Georgia Local Section | |
| [American Industrial hygiene Association] | [December, 1999] |
Plan on keeping that New Year's resolution and attend the next Georgia Local Section meeting! The January 24th meeting has a bit of an environmental flavor with presentations on Environmental Compliance Issues for Industrial Hygienists, the U.S. EPA Brownfields Redevelopment Program, the Georgia EPD Asbestos and Lead Program activities, and more. Thanks to one of our Directors, Mark Demyanek, CIH, CSP, for arranging this diverse and interesting program to kick off the new year!
The most recent issue of the Local Sections Council Newsletter is now available on the AIHA website at: http://www.aiha.org/sections/newsltr.html.
In this issue you will find information about the upcoming leadership workshop and a special section in which some local sections share information about successful programs they sponsored.
Industrial hygienists are increasingly asked to investigate unusual or offensive odors under the rubric of indoor air quality (IAQ). In November 1999 a pungent urine smell was prevalent in the ground floor offices of a government building in Atlanta. Office workers were relocated until the odor could be identified and eliminated.
The likely sources of bathrooms and vermin were quickly eliminated as the cause. The odor was emanating from ventilators beneath the windows. The outside air was drawn into the building through slots in the granite building facade. Boxwood shrubbery were located adjacent to the air intakes and had the same odor.
A visit to the Atlanta Botanical Garden provided the solution to the problem. Master Horticulturist, Dr. Mildred Pinnel, explained some boxwood (Buxus sp.) emit an odor characterized as a well utilized litter box. This was confirmed by reference to the Manual of Woody Landscape Plants (5th Edition) which cites the "malodorous fragrance" of the boxwood.(1) The actual chemistry of the boxwood emissions remain unknown to this industrial hygienist. However, removal of the offending shrubs eliminated the problem.
As many GLS members will recall, Travis Williams, Son of Phil and Theda Williams, died tragically in November of last year in Rome, Ga, just one month before he was to graduate from Shorter College. In honor of Travis, an annual scholarship fund was established. The GLS was please to learn the fund reached $50,000. This is sufficient to award two $2000 scholarships each year to senior business majors who exemplify the character and commitment of Travis. The Williams family would like to express their heartfelt thanks to all the GLS members for their contributions to the Travis Williams Memorial.
Nominations are currently being sought for President Elect., Secretary, Treasurer, and First Year Director, and Newsletter Editor. The slate of candidates will be presented at the GLS Winter Meeting on January 24, 2000. At the meeting, GLS members may offer additional names for nomination. If you're interested or would like to nominate someone contact Brenda Southerland, Georgia Power, Phone 404-799-2110, or email to, brsouthe@southernco.com. An on-line nomination form is also available on the GLS website at: http://www.uga.edu/ehs/aiha/officercan.html.
http://www.uga.edu/ehs/aiha
New links are being added to our website's "Other Links" page each month. Two new links you should visit are the National Library of Medicine's (NLM) PubMed and TOXNET systems.
PubMed is a bibliographic database of medical and scientific literature containing over 10 million citations indexed from over 21,500 journals and trade publications. Many journals covering occupational safety and health (e.g. the AIHA Journal and the ACGIH Applied O&EH Journal) are indexed in PubMed. TOXNET is a cluster of databases on toxicology, hazardous chemicals, and related areas and includes a subfile of the NIOSHTIC database.
NLM now gives free access to these valuable resources. New user interfaces make searching and downloading much easier than previous versions. Next time you want to see what the scientific literature has on a particular topic, visit these sites and see if you don't find exactly what your looking for.
Two direct links to search utility sites have been added to the Other Links page: Google and IndustrialHygiene.com. Google is a very effective search engine that rank orders hits based on a site's popularity. The IH.com search is a good place to fine information on hazardous chemicals and specific industrial hygiene topics.
There are now 46 AIHA local section websites. A link to the AIHA page listing these sites has been added to the Other Links page as the first entry under organizations. Under Government Agencies you'll also find a new link to the US Air Force Institute for Environment, Safety, and Occupational Health Risk Analysis.
Directory Changes: Don't forget, you have the option to keep your GLS Membership Directory listing updated by using the on-line Local Section Directory Changes form. If you want to be included in our email distribution of meeting announcements, agendas, and other time-sensitive items, please give us your email address. You'll find the form linked to the Membership Page at:
http://www.uga.edu/ehs/aiha/members.html
To view the GLS email list, visit:
http://www.uga.edu/ehs/aiha/glsemail.html
This newsletter was sent to all active members of the National AIHA residing in Georgia, regardless of current membership status with the AIHA Georgia Local Section (GLS). If you are not currently a member of the GLS, we hope this newsletter may prompt you to consider joining. Dues are only $15 per year. Membership offers you discounts for all quarterly meetings, a mailed copy of our annual membership directory, four quarterly newsletters, email distribution of important GLS announcements, an a greater opportunity for networking with other IH's living and working in Georgia. If you would like to join, please visit our website and use the links found on the "Membership" page. Here you can apply on-line or printout and mail in a hardcopy application form.
OSHA's 1998 Revised Respiratory Protection Standard, in 1910.134(d)(3)(iii)(b)(2) states: "If there is no ESLI [end of service life indicator] appropriate for conditions in the employer's workplace, the employer implements a change schedule for canisters and cartridges that is based on objective information or data that will ensure that canisters and cartridges are changed before the end of their service life. The employer shall describe in the respirator program the information and data relied upon and the basis for the canister and cartridge change schedule and the basis for reliance on the data."
To meet this requirement industrial hygienists must determine change out schedules based on one or more of the following approaches: (1) calculations based on numerous formulas developed by respirator researchers (e.g., Woods, Nelson), (2) field testing of respirators, (3) laboratory testing, (4) applying OSHA's "Advisor Genius" calculation's found on their website, (4) applying manufacturers change out schedule program calculations found on the Internet or software obtained from the manufacturer, and (5) rules of thumb.
I recommend using a combination of the above approaches. OSHA no longer allows change out based on odor or taste alone and there are at least 7 standards that set change out schedules.
The American Board of Industrial hygiene has awarded certification maintenance (CM points for the following Georgia AIHA Local Section meetings:
Activity: Winter Meeting
Date: 1/25/99
CM Points Awarded: 1.0 points
CM Approval # 11767
Activity: Spring Meeting
Date: 4/12/99
CM Points Awarded: 1 CM point
CM Approval # 12370
Activity: Summer Meeting
Date: 8/3/99
CM Points Awarded: 0.5 CM point
CM # 7235
Activity: Fall Meeting
Date: 8/3/99
CM Points Awarded: 1 CM point
CM # 2888
Congratulation to Scott and Robyn Weiner on the birth of Noah Harris Weiner, born Nov. 18, 1999, 6 lbs, 15 oz, 19 inches. Also to David and Diane Jacobi for their Son Karl Alexander Jacobi, born June 7th, 1999, 8 lbs. 6 oz., 20.5 inches. David tells me Karl already has his own website. Check it out at: http://www.mindspring.com/~djacobi
NIOSH has posted their latest (Sep. 30, 99) Certified Equipment List on the Web. The list is now searchable on-line but you can still downloaded the whole thing if that's your preference. The CEL webpage can be found at: http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/celintro.html.
The meeting was held Nov 12, 1999. Attending were: Dave Beem, Brenda Southerland, Eva Ewing, Mark Demyanek, Stan Salisbury, Scott Weiner. Mark presented the draft agenda for the Winter meeting to be held at Georgia Power. It was decided that the theme for the Spring Meeting would be "back to basics." Nominations for GLS Officers will be presented at the Winter Meeting. The ballots will go out mid-march. The next GLS newsletter will be sent to National AIHA members who are not Local Section members. Dave reported we have approximately $8,000 in the GLS checking account. It was approved to provide, if requested, one set of GLS membership mailing labels to Platinum, Gold, and Silver level sponsors. All others will be charged $100 for a label set.
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