Occupational Hygiene Matters (July 2019)

In keeping with my April OH Matters update your Council continues to work towards achieving the objectives set out in the AIOH Strategic Plan.

Professionalism:
In April this year the AIOH put out a call for volunteers for our RPE fit testing training and accreditation program.  The interest from AIOH members was overwhelming, with over 30 AIOH members putting their hands up to be involved!  We have divided the overall working group into three technical working groups in order to divide the work load and keep as many people engaged in the process as possible. We are looking forward to harnessing the enthusiasm of our team and seeing this project progress.

Enhanced Profile:
Representing and promoting the Occupational Hygiene professional continues to be a strong focus of Council.  Maintaining our strong international relationships and responding to opportunities to increase the profile of the AIOH on the domestic front continues with great enthusiasm.

Through our MOU with BOHS and NZOHS, I was invited to give presentations at both of their conferences.  In New Zealand, I presented on the emergence of accelerated silicosis in the engineered stone bench top industry in Australia.  As a direct result of this and ongoing discussions with our NZ Worksafe colleagues, NZ Worksafe have released a safety alert raising the awareness of silicosis risk in the engineered stone industry and are planning a strategy to identify and manage silica risks in this industry.  We are continuing to share information and resources around this issue, contributing article for their Safety magazine and providing information for a TVNZ article on the issues.

Myself and Andrew Orfanos were also lucky enough to be invited by the AIHA to the AIHce in Minneapolis where we were able to continue to strengthen our international relations, collaborating on issues such as ethics and online training opportunities.

In May this year the AIOH was approached by The Australian Mining Review Magazine to contribute to their feature on Dust Control.  The article will focus on occupational hygiene and the importance of controls in the workplace.

Another invitation was received to participate in the Safety of Science podcast discussing the importance of occupational hygiene and the AIOH.  We look forward to the podcast being released in September.