rich. We are here to deliver the product and services you need to grow. We are wildly proud of the PCP certification program. It will be the bedrock of this industry moving forward. The leading adopters have knocked it out of the park. We have some of the most persistent folks. Open dialogue leads to new products and services. We have had more media exposure in the past 12 months than any time in the past.

- SPFA President’s Message, Dennis Vandewater

I promise a memorable and rewarding experience. My hearty thanks to our Sprayfoam exhibitors. Though I stand here as your president, I am first and foremost an SPF contractor.

It is only through quality installations that our industry will flourish. In the coming months, the SPFA will focus on increasing our membership, especially SPF contractors. I stand here as proof that a personal invitation may be all that is needed. Be open to consider new ideas and opportunities. One session I am particularly looking forward to is the one on SPFA’s New Model Written Safety Program by Tyler Fiske.

- General Session Presentation, Chemical Hazard & Risk Assessments: Science vs Pseudo-Science, George R. Thompson, Ph.D., President & CEO, Chemical Compliance Systems, Inc. 

Pseudo science is false and deceptive. "The dose makes the poison." It is the dose that we want to focus on....if you control the dose, you control the risk.

We cannot lead a chemical-free life. If we remove a hazardous material, what do we replace it with? 

On the web, you can do a risk assessment of your formulations. We took seven spray adhesives, and we ranked them. Highest is 98 (most green), lowest is 68 (least green). The chemicals in each determine the product's score.

The emphasis that I am trying to give you is that hazards exist for all chemicals, not just SPF. So then what is the risk? How do we control the exposure?