FGIA'S 2023 Summer Conference Spotlights Safety, Skills and Sustainability

Building a healthier, safer and more environmentally sustainable future has never been more important. Safety, sustainability and educational skills-building are front and center at this year’s 2023 Fenestration and Glazing Industry Alliance Summer Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Two sessions, one panel and a workshop will center around safety, education, and sustainability and energy efficiency.

Creating a culture of safety

Scott Kessler with Lippert Components will help attendees discover how to engage their teams in creating a culture of safety; outlining the importance of prioritizing safety training and finding ways to engage teams in this training. Real-world examples from the fenestration and glazing industry will provide participants with tangible takeaways covering:

• management’s accountability to lead teams to be consistent
• improving equipment that provides a safer environment for teams
• utilizing near-miss reports to identify hazards through incident reporting tools
• highlighting the importance of investigating incidents with team member engagement
• implementing corrective actions and following up with the team members

Safety is for the birds

The latest in bird-friendly glass and related standards to protect wildlife will be covered in a panel with Tara Brummet of Vitrum Glass, Mark Jacobson with Kuraray, Goeff Shellard of Guardian Glass and Otto Ward with Garibaldi Glass. Attendees will learn the latest glass design considerations, regulations and codes, and their impact on lighting and reflectivity. The panelists will also address:

• the new Vancouver Bird Friendly City project
• fabricating bird-friendly glazing and its challenges
• bird-friendly glass and its connection to energy requirements
• the future of bird-friendly glass

Skillfully handling glass

A hands-on workshop focused on safely washing and cutting glass using industry best practices and proper tools will also take place. Selected participants will be able to view and perform various tests related to adhesion and total dissolved solids as well as an evaluation of glass cutting wheel tools and angles.

Meeting net-zero window targets

Finally, as the National Building Code of Canada is working toward net-zero houses for 2030, Natural Resources Canada has challenged the fenestration industry to meet their aspirational goal of windows with U-values of 0.82 W/m2K (0.14 BTU/hr*ft2*F) or less for 2030. Jeff Baker with WESTLab Canada will provide updates on the work done for Natural Resources Canada to review the currently available products that would achieve different performance levels on the path to 2030 net-zero houses, the proposed targets for the NBC Tier 5 prescriptive compliance path in the 2025 code, and what it will take in different window types to meet these targets.