VAIL -- SteamMaster recently hosted a half day Emergency Planning and Disaster Management seminar. The event was held at The Westin Riverfront Resort for Hotel and Lodging Properties.

The seminar included discussions on proactive emergency planning, Colorado’s regulation 8 regarding asbestos law as well as common issues that can cause water damage during extreme winter condition. Along with the panel of speakers, the event brought together the valley’s leading property managers and engineering personnel to have an open discussion about preventing costly damage to their organization before is happens. 51 attendees from Hotel and Lodging Properties from Vail and Summit County.

Jeff Adams of Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment spoke about demolition and renovation in Colorado in relations to the state’s Asbestos law in Regulation 8 before work begins. If followed strictly and accordingly, a larger disaster, liability and hefty fine can be avoided.

Michael McGee, Vail Deputy Fire Chief gave his perspective as an expert witness and fire fighter, to countless fire and water damages. Mike talked about common issues that causes water damage in extreme winter conditions. Mike also share about air and water sprinkler systems. He share many tips on prevention and maintenance activities that will minimize risks.

Stanton Humphries of Architectural Engineering Consultants revealed his perspective on how to proactively prevent emergencies from happening in the first place. He walked everyone through reserve studies, design evaluation and talk about construction administration. Stan gave some pointers on keeping track of projects with policies and procedures.

Glenn Morris, President and Chair of Envergent Building Science discussed why we needed an emergency plan and what it should address. He emphasized on making the plan part of the “living” system for day to day operations, making it available online anytime, anywhere. He also clearly articulated about developing partnership prior to an event. Glen spoke about logistics of response, priorities, project phases, communication and Pro-Plan (an online software he developed) as a tool.

The Question and Answer session was equally exciting with several good questions from the floor to the members of Panel who presented earlier in the morning.

SteamMaster acted as a facilitator and coordinator for this event.