Loss Prevention Seminar & Technician Training

Please save the date for our Northern California Loss Prevention Seminar on January 25th, 2020.

This is a popular annual training event held on a Saturday morning from 8am - 12pm. Technicians and field staff will greatly benefit from attending this seminar held only once a year! We provide (4) hours of professional development on a wide range of topics from field report writing to QAQC for various construction elements to attorney presentations on liability and key items that field staff should be aware of.

This year's topics and speakers are the following:

• "An Engineered Approach for a Successful Soil Stabilization Project - The Technician's Role" by Marco Estrada, Pavement Recycling Systems
• "Asphalt Batch Plant Inspection" by Tim Reed, Vulcan Materials
• "Observation & Testing - Preparation of Field Reports" by Neal Berliner, Geocon
• "Construction Defect Litigation & Liability: A Field Technician's Role" by David Erickson, Severson Law

*Speakers may be subject to change

Schedule:

7:30am Registration & Hot breakfast

8:00am Session 1: "An Engineered Approach for a Successful Soil Stabilization Project - The Technician's Role" by Marco Estrada, Pavement Recycling Systems

Marco is the Director of Business Development for Pavement Recycling Systems of California.  Marco is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, School of Engineering.  He is an Industry Co-Chair for the Caltrans Pavement & Materials Partnering Committee (PMPC), as well as of the Green Book Stabilized Base Task Force.  Over the last 30 years, he has been involved in both the engineering and construction industries in the implementation of soil stabilization and asphalt recycling engineering strategies.   

His topic of discussion today is “An Engineered Approach for a Successful Soil Stabilization Project”.  Soil stabilization processes with lime and cement are established engineered and sustainable technologies that provide structural and economic advantages in construction of pavement and building foundations.  Soil Stabilization is founded on the principle that unsuitable soils can stabilized to improve their engineering properties; it is a design alternative to costlier and less sustainable “removal and replacement” construction processes.

Marco’s presentation will include focusing on the technician’s role in the soil stabilization process and the nuances of testing lime and cement stabilized soils. 

9:00am Session 2: "Asphalt Batch Plant Inspection" by Tim Reed, Quality Control Manager for Vulcan Materials in charge of Southern California

Tim has 18 years of experience of Quality Control and Quality assurance testing and inspection of asphalt plants.  He has served as quality manager for many projects including paving projects for the Port of Los Angeles, Port of Long Beach, LAX and many projects for Caltrans.  Tim sits on the board of directors with the California Asphalt Pavement Association and sits on various expert task groups working with the state of California on specification development and adjustment.   Tim currently holds personal certifications from the state of California, ACI, and NICET.

Tim will be presenting a perspective of how to conduct a good asphalt plant inspection from the view of an Asphalt Production Facility.  What would an inspector look for?  What matters most when it comes to asphalt plant inspection?

10:00am Session 3: "Observation & Testing - Preparation of Field Reports" by Neal Berliner, Geocon

Mr. Berliner is responsible for the management of Geocon’s technical practice in the greater Los Angeles, Orange County, and Riverside County areas. He began his professional career in 1992, gaining geotechnical engineering experience throughout southern California. His experience encompasses a wide range of projects for both public and private clients, and includes multi-story office buildings, regional shopping centers, parking structures, sound stages and studio facilities, educational facilities, mixed-use and multi-family residential developments, large-scale land developments, roadways and paving rehabilitation, bridges, pipelines, solar fields, and more. Mr. Berliner has an expertise on projects requiring deep excavation/shoring and mitigation of groundwater, as well as projects that require drilled and driven piles, micro-piles, stone columns, cement/lime stabilization, soil nails, compaction grouting, underpinning, and ground mitigation. He has a strong background in forensic geotechnical engineering and provides support for project dispute resolution, serving at times as a geotechnical expert witness. Mr. Berliner started his career working in a soils testing laboratory, followed by years of inspection and testing on construction sites. He is familiar with construction site politics, the need for proper communication between the responsible engineer and field technician/inspector, and is mindful of the importance of a properly detailed inspection and testing report which could cause or prevent the need for a costly construction change order, or potential litigation.

11:00am Session 4: "Construction Defect Litigation & Liability: A Field Technician's Role" by David Erickson, Severson Law

Since 1997, David Ericksen has led the Firm’s Construction/Environmental Litigation and Transactional Practice, as well as focusing on liability and insurance issues through
insurers. For over twenty years, he has repeatedly and successfully represented design professionals in jury trial, bench trial, single arbitrator arbitration, and panel arbitration as well as mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution in state and federal courts. Mr. Ericksen joined Severson & Werson in 1991 and has been a Member since 1997. He has been the Firm’s lead construction trial and arbitration counsel since 1996.

12:00pm Conclusion & distribution of PDH certificates

Short breaks will be provided after each speaker and a raffle with CalGeo and gift card give-a-ways will be conducted.

Registration:

Early-bird member registration: Pay before December 31st and save $20 per person! Only $130 for (4) hours of specialized technician-focused training.

$150 CalGeo members, $225 Non-members.

Not a member and want to save money?? Contact Kelly Cabal about our trial-membership and receive a free registration to this seminar!

REGISTRATION CLOSED.

Registration and payment MUST BE MADE IN ADVANCE! If selecting pay by invoice, please ensure payment is post-dated at least 10-days in advance of the seminar date to ensure your spot.

*Free Parking at the Hilton Garden Inn, Fairfield

Thank you to our generous sponsor, Pavement Recycling Systems