American Industrial Hygiene Association

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The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is a 501(c)6 non-profit organization, whose mission is "Creating knowledge to protect worker health." [1] [2] The American Industrial Hygiene Association works to provide information and resources to Industrial Hygienists and Occupational Health professionals. [3]

Contents

About

The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is an official participant of the OSHA Alliance Program. [4] Through the AIHA-OSHA Alliance, AIHA helps OSHA provide AIHA members and the general public information on OSHA's rule making and employer compliance laws, in order to fulfill the mutual mission of ensuring safe and healthy conditions for workers. [5] [6] The actionable plan is twofold: 1). raise awareness, and 2). be a source of outreach and communication. [4] AIHA worked with OSHA to provide resources available to employers and employees regarding specific hazards pertaining to relevant industries, [7] in order to create awareness with workers and employers. AIHA has provided several additional educational documents through the OSHA Alliance program, specifically on the construction industry, [8] which has been widely affected by the silica rule. [9]

Role in Industrial Hygiene

The practice of industrial hygiene, also known as occupational hygiene or occupational health, is a relatively modern idea, pioneered principally by Alice Hamilton and is often referred to as the "mother of industrial hygiene." [10]

History

The AIHA was founded in 1939 [1] by a cross-disciplinary group of professionals and government agencies concerned with worker health. [11]

The history of the American Industrial Hygiene Association began in the 1930s with interested people already meeting together under the auspices of other organizations to include the American Public Health Association, the American Chemical Society, the National Safety Council, and the American Society of Heating and Ventilating Engineers. In 1938 the board of directors of the American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons (AAIPS) organized a permanent American Conference on Occupational Diseases in response to a massive outbreak of lead poisonings in the automotive industry. Dr. Carey P. McCord as chairman of the Conference proposed the creation of an independent association of industrial hygienist who were not physicians and would operate under the name of the American Industrial Hygiene Conference.

The 24th annual meeting of the AAIPS was held in June 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio during which an organizational meeting for the establishment of an industrial hygiene association was held on June 6, 1939. Initially the association was to be named the Society of Industrial Hygienists however was not supported and the consensus agreed on the name of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). Three officers for the new association were elected with William Yant, president; Warren Cook, president-elect; and Gordon A. Harrold, secretary-treasurer. The AIHA had 160 members at its start and paid annual dues of $3.00. Harrold reported from the first board of directors meeting on October 18, 1939, that the four major goals of the Association were: 1. The advancement and application of industrial hygiene and sanitation through the interchange and dissemination of technical knowledge on these subjects. 2. The furthering of study and control of industrial health hazards through determination and elimination of excessive exposures. 3. The correlation of such activities as conducted by diverse individuals and agencies throughout industry, educational and governmental groups. 4. The uniting of persons with these interests. [12]

Since 1940, the AIHA Has published an academic journal on matters related to public health, the AIHA Journal . [13]

The AIHA is headquartered in Falls Church, Virginia, [1] and has chapters throughout the United States. [11] AIHA celebrated their 70-year anniversary in 2009, and cited a timeline of historical milestones, including publication of The Synergist, which started as a quarterly newsletter in 1989. [14] [15]

Mission

The AIHA often collaborates with NIOSH on matters of public education, [16] [17] [18] and is frequently cited in the news media as an authority on public health issues. [19] [20] [21]

The AIHA also gives an annual award for social responsibility. [22]

Role in 2014 Ebola Crisis

After two people within the United States were diagnosed as having contracted Ebola, [23] [24] AIHA Executive Director Peter O'Neil sent letters to infectious disease expert and then director of the CDC, Tom Frieden, [25] the White House, [26] former director of NIOSH John Howard, [27] and former Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA Dr. David Michaels [28] urging readiness and protection of workers particularly vulnerable to contracting the virus, such as health research laboratory facility workers. [29] O'Neil identified industrial hygienists as having an increasingly important role in mitigating the crises, as more workers become involved in containing the outbreak. [30] AIHA further provided additional resources [31] and guidances in light of a potential pandemic. [32]

Role in Protecting Workers from Silicosis

AIHA hosted a Congressional briefing on Capitol Hill [33] at the Longworth Office Building on February 15, 2017. Government relations director, Mark Ames organized the event; the panel included AIHA CEO Larry Sloan, [34] epidemiologist [35] and former Assistant Secretary of Labor at OSHA Dr. David Michaels, past president at AIHA Dan H. Anna. [36] Russ Hayward, CIH, [37] was also on hand to provide support with expertise, as AIHA's Managing Director of Scientific and Technical Initiatives. [38] The purpose of the event was to emphasize the importance of keeping the silica standard [39] enforceable, backed by the silica rule, [40] which is based on 19 years of active research [41]

Role in Emergency Preparedness and Response

Committees

Education and Certification

Outreach

AIHA sponsors several annual awards and honors recognizing excellence in the field of industrial hygiene, as well as designating members as AIHA Fellows and Honorary Members of the organization. [42]

Edward J. Baier Technical Achievement Award

Founded in 1984 and named after, this award recognizes significant contributions in industrial hygiene in the area of technical expertise or innovation, significant research or advancement, and influence and interaction with other scientific disciplines. [43] Notable recipients of the Baier Award include: Dennis J. Paustenbach (2010) and Don B. Chaffin (1994).

Distinguished Service Awards

Founded in 1978, this award recognizes unique contributions to the advancement of the field and the mandate of the association. [44]

Donald E. Cummings Memorial Award

Established in 1943, recipients of this award have demonstrated a lifelong contributions to the profession as well as acknowledgments of their contributions outside of their field. [42] Notable recipients of this award include: Mary O. Amdur (1974), Anna M. Baetjer (1964), Robert A. Kehoe (1962 and 1975), Philip Drinker (1950) and Alice Hamilton (1948). [42]

Alice Hamilton Award

Established in 1993, the Alice Hamilton award recognizes women in the profession who have made a definitive and lasting achievement in the field of occupational and environmental hygiene. [45] Notable recipients of this award include: Notable recipients of this award include: Eula Bingham (1995), Anna M. Baetjer (1997, posthumous award), Linda Rosenstock (1999), and Earl Dotter (2001). [45] [46]

Kusnetz Award

Founded in 1987 and named after donors Florence and Howard Kusnetz, this award recognizes a certified industrial hygienist that demonstrates high ethical standards and shows promise of leadership in the profession. [42] Notable recipients of this award include: Dennis Pustenbach (1992). [42]

Henry F. Smyth Jr. Award

Established in 1981, this award recognizes the contributions of individuals to the improvement of public welfare. [47] Notable recipients of the Smyth Award includes: Dennis Paustenbach (2010), Eula Bingham (1998), and Mary O. Amdur (1984). [47]

Social Responsibility Award

Established in 2009, this award recognizes an individual, group, or organization that works to promote practical solutions to social responsibility issues related to industrial hygiene or environmental health and safety. [48]

William P. Yant Award

Founded in 1964 and named after founding president William P. Yant, this award recognizes individuals for their "outstanding contributions in industrial hygiene or allied fields" who reside outside the United States. [49] Notable recipients of the Yant award include Karen Messing (2014) and René Truhaut (1980).

Scholarship

International

Annual Conference

An annual conference of industrial hygienist has been an essential element of the AIHA as in 1938 when the board of directors of the American Association of Industrial Physicians and Surgeons (AAIPS) organized a permanent American Conference on Occupational Diseases.

It was at this conference that Dr. Carey P. McCord, as chairman of the Conference, proposed the creation of an independent association of industrial hygienist who were not physicians and would operate under the name of the American Industrial Hygiene Conference.

The 24th annual meeting of the AAIPS was held in June 1939 in Cleveland, Ohio during which an organizational meeting for the establishment of an industrial hygiene association was held on June 6, 1939, that the AIHA was created. The AAIPS and the AIHA would continue to meet together annually until 1960 when they split apart. The AIHA joined with the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienist (ACGIH) in 1961 to sponsor an annual industrial hygiene conference. Despite concerns of the recent split with the AAIPS, the first conference was a success as all exhibit spaces were sold out, scientific exhibits were so numerous that they had to be placed in the halls and 688 industrial hygienists attended the meeting held in Detroit, Michigan.

With the stimulation by the OSHA Act of 1970, attendance at the annual conferences continued to grow so much that by 1980 the meetings had to be held at convention centers with the Houston Texas conference held in the Albert Thomas Convention Center. Attendance at the 1980 meeting was 5,006 and by 1990 it grew to 8,620 attendees.

A major reason for the growth and success of the conference has been attributed to the technical program that also grew from 233 presentations in 1973 to 456 in 1990. [50]

International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) International Scientific Conference

AIHA won the bid to host the 11th Annual IOHA conference in Washington DC. [51]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isocyanate</span> Chemical group (–N=C=O)

In organic chemistry, isocyanate is the functional group with the formula R−N=C=O. Organic compounds that contain an isocyanate group are referred to as isocyanates. An organic compound with two isocyanate groups is known as a diisocyanate. Diisocyanates are manufactured for the production of polyurethanes, a class of polymers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists</span>

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) is a professional association of industrial hygienists and practitioners of related professions, with headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. One of its goals is to advance worker protection by providing timely, objective, scientific information to occupational and environmental health professionals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health</span> US federal government agency

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health is the United States federal agency responsible for conducting research and making recommendations for the prevention of work-related injury and illness. NIOSH is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Despite its name, it is not part of either the National Institutes of Health nor OSHA. Its current director is John Howard.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupational hygiene</span> Management of workplace health hazards

Occupational hygiene is the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, control, and confirmation (ARECC) of protection from risks associated with exposures to hazards in, or arising from, the workplace that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the well-being of workers and members of the community. These hazards or stressors are typically divided into the categories biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psychosocial. The risk of a health effect from a given stressor is a function of the hazard multiplied by the exposure to the individual or group. For chemicals, the hazard can be understood by the dose response profile most often based on toxicological studies or models. Occupational hygienists work closely with toxicologists for understanding chemical hazards, physicists for physical hazards, and physicians and microbiologists for biological hazards. Environmental and occupational hygienists are considered experts in exposure science and exposure risk management. Depending on an individual's type of job, a hygienist will apply their exposure science expertise for the protection of workers, consumers and/or communities.

The threshold limit value (TLV) is a level of occupational exposure to a hazardous substance where it is believed that nearly all healthy workers can repeatedly experience at or below this level of exposure without adverse effects. Strictly speaking, TLV is a reserved term of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH), who determines and publishes TLVs annually. TLVs issued by the ACGIH are the most widely accepted occupational exposure limits both in the United States and most other countries. However, it is sometimes loosely used to refer to other similar concepts used in occupational health and toxicology, such as acceptable daily intake (ADI) and tolerable daily intake (TDI). Concepts such as TLV, ADI, and TDI can be compared to the no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL) in animal testing, but whereas a NOAEL can be established experimentally during a short period, TLV, ADI, and TDI apply to human beings over a lifetime and thus are harder to test empirically and are usually set at lower levels. TLVs, along with biological exposure indices (BEIs), are published annually by the ACGIH.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eula Bingham</span> American scientist (1929–2020)

Eula Bingham was an American scientist, best known as an Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) during the Presidency of Jimmy Carter. During her tenure as the head of OSHA, she eliminated more than 1,000 pedantic regulations and shifted the agency's focus to health and safety risks, establishing strict standards for workers' rights to know about their exposure to hazardous substances.

Occupational and Environmental Medicine (OEM), previously called industrial medicine, is a board certified medical specialty under the American Board of Preventative Medicine that specializes in the prevention and treatment of work-related illnesses and injuries.

The American Society of Safety Professionals (ASSP), formerly known as American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE), is a global organization of occupational safety and health (OSH) professional members who manage, supervise, research and consult on work-related OSH concerns across all industries. Society members use risk-based approaches to prevent workplace fatalities, injuries and illnesses.

An occupational exposure limit is an upper limit on the acceptable concentration of a hazardous substance in workplace air for a particular material or class of materials. It is typically set by competent national authorities and enforced by legislation to protect occupational safety and health. It is an important tool in risk assessment and in the management of activities involving handling of dangerous substances. There are many dangerous substances for which there are no formal occupational exposure limits. In these cases, hazard banding or control banding strategies can be used to ensure safe handling.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Michaels (epidemiologist)</span> American epidemiologist

David Michaels is an American epidemiologist and professor in the Departments of Environmental and Occupational Health and Epidemiology at the Milken Institute School of Public Health of the George Washington University. He held high-level, senate-confirmed public health positions in the administrations of Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, including a stint from 2009 to 2017 as the administrator of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

A short-term exposure limit (STEL) is the acceptable average exposure over a short period of time, usually 15 minutes as long as the time-weighted average is not exceeded.

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Engineering controls are strategies designed to protect workers from hazardous conditions by placing a barrier between the worker and the hazard or by removing a hazardous substance through air ventilation. Engineering controls involve a physical change to the workplace itself, rather than relying on workers' behavior or requiring workers to wear protective clothing.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health</span> Occupational health clinics

The Mount Sinai Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health are a set of occupational and environmental health clinics that focus on the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of workplace injuries and illnesses. Significant injuries and illnesses that are treated at the clinical centers include occupational lung cancers, manganese/silica/lead exposures, and asbestos-related illness, which was the career-long research of Dr. Irving Selikoff, the centers' inaugural director. The Selikoff Centers for Occupational Health's multidisciplinary health care team includes physicians, nurse practitioners, industrial hygienists, ergonomists, social workers, and benefits specialists, who are "leaders in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of workplace injuries and illnesses," and provide comprehensive patient-centered services in New York City and Lower Hudson Valley. The clinical centers are located within the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai under the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Occupational exposure banding</span> Process to assign chemicals into categories corresponding to permissible exposure concentrations

Occupational exposure banding, also known as hazard banding, is a process intended to quickly and accurately assign chemicals into specific categories (bands), each corresponding to a range of exposure concentrations designed to protect worker health. These bands are assigned based on a chemical’s toxicological potency and the adverse health effects associated with exposure to the chemical. The output of this process is an occupational exposure band (OEB). Occupational exposure banding has been used by the pharmaceutical sector and by some major chemical companies over the past several decades to establish exposure control limits or ranges for new or existing chemicals that do not have formal OELs. Furthermore, occupational exposure banding has become an important component of the Hierarchy of Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs).

The Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene is a monthly peer-reviewed journal covering occupational and environmental medicine, especially in regards to hygiene. It was established in 2004 by the merger of Applied Occupational and Environmental Hygiene and AIHA Journal. It is published by Taylor & Francis along with the American Industrial Hygiene Association and the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, of which it is the official journal. The editor-in-chief is Michael D. Larrañaga. According to the Journal Citation Reports, the journal has a 2017 impact factor of 1.462.

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The Division of Industrial Hygiene was a division of the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) with responsibility for occupational safety and health programs. It existed from 1914 until 1971, when it became the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). It had several names during its existence, most notably the Office of Industrial Hygiene and Sanitation in its earlier years and the Division of Occupational Health during its later years.

The Bureau of Labor Standards was an agency of the U.S. Department of Labor from 1934 until 1971. It was the direct predecessor of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The unit was formed as the Division of Labor Standards in November 1934, and renamed the Bureau of Labor Standards in 1948.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shawn Gibbs</span> American industrial hygienist

Shawn G. Gibbs is an American industrial hygienist. As of 2020, he is the dean of the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. His research focuses on the disruption of high consequence infectious diseases.

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