Georgia Local Section |
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Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has had a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to a truly great New Year the real millennium is about to start. There are a lot of new issues arising for us as Industrial Hygienists and in the other various fields we often find ourselves taking an active role. Of course with the unbelievable election process we have all encountered, our future efforts may have been on the fence line depending on who won the race. Now that we have a new Republican president, our jobs may take a new direction depending on health and environmental regulations that may come before us over the next four years. Ergonomics has been on the edge for years and now that a regulation has passed, there is going to be a lot of work for some of us. EPA has decided to regulate mercury emissions this may affect many others. Whatever your line of work is now or will be, I'm sure it will be quite challenging and hopefully very rewarding in 2001.
Our January meeting has a variety of topics offered. I hope to see everyone at the meeting on the 22nd and I have asked for better weather than we had last year for our Winter meeting. I would also like for each of you to consider running for office to support our local section. We will be collecting candidate information for the office of President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer and 1st Year Director through early February, 2001. Elections will be held in March.
Have a happy and safe New Year.
Brenda
Dave
Taylor was a Director of the Georgia Local Section in 1992-1994. He
joined the AIHA in 1974 and was certified by ABIH in 1978. He was hired by the
U.S. Public Health Service in their Occupational Health Program (the forerunner
to NIOSH) in Cincinnati in 1967 to begin a research career as an industrial
hygiene analytical chemist. He began developing personal air sampling methods
including the charcoal tube method for organic vapors. After a pause for graduate
school, he returned to the newly formed NIOSH in 1973 and continued the methods
development, helped begin the NIOSH methods validation program, and was the
editor of the First and Second Editions of the NIOSH Manual of Analytical Methods.
Although IH research was in an exciting period after the advent of NIOSH and OSHA in 1970, Dave wanted to use his tools in the practice of industrial hygiene. So he joined the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta and began their IH program in 1984. Since that time, Dave has developed his expertise in biosafety and became a Certified Biological Safety Professional (American Biological Safety Association) in 1998. He spent the last 15 years working on the AIHA Indoor Environmental Quality and the Biosafety Committees and was the Chair of the Biosafety Committee 1996-1997. He was named an AIHA Fellow in 1997.
Dave lives in Lilburn with his wife Jeanie, has two grown sons and will retire from CDC in February. He'll keep busy with the ACGIH Worldwide which publishes the TLVs, Industrial Ventilation Manual, and other industrial hygiene publications. He is on their Board of Directors and is their Secretary-Treasurer-Elect.
Chris
Lane, recent graduate from the University of Georgia, is one of the
newest members of our Local AIHA. He graduated from the University of Georgia
in June with an Environmental Science degree, and did his internship with Goldkist
Farms in the health and safety department. He now works as a temporary in Georgia
Power's Industrial Hygiene Section. Chris enjoys the position because he gets
to interact with a wide variety of people on the job.
NIOSH has requested proposals for the purpose of establishing a licensing agreement for the continuation of a trademarked product: RTECS. (The NIOSH Trademark is owned by the United States Government and is now available or licensing in the United States (U.S.), in accordance with 35 U.S.C. 207 to achieve expeditious commercialization of results of federally funded research and development.)
From the 1971 initial release of the mandated Toxic Substances List, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has been systematically building and updating the Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS). RTECS was originally published in book format, later a microfiche version was developed. Currently, RTECS is available in a digital format for electronic delivery. RTECS is recognized as the world's most extensive collection of numerical toxicological data. Because RTECS identifies specific toxicological endpoints, it has a unique status among databases that provide toxicology information. RTECS is used not only by the occupational safety and health community; it serves as a standard reference for life-science scientists and regulatory groups from all parts of the world. Both its content and design have contributed to its wide spread use, thus making RTECS a commercially viable product. NIOSH is now soliciting proposals from organizations interested in assuming the responsibility for the continued operation and funding of RTECS. This include the ongoing review of toxicological documents, extraction and updating of appropriate information as well as the marketing and distribution of the RTECS database through a trademark licensing agreement.
AIHA's Top Public Policy Issues for 2001-2002
AIHA recently identified its top public policy issues for 2001-2002. As the industrial hygiene and environmental health and safety advocate, AIHA will focus on these issues over the next year. The policy issues include:
"These are the most crucial issues in public policy facing our collective profession," said Steven P. Levine, Ph.D., CIH, president, AIHA. "Together, we must let the public and government officials know that we are serious when it comes to protecting people in the workplace and at home from hazards and the like."
AIHA has become a sponsoring organization of the Institute for Professional Environmental Practice (IPEP). Through this agreement, AIHA publicly endorses IPEP's Qualified Environmental Professional (QEP) and the Environmental Professional Intern (EPI) certifications for EH&S professionals. The QEP is the only fully accredited multimedia, multidisciplinary, credential for environmental professionals. AIHA chose the QEP because it is the most comprehensive credential in the environmental arena. IPEP, like ABIH and BCSP (which we also sponsor), is one of only five programs among all EH&S certifications to obtain third-party accreditation.
Likewise, AIHA has entered into a partnership agreement with the Board of Environmental Auditor Certifications (BEAC). BEAC came to AIHA last year as it had decided to offer a health and safety auditor certification in addition to the one offered in environmental. AIHA has named the first member to the BEAC Advisory Board and has two members very much involved in the development of the exam.
The AIHA has announced the coming transition in the position of Executive Director of the AIHA. After twelve years of service, O. Gordon Banks, CAE, will be stepping down as Executive Director of the AIHA at the end of 2001.
Ga Local Section member Barb Epstien, CIH, Director of Customer Services and Senior Industrial Hygienist with Air Quality Sciences was recently invited to give a presentation to the Philadelphia Local Section of the AIHA. The title of her presentation was What, Why, Where, and How of VOCs in Indoor Environments.
The Georgia Local Section Executive Committee met on December 8. Attending members included Brenda Southerland, Mark Demyanek, Peter Kowalski, Stan Salisbury and Michelle Pickard. Discussion items included agenda items and speakers for the upcoming winter meeting at Georgia Power, coordination of the joint Professional Development Conference with the Georgia chapters of ASSE, and final editing of the Georgia Local Section Operations Manual. The joint PDC is currently scheduled for April 23-24 at the Ramada Inn Plaza in Atlanta (Spaghetti Junction). The Operations Manual will be finalized in January. Guest coupons are again available in the newsletter and door prizes will be awarded at the Winter meeting. Membership directory correction labels will also be available at the meeting. The next board meeting is scheduled for March 9.
The American Board of Industrial hygiene has awarded certification maintenance (CM) points for the following Georgia AIHA Local Section meetings:
Activity: Winter Meeting
Date: 1/24/2000
CM Points Awarded: 1 CM point
CM # 1458
Activity: Spring Meeting
Date: 4/10/2000
CM Points Awarded: 1 CM point
CM # 12923
Activity: Summer Meeting
Date: 7/24/2000
CM Points Awarded: 0.5 CM point
CM # 14026
Activity: Summer Meeting
Date: 10/23/2000
CM Points Awarded: 1 CM point
CM # 14027
The International Chemical Information Safety Card (ICSC) is a concise resource for toxicity information on commonly used chemicals. An ICSC summarizes essential health and safety information on chemicals for their use at the "shop floor" level by workers and employers. There are two Web sites where you can search and review the ICSCs. The internationally formatted and most recent version (in English) is now available from the International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre (CIS) at:
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cis/products/icsc/index.htm
The USA formatted version and ICSCs in other languages are offered by NIOSH at:
http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcs/icstart.html
You'll find links to both Web sites on the GLS Web site's Other Links page at:
http://www.uga.edu/ehs/aiha/other.html
Just click on "NIOSH Databases" under the Government Agencies heading. To link directly to the CIS version, click on the ICSC link under the Organizations heading. The CIS version also has links to the EU Standard Risk and Safety phrases, but the NIOSH version includes OSHA PELs and NIOSH RELs. Neither version contains up to date TLVs.
If any of you have ever visited the GLS Web site Jobs page (http://www.uga.edu/ehs/aiha/jobs.html) you may not have scrolled down far enough to find the Links to Other Job Announcements. These links have now been moved to the top of the Jobs page where everyone will find them. You may not find a job here, but at least you'll find where to look for one. The Jobs page link is listed on the News page.
Washington, DC--In the largest study of its kind ever conducted, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC)'s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) found no evidence that back belts reduce back injury or back pain for retail workers who lift or move merchandise, according to results published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) Dec. 6th issue.
The study, conducted over a two-year period, found no statistically significant difference between the incidence rate of workers' compensation claims for job-related back injuries among employees who reported using back belts usually every day, and the incidence rate of such claims among employees who reported never using back belts or using them no more than once or twice a month.
Similarly, no statistically significant difference was found in comparing the incidence of self-reported back pain among workers who reported using back belts every day, with the incidence among workers who reported never using back belts or using them no more than once or twice a month. Neither did the study find a statistically significant difference between the rate of back injury claims among employees in stores that required the use of back belts, and the rate of such claims in stores where back belt use was voluntary.
To read the entire NIOSH press announcement please visit: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/beltinj.html
Common statements in the literature and what they really mean.
Submitted by R.L. Rund to the Medscape website