The following was a News & Insights report from the RV Industry Association (RVIA).
The RV Industry Association’s Regulatory & Safety Compliance Seminar, which took place on Tuesday, July 30, in Elkhart, Indiana, was another successful educational opportunity for the industry with 106 members in attendance from over 20 different manufacturers and 20 different supplier companies.
The keynote presentation was given by David Mihalick, the vice president of vehicle safety & regulatory compliance at THOR Industries and chair of the RV Industry Association’s Standards Steering Committee. The presentation, titled Let’s Talk Compliance, covered how RV manufacturers must be aware of the RV Industry Association’s adopted standards, such as National Fire Protection Association 1192, in addition to NHTSA’s Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards.
“The management and oversight of the standards in our industry is one of the three main pillars of the RV Industry Association which keeps our industry self-regulated,” said Mihalick. “I feel a lot of pride in participating and attending the annual regulatory seminar which is one of the main educational opportunities for standards and regulations. The seminar has come a long way from the very first seminar held in 2016. It is really exciting to see the participation and the level of questions being asked by the participants. Overall, I think it was a great morning for the industry.”
Mike Becker, head of compliance at Forest River and chair of the RV Industry Association’s Regulatory & Safety Compliance Subcommittee, was the emcee of the event and moderator of two panels. Following the keynote presentation, there were panels consisting of industry compliance veterans, which had great audience engagement during the Q&A portions. The panelists discussed building a regulatory and safety compliance program, optimizing data analytics, compliance documentation, and more.
“This was a value-added event with some amazing contributors on a very important topic that I believe everyone, big and small, can take away a tremendous amount of value and direction,” added Curtis Carlson, vice president of dealer services at Alliance RV, who was also one of the seminar’s panelists this year.
The RV Industry Association would like to thank seminar sponsors Forest River, THOR Industries, Winnebago Industries, Lippert, Dometic, Dexter and TRA Certification. Thanks to their generous support, this event was free for RV Industry Association members.
For more information about next year’s Regulatory and Safety Compliance Seminar, contact Kyle Correa-Brady at kcorrea-brady@rvia.org.
