2016 SME Annual Conference attracts more than 6,300 people

Despite the difficult economic climate for the mining industry, more than 6,300 people joined SME for its 2016 Annual Conference and Expo in Phoenix, AZ, Feb. 21-24.

Nearly every commodity has been bruised and battered during the past year, leading to one of the more difficult cycles for the industry in the past decade. Coal has taken some of the hardest hits and other commodities, such as copper and iron ore, have felt the sting of a slower growth in China and an oversupply on the market as well.

The difficult conditions could not be ignored, but nor did they deter SME from offering a forum for the industry to share knowledge, network with peers and learn about the best products and practices while visiting the sold out exhibit hall (842 booths and 625 vendors) or while attending any of the more than 100 technical sessions.

The current state of the industry was one of the overriding themes of the conference and during the challenging times there are often cutbacks as operations look to become leaner and more efficient, however, there is one area that cannot be cut – health and safety. The conference kicked off with a fascinating presentation from Colonel Mike Mullane, a former NASA astronaut who, in 1978, was selected as a Mission Specialist Astronaut in the first group of space shuttle astronauts. He completed three space missions and logged 356 hours in space aboard the shuttles Discovery and Atlantis before retiring from NASA and the Air Force in 1990.

In his speech to a packed audience, he warned of the dangers or cutting corners to get the job done more quickly by guarding against the “Normalization of deviance.”

Normalization of deviance is a long-term phenomenon in which individuals or teams repeatedly accept a lower standard of performance until that lower standard becomes the “norm.” Usually, the acceptance of the lower standard occurs because the individual or team is under pressure (budget, schedule, etc.) and perceives it will be too difficult to adhere to the original higher standard. Their intention may be to revert back to the higher standard when this period of pressure passes. However, by getting away with the deviation from the higher standard, it is likely they will do the same thing when the same stressful circumstances arise again. Over time, the individual/team fails to see their actions as deviant.

This normalization of deviance had catastrophic effects on Jan. 28, 1986 when the NASA space shuttle orbiter Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, exploding over the Atlantic Ocean, killing all seven on board.

Mullane pointed out that the NASA team, working, under tremendous schedule and budget pressures and over multiple launches, accepted a lower standard of performance on the solid rocket booster O-rings until that lower standard became the "norm." By the dawn of Challenger, the NASA team had become so comfortable with seeing occasional O-ring damage and getting away with it, the original standard, in which any O-ring damage was defined as intolerable deviance, was no longer considered.

The mining industry is full of potential hazards when a normalization of deviance sets in, and the keynote address was an excellent way to carry on 2015 SME President’s Steven Gardner’s initiative to begin every meeting with a safety share. The following two-and-a-half days were packed solid with technical meetings, meetings, networking functions. Look for more coverage of the 2016 Annual Conference & Expo, including reports from the SME Foundation and SME Divisions in the coming months of Mining Engineering magazine.