Environmental Breakfast Series
Tuesday, January 30, 2018
The Power of Drones in Environmental, Health and Safety Programs
With Special Guest Speakers:
Linda G. Rhodes, CSP, Manager of Projects ComEd
Drones can go into places where people cannot, capture footage that we otherwise could not, can reduce workplace injuries, save lives, and protect the environment. Consider the following uses for drones:
- Certain environmental agencies and NGOs use drones for environmental monitoring.
- Environmental scientists use drones to study areas that are difficult to access, such as the Great Barrier Reef.
- The telecommunications industry uses drones to inspect towers and antennas—work that was once done by humans that required climbing thousands of feet in the air.
- The oil and gas industry use drones to inspect flares and detect and locate leaks, eliminating the need for workers to shut down operations and climb stacks.
- First responders use drones to collect information from wildfires, hazardous materials incidents, or other disasters from miles away and transmit it to incident command to assist in response planning.
- Real estate and construction firms use drones to perform real property inspections.
- Search-and-rescue teams use drones to conduct quicker, more thorough searches in difficult-to-reach areas.
- Drones could be used to identify problems in enclosed areas—for example, sewers—before workers are sent into a potentially hazardous situation.
The use of drones in various environmental, health, safety and security applications are increasing around the world, but there are still a lot of challenges.
Please join us for a joint breakfast meeting of the A&WMA Lake Michigan States Section and the Environmental Committee of the Union League Club on Tuesday, January 30th for a breakfast seminar featuring Linda G. Rhodes, CSP, Manager of Projects, ComEd, as she shares highlights from ComEd’s Drone Program, including a discussion about some of the risks associated with using drones and how to effectively mitigate them.
Linda Rhodes, Manager of Projects, is leading the transition of ComEd’s Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Program from research and proof-of-concept to operations.
As a member of ComEd’s Strategic Initiatives group, Linda co-led the creation of a mobile app improving how pole replacements are tracked, influenced federal and local regulations expanding commercial use of UASs and led ComEd being the first electric utility in the nation to receive FAA operational approval to use UASs. UASs are used to capture aerial images of ComEd system condition, such as in hard-to-access areas, for increased employee and public safety and organizational efficiency.
Prior to joining ComEd, Linda served the safety, engineering and construction professions since 1987 in various industries including manufacturing, food processing and public transportation.
TIME: 8:00 a.m. Registration & Breakfast
8:30 a.m.. Welcome & Introductions
8:45-9:45 a.m. Program & Q&A
COST: The cost to attend for non-Union League Club members is $40 per person which includes breakfast and any presentation handouts. Students are invited to join us at a special price of $20 per person.
RSVP: Due to limited seating and our arrangement with the Union League Club, advance registration is required to guarantee availability. Reservations and payment can be made by clicking the reservation button below. Reservations may be cancelled for a full refund only if we are notified 48 hours in advance of the event. Union League Club members should contact ULC to make their reservations.
CREDIT: Attendees are eligible to receive Continuing Legal Education (CLE) or Professional Development Hours (PDH) credit.
A limited number of scholarships are available for anyone who requires CLE credit to maintain professional registration such as attorneys, professional engineers and professional geologists and who could not otherwise afford to attend this conference. Contact Robin Pelsis at (847) 202-0418 or robin.pelsis@lmawma.org for more details.