Blogs

I'm investigating an indoor air quality concern raised as a result of an unknown odor that we are unable to identify. The odor is similar to hydraulic oil or a very strong solvent. Here are the existing conditions and what we have been able to determine: The room is an old engineering lab used since the 40s with all means of machinery and equipment having passed through over the years. It was completely remodeled in 1993 and all original duct work remained in place. The room is 1,578 SF with 20’ ceilings and is well ventilated with roughly four complete air changes per hour and a dedicated exhaust out of the building. There are no unsealed floor, ceiling ...

Book Review:  The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women by Kate Moore, 2016, SourceBooks (Simon & Schuster) “Lip, dip, paint” is the mantra repeated by Kate Moore in her 2016 story of the young women who painted the dials of watches and military gauges with luminescent paint containing radium in the early 1900s.  This is the practice of putting a fine point on the paintbrush, then dipping it in the radium-containing paint, and painting the numbers on the tiny dials of watches and, later, gauges for military equipment.  Covering the period of time from 1910-1938 and the paint studios of the American Radium Company (later, United States ...

Is anyone aware of any guidance or standards specific to particulate levels (PM 2.5) for assessing indoor air quality? In California, we are experiencing very poor ambient air quality due to wildfires and many of our building occupants are concerned about particulate levels inside the building from the smoke. Ventilation systems at our site vary by building and some will vary by lab space, each can draw in differing amounts of fresh air. We have received requests from building occupants to evaluate indoor air quality for particulates. So aside from comparing inside with outside air readings using the same instrument (such as a Dust Track or an EVM), is anyone ...

2020_Spring_Newsletter.pdf I hope you and your loved ones are safe and well.  Please see attached MSIG Newsletter ( 2020_Spring_Newsletter.pdf ), containing important information on COVID19 management and ways for you to get involved to help our communities in need.    As a reminder, the mission of MSIG is to address issues within the industrial and environmental health profession that uniquely affect minorities... as well as those concerns that affect disadvantaged and low-income workers and other members of the community .

While serving on various committees, boards and local sections I was always concerned with the growing need for more IH professionals to meet the global needs.  This concern became more pressing as I took global corporate roles in industrial hygiene.  The good news is that there is a growing, collaborative effort to globally grow our profession to meet the needs! But, have you wondered who's making a difference in growing our industrial hygiene profession so that we are addressing the 2.4 million excess deaths per year that are attributed to occupational chemical exposures per the World Health Organization?  Come to one of the most exciting sessions at AIHce ...

Dr Joonas Koivisto and 16 others, including this writer, have recently authored what I believe is a very important paper:  Source specific exposure and risk assessment for indoor aerosols .    It sounds a bit like a paper focused on aerosol assessment but it is actually a comprehensive look at inhalation exposure models and the quality of these models to make decisions relative to chemical regulation and risk assessment.   The reality is that aerosols represent the most challenging scenarios for modeling because of their added properties compared to gases.  If one can accurately model aerosols then gases are relatively simple to model.   The publication outlines ...

I recently published a book entitled EXPOSED Carcinogenic Exposures on the Fireground and 11 work practices to minimize the risk.   The information that I collected from conducting IH sampling at over 50 fire sites lifts the veil on what is there after the smoke has cleared.  This is not only for firefighters but what about all of the other trades that go in to "Clean-up" or the construction crews that go in to remodel, rebuild etc.   As I discovered in my original research, formaldehyde can linger for days in these environments.  Many toxic gases can become trapped in the debris piles left behind long after the fire has been extinguished.   Often N-95 respirators ...

As a southern California native, I can tell you that wildfires are apart of everyday life.  Big or small, wildfires invoke fear and paranoia to both property owners and renters alike, especial during Santa Ana season which occurs from September through May.  Canyon fires near my home growing up were very common, and were usually extinguished in rapid time.  But that all changed in 2003 and 2007, when two devastating wildfires came dangerously close to metropolitan San Diego and Orange County.  The Cedar Fire was pretty intense.  I remember having to drive around wearing a half-face dust mask to get to and from school cause the air quality was so poor.  I watched ...

Industrial Hygiene is a lot of things to me. It’s part profession, part personal interest. It’s a way contribute to the world and a way to learn from it. It’s a way to bring science and ethics into everyday life. Were workers protected from silica when they installed my kitchen countertop? Does my friend with the 1950’s house know to protect herself when she removes her popcorn ceiling? And, perhaps most fundamentally, how will the end of my life impact the longevity of others?   This was the question that arose when my friend and colleague Eva Glosson, who has always been charmingly fascinated by the macabre, proposed we present on exposures in the death ...

I was sitting in the middle of my own technical session as my Moderator and co-conspirator, Kathryn, read my introduction for my session "Come watch a speaker's epic failure!"  I've got to admit that I was somewhat nervous.  I was pretending to be a clueless wonder just chatting with someone in the audience.  "Now if only Jonathan were here.  Oh, Jonathan…?  Jonathan…?"  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Let me back up and give you the brief backstory. I was sitting in my office (well, really standing at my desk) when I got an email from AIHA.  It was from Erin, Kathryn, and Alla and they wanted to know if I was interested in doing a webinar on how to be a ...

What an honor it was to receive an email from Bob Lieckfield inviting me to be a part of an educational session at the 2018 AIHce.  I had attended AIHce when it was previously held in Salt Lake City and in Portland.  I have always viewed this conference as THE premier educational opportunity for industrial hygienists and knowing I was going to present was certainly going to be a highlight of my career.  As it turns out, I was actually part of 3 different sessions at the 2018 AIHce which was exceptionally thrilling.  When Bob contacted me, I was asked to be a part of a four-part laboratory session.  In his creativity, he came up with a soap opera theme entitled, ...

Empowering Women in Leadership Wow! What a successful AIHce 2018 in Philadelphia! Both WIH educational sessions were well attended and the audience had so many great follow-on questions. We appreciate the time and effort that Aileen Yankowski, Toral Mehta and Isabel Zuclich spent preparing and sharing their Leadership Journeys to Success . And a special thank you to Aileen, again, for her sage advice and instruction on Developing Your Professional Brand . Approximately 45 individuals from the Community attended the Open Forum where Winnie Chu had us arm wrestle one another to teach us a lesson in teamwork. What a valuable lesson to learn – working together ...

Last year was my first time attending the AIHce conference. I was a fresh graduate from the University of Toledo, who was lucky enough to start a job working for a company who sent me to the conference. The AIHce is an amazing place to go for young professionals. Sure most people go for the continuing education credits, but the real experience is for young professionals and students just starting their career. Besides internships and in-school experience, most students don’t have a way to network and grow. The AIHce is a great place to do this. The first thing I suggest for a student or young professional to do before going to the conference is to make sure ...