Summary of January 22-24, 2014 Annual Conference

Yuma Pacific Southwest Section, AIHA

(Prepared by Del Malzahn, Program Chair)

President Frank Hearl welcomed the attendees to the 39th Annual Meeting of the YPSW Section of the AIHA. The conference theme for this year was “Healthy work environments through engineering.” The conference spanned the one and half days of meetings. The first half day featured several of our own members who gave outstanding talks on industrial hygiene engineering topics. The second day program featured updates from the AIHA, ACGIH, NIOSH and OSHA as well as some very interesting applications of new technologies for assessing and controlling work environments. The Program was moderated by Program Chair, President-Elect Del Malzahn, who was assisted by members of the YPSW Board of Directors. The program’s speaker’s presentations will be made available on the YPSW Local Section web site: http://ypswaiha.org

Pacific Region Local Section Representative’s Stephen Hemperly, CIH, CSP Report

Local sections in AIHA Pacific Region continue to engage in a variety of activities that contribute to sustaining the industrial hygiene profession. The Local Section Representative (LSR) for the Pacific Region provided examples of such activities occurring in 2013 – 2014 and briefly reviewed the role of the LSR as liaison between national AIHA and its sections

Technical Program: Healthy work environments through engineering

The program opened on Thursday morning with a presentation by Jeff Burton, P.E. titled “IH Engineering: Past, Present and Future”.

Mr. Burton began his presentation with a look back on IH Engineering. Prior to 1980, a large percentage of IH’s had engineering degrees. A handbook, “IH Engineering,” was published (via NIOSH) and is still available in a 2nd Edition, last published in 1988. Like other sub-categories of the IH profession (e.g., “IH Chemist”) some considered their profession to be “IH Engineer.” Today, that title is never used. Currently, in all the IH-related associations (AIHA, ASSE, ACGIH) the numbers of engineer and PE members have dwindled to 5% or less. Erica Jones, Chair of AIHA’s HPAEC Committee sums it up: “We used to hire engineers and train them to be IHs. Now we hire IHs and give them some engineering training.” In the future, the IH profession needs to (1) attract more engineers into the field and (2) provide high-quality training and engineering skills to IHs.

Our second speaker was Robert Soule, EdD., and his presentation was titled “Attracting Engineers to the Industrial Hygiene Profession.

Dr. Soule’s presentation explored the desirability of encouraging young engineers to become active players in the industrial hygiene profession.  The academic preparation of engineers was discussed with particular focus on the appropriateness of this foundation for application in those areas of responsibility traditionally associated with industrial hygiene, i.e., anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of health hazards in the workplace.  The intrinsic value of the engineer’s contribution to industrial hygiene was also examined.  Members of the audience were invited to share their ideas regarding means by which young engineers and engineering students can become recruited into the profession.  A lively audience discussion followed.

Our third speaker via teleconference was Robert C. Scholz, P.E., CIH .  The title of Mr. Scholz’s presentation was “The Role of Industrial Hygiene Engineering in the Control of Worker Exposures to Air Contaminants.”

Mr. Scholtz  reviewed the steps necessary to provide reliable and sustainable protection of the health of workers against the potential hazards of air contaminant exposures and  highlighted the role of the industrial hygiene engineer in achieving this objective. Among the topics covered were: Determining the root causes of exposure; How are root causes discovered?; Feasibility considerations;  Establishing and maintaining ventilation system performance and assuring sustainability of exposure controls.

Our fourth speaker was Frank Renshaw, PhD., CIH, CSP. Dr. Renshaw spoke on “Elimination and Control of Open System Chemical Operations”

According to Dr. Renshaw, open system chemical operations are in the best case undesirable and in the worst case unacceptable from an industrial hygiene, safety, environmental and operating perspective.  His presentation traced the development of strategies for the elimination and control of open systems and natural linkage to the Prevention through Design approach and hierarchy of controls.  Dr. Renshaw advocated an increased emphasis on containment and substitution while recognizing the ongoing need to maintain expertise in the application of enclosures, industrial ventilation systems, administrative procedures and personal protective equipment.   A methodology to survey and prioritize chemical operations for open system hazards was described and a six-step strategy was outlined for their elimination and control.

The final speaker for our Thursday morning session was Tom Slavin, CIH, CSP, CSHM. The title of Mr. Slavin’s presentation was “Diesel Emissions: Risk, Measurement and Controls”.

Topics covered by Mr. Slavin included:  What exactly is diesel engine exhaust? How do you measure diesel engine exhaust; The impact of control technologies on diesel exhaust; Health risks and 2012 IARC conclusion: carcinogenic to humans (category 1) and What does all this mean for an industrial hygienist? Some Mr. Slavin’s conclusions were that there is no diesel “DNA” to precisely go out and monitor meaning that exposure measurement methods require judgment and assumptions.  There are also large differences across diesel particulate matter (DPM) measurement methods and most gravimetric measurement techniques include other exposures. Elemental carbon may be the most accurate indicator of traditional DPM.  New diesel is different from old diesel and you should base measurement strategy on nature of problem. Finally he stated that IARC conclusion is based on a single data set with highly unusual exposure calculation.

Thursday Afternoon Tours:

There were two afternoon tours that were available for the attendees. The first was a San Diego harbor tour and the second was a tour of the Stone Brewery in nearby Escondido. Both tours were well attended.

Friday Morning Program

AIHA/ACGIH Updates:

AIHA Director of Government Affairs Aaron Trippler described the current political “Happenings” in Washington, D.C. His talk covered the recently completed FY14 federal budget negotiations, new OSHA regulations in progress and likely impact the mid-term elections will have on the progress of the OSHA regulatory agenda.

Dan Anna, AIHA Vice President, gave an update on AIHA activities and explained the reasoning behind the AIHA’s Board’s decision to eliminate the Academy board.  It should be noted that AIHA President Barbara Dawson could not make the meeting due to a convalescing family member.

J. Torey Nalbone, M.S., Ph.D., CIH, Board Chair of the ACGIH®, presented the ACGIH® Update, and spoke about completing the transition to new board structure and implementation of a new business plan.  He stated that in Restructuring the governing Board that 9 Board members will be split between 6 employed by academic or government institutions and 3 employed by labor or industry.

Technical Program

The technical program continued on the second day of the meeting with a presentation by James D. McGlothlin, MPH, Ph.D., CPE from Purdue University. The title of Dr. McGlothlin’s presentation was Applications for using Video Exposure Monitoring and Engineering Controls in Prevention through Design.

Video Exposure Monitoring (VEM) is a relatively new tool that has been used to reduce and prevent hazardous workplace exposures. VEM technology combines wireless videography with real-time sensors to detect and control hazardous chemical, physical, and radiological data.  Development and testing of these tools in the lab and field has shown the efficacy of VEM in helping identify peak exposure through visualization of the work being performed and recording of the hazardous concentrations from the sensors. VEM has been utilized in a variety of high hazard industries and occupations including manufacturing, services, mining, agriculture and construction. This presentation focused on the origins of VEM, the evolution of VEM through selected case studies, and where VEM can be used as a tool for industrial hygienists in prevention through design (PtD) projects.

The final technical presentation of the morning session was a presentation about a powerful measurement tool for industrial hygiene applications by Ron Aarts, President & CEO of InNovTec titled   “3-D Laser Scanning and VDC – Potential Implications for Practicing and Testifying Expert Industrial Hygienists.”

Mr. Aarts presented several real applications of this technology used for mapping the interior and exterior of buildings and other structures  by use of laser scanning and  Virtual Design and Construction techniques (VDC).

Friday Afternoon Program

The Friday afternoon technical session began with a presentation by Max Kiefer, MS, CIH, Director, Western States Office, NIOSH titled: Engineering Controls in the Oil and Gas Extraction Industry: Silica and Hydraulic Fracturing.

This presentation provided an overview of the NIOSH Field Effort to Assess Chemical Exposures in Oil and Gas Workers, which was initiated to assess the occupational health risks for unconventional oil and gas extraction workers. After conducting full-shift exposure assessments at hydraulic fracturing sites in five states, NIOSH determined that exposures to respirable crystalline silica (quartz) exceeded OSHA, NIOSH, and ACGIH criteria -- in some cases by a factor of ten or more.  NIOSH developed a number of recommendations to control workplace silica exposures for this process, including a patent-pending technology to control dust emissions from large sand moving machinery.  This presentation described the NIOSH-developed and other controls used to reduce silica emissions and the methodology used for determining the effectiveness of the intervention.

NIOSH/OSHA updates

Mr. Kiefer also provided the NIOSH Update titled “What’s new at NIOSH”

Mr. Kiefer discussed the following NIOSH programs and policies:

·         NIOSH Cancer Policy

·         IDLH Determination

·         NMAM Update

·         Nanotechnology Research Center

·         Emergency Responder Health Monitoring and Surveillance  (ERHMS)

·         Workers Compensation Center

·         Total Worker Health

It is of interest to note that the NIOSH Cancer Policy Concerns include:

•       Use of the term “potential occupational carcinogen”

§  Conveys uncertainty not warranted with many known carcinogens (e.g. asbestos, benzene, and cadmium)

§  Doesn’t permit levels of uncertainty to be incorporated

•       Technical questions on developing recommended RELs

§  How to establish an appropriate level of risk

•       1/1000?

§  Meaning of the phrase “to the extent feasible”

§  Utility of the “action level” concept in RELs

Ken Atha, OSHA Regional Administrator for Region IX, presented the OSHA Update.

Mr. Atha reviewed OSHA’s inspection and enforcement statistics for the past year and provided the OSHA goals for 2014. He discussed an April 16, 2013 re-issued of an OSHA memo updating the Heat-Related Illness Memo and the Heat-related Inspection Questionnaire for CSHOs. The Agency’s goal is to provide guidance to CSHOs for investigating workplace conditions that pose a risk of heat-related illness.  He noted that rules in the “prerule stage” are Combustible Dust, Infectious Diseases Injury and Illness Prevention Program, Reinforced Concrete in Construction and Preventing Backover Injuries and Fatalities, and Review/Lookback of OSHA Chemical Standards. There are also three rules in the Proposed Rule stage: crystalline silica, beryllium, and bloodborne pathogens, same as last year.  However, OSHA did finalize three rules: Confined Spaces in Construction, Electric Power Transmission and Distribution; Electrical Protective Equipment,  and Walking Working Surfaces and Personal Fall Protection Systems (Slips, Trips, and Fall Prevention).

The meeting was concluded by President Frank Hearl who presented the Clayton Award to Chris Laszcz-Davis, MS, CIH, REP for her outstanding contributions to industrial hygiene over her career. Mr. Hearl concluded the meeting by passing the gavel to incoming President Del Malzahn.