February 2014
Vol 1 No 1WORLD
Newsletter of the International Occupational Hygiene Association

London Calling
10th IOHA International
Scientific Conference
April 25th-30th 2015
London Metropole Hotel

Elsewhere in this issue
Postcard from the Editor
IOHA & BOHS 2015
London: Building on
Occupational Hygiene Together

www.iohalondon2015.org

IOHA President’s Report 2012-2013
Japan Association for Working Environment Measurement (JAWE)
So, what exactly is occupational hygiene? Videos from BOHS reveal all
Sharing Experiences – First Occupational Hygiene Seminar In Chile

WORLDInternational Occupational Hygiene Association

Postcard from the Editor
Lynda M. Ewers, Ph.D., CIH

industrial health team. Similarly, many governmental
and business entities appear also to be ignorant of theIH profession, and such lack of awareness can have adepressing effect. For example, IHs have the option of
becoming certified by passing a challenging
examination, which assures a basic knowledge of thefield, but there is a lack of incentive to take the exam.
In the U.S. only about 7000 Certified Industrial
Hygienists exist in a country that has about 8 million
worksites and where over 4000 workers died in 2012
due to industrial accidents . In addition to accidents, itis estimated that about three times more workers diefrom elusive chronic diseases attributable to industrial
hazards. Many workers with chronic health conditions
may not be aware of the link to their work exposures;thus, health risks may be ignored.

Dear Reader,Well, if the goal is to find amagic bullet that will
improve the world, it will
not be found in anindustrial workplace.
Workplaces are too complex.” A fellow
industrial hygienist (or occupationalhygienist), seated next to me on a longflight, made the above comment during awide-ranging conversation. I have
pondered his comment in the several
years since then, and have come to theconclusion that he was correct.
In any one workplace potential hazards may range
from ergonomic problems causing back pain to
explosion hazards resulting in catastrophic fires tocarcinogens wafting though the air to allergenic fluids
resulting in severe skin rashes. Of course, possible
solutions to each hazard are also complex. It is difficult
to be an industrial hygienist who must anticipate,recognize, evaluate, and control all of these hazards.
Many IHs resort to specialization in one area andthereby avoid the chaos of a worksite. Yet, I have a soft
spot for the staggering task of the ordinary IH.
Industrial hygiene as a profession is not well known nor
understood by the general public. People hearing theterm for the first time frequently assume that an IH issome sort of janitor who is responsible for cleaning afactory floor – not a highly trained member of anSo, my personal goals, since retiring from 15 years ofresearch and workplace investigations at U.S. NIOSH,
have become to assist those hands-on OH practitioners
in some way. Just before retiring, I moved to Taiwan for
two years and taught IH classes to the students at
National Taiwan University, and this very satisfying
experience gave me some international viewpoints. I
hope that the wide-ranging expertise gained during mycareer can be useful in helping to increase recognitionof the field of occupational hygiene.
The reason I am so interested in working on the IOHA
newsletter is because IOHA’s stated goals appear to beclosely aligned with my own. Putting this firstnewsletter online has been more difficult than I had
hoped, but I remain determined. Of course, I cannot
and should not do it alone. The nature of thenewsletter must be decided by the IOHA membership.
I hope that we can work together to produce aninteresting newsletter. So, I am prepared to proofread,Skype, call, email, write, and, if necessary, scrub somefactory floors to accomplish this. Please help me tomake the IOHA Newsletter a success.
Lynda M. Ewers, Ph.D., CIHE: LYNDAEWERS@ME.COM

Disclaimer
While great care is taken with the compilation of this Newsletter,
IOHA, its Directors, the Editor and the authors of articles accept no
responsibility for opinions, errors and omissions that may be made inthis Newsletter. The responsibility for opinions expressed in signed
articles rests solely with their authors and does not constitute an
endorsement by the IOHA.
International Occupational Hygiene Association
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February 2014 | Vol 1 No 1

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WORLDIOHA President’s Report 2012-2013

IOHA President’s Report
2012-2013
Jakob Nærheim, Norway
IOHA President 2012-2013

was signed by the three organisations’ presidents on 1
May 2013 for another five year period with anautomatic renewal for another five years. The
associations will collaborate for promotion anddevelopment of occupational health and safety atnational, international and global levels.
The three organisations also presented a jointstatement at the World Health Assembly in May 2013.
The IOHA board supported the ICOH Cancun Charteron Occupational Health for all, but was unfortunately
not able to agree on the ICOH statement on a global
asbestos ban.

OHTA – Occupational Hygiene Training
AssociationHighlights
IOHA celebrated its 25th Anniversary at
the 9th IOHA International Scientific
Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
The title of the conference was ‘Growing
the Seeds of Occupational Hygiene’. From
its creation in Montreal, Canada in 1987,
IOHA has grown to 29 member
organisations from 27 countries,
representing over 20,000 occupational
hygienists worldwide.
IOHA 2012 - the 9th IOHA International
Scientific Conference
The Malaysian Industrial Hygiene Association did asplendid job and organised one of the best IOHA
conferences ever. The conference, which was held inKuala Lumpur 16-20 September 2012, was a great successwith some 350 delegates, a lot of interestingpresentations and scientific papers, many networking
opportunities and side events. More information isavailable at www.ioha2012.net. The conference had a highprofile and a lot of Malaysian celebrities were present.
An IOHA 25th Anniversary booklet was produced and theanniversary was celebrated at a gala dinner.
Prof Michel Guillemin was presented the IOHA Lifetime
Achievement Award at the conference.

MoU with ICOH and IEAIOHA has had a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)
with ICOH, the International Commission on Occupational
Health, and IEA, the International Ergonomic Association,
for ten years. The 2008 MoU was due for renewal, andThe OHTA (www.ohlearning.com) was founded withsupport from IOHA in 2010 and now has a MoU withthe IOHA member organisations that are represented
on the NAR Committee, i.e. has an approved
certification scheme. All those organisations arerepresented on the Qualification Group of OHTA. IOHAis represented at the OHTA board by one of theexecutive officers (in 2012 the president
elect/president Jakob Nærheim, in 2013 by the pastpresident Noel Tresider). OHTA has turned out to be agreat success.

WHO – Collaboration
IOHA has a formal position with WHO and ILO as an
official NGO. Thanks to the efforts of Dave Zalk andothers, IOHA has done a great job in supporting theWHO Global Plan of Actions and the WHOCollaboration Centre Work plan for many years. The
report on activities for 2011-2013 was presented to theWHO in June 2013.
The IOHA president gave a presentation at theWHO/ICOH International Consultation on Healthy
Workplaces in Rome, December 2012.

Report on Strategy 2011-2015
1 Promoting occupational hygiene
Scientific Conferences
The 2012 conference in Kuala Lumpur was a greatsuccess. The committee of the 2015 conference inLondon is well underway in their planning.
Newsletter
Our newsletter editor for many years, Berenice Goelzer,
unfortunately resigned in May 2012. In April 2013 Lynda
Ewers was appointed IOHA Newsletter Editor, after aprocess where several applicants were evaluated. Therewas a ‘new look’ template produced for an electronicversion of the newsletter, which will be launched in2014.
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WORLDIOHA President’s Report 2012-2013

WebsiteThe website www.ioha.net has got a new and updated
Content Management System since the summer of 2013,
which makes publication and content management
easier. Some of the content of the website, including
country profiles, has been updated, but in general theactivity on the website has been at a minimum level.

The president initiated a strategy revision, which will beconcluded during 2014.

IOHA GovernanceA structure for all of the IOHA governance documents
was agreed by the Board at the Durban board meetingin August 2013.

2 Expanding membership
No new associations have joined IOHA in this period.
IOHA still has 29 member organisations from 27
countries. An activity was financed by the Dutch society
to strengthen links with the Latin American
occupational hygiene associations, but has so far not led
to any improved relationship with IOHA.
At the Kuala Lumpur conference the Asian Network of
Occupational Hygiene was formed.
Work has begun to look at a way for large countries(China, India, etc.) to join IOHA without forming anationwide association first.

A new structure for executive committee meetings wasintroduced with monthly teleconferences.
A board meeting was arranged in Montreal 19 May andin Durban 19 August 2013. The Presidents period wasfrom the AGM in Kuala Lumpur 17 September 2012 tothe AGM in Durban 19 August 2013.
The financial situation is under control, but thecapitation fee structure revision in 2010 has put apressure on IOHAs finances.
Secretariat services are still offered by BOHS, and MsSandi Atkinson is the IOHA Executive Secretary.

3 Recognising national accreditation
schemes

Officers 2012-2013

At the Montreal board meeting in May 2013 Hong Kong’s
certification scheme was recognised as the 12th scheme
to fulfil the NAR criteria. This is the first Asian country tobecome recognised. The activity in the NAR committee
is well on track, and the award and renewal process isaccording to plan.
It has always been a goal to have mutual recognition
and reciprocity among the various NAR schemes. Dueto globalisation and mobility this is becoming more of
an issue now. A survey has been initiated to start thediscussion among the certification bodies.

4 Provide technical support and advice
The collaboration with WHO is well taken care of. The
relationship with ILO needs to be improved.
Discussions have been going on with ICOH and IEA on
the development of joint guidelines etc. but so far
nothing has been concluded.
It has been decided to make an IOHA position on
asbestos since it turned out to be difficult for all
member organisations to support ICOH’s statement on a
global asbestos ban.

5 Recognising and endorsing international
occupational hygiene standards
IOHA supports the OHTA, which is in a transition from apurely voluntary based organisation to a moresustainable organisation structure.

February 2014 | Vol 1 No 1

Strategy Update<• President: Mr Jakob Nærheim Norway• President Elect: Prof C C Chen Taiwan• Past President: Mr Noel Tresider Australia• Secretary Treasurer:
Ms Andrea Hiddinga The Netherlands

Other Issues
On 17th October 2012 the British Occupational Hygiene
Society was approved the grant of a Royal Charter inrecognition of its unique and preeminent role as thebody representing the scientific discipline and professionof occupational hygiene in the United Kingdom.
The Southern African Institute for OccupationalHygiene was in November 2012 accredited as the only
Professional Registration Body in South Africa for
occupational hygiene by the South African
Qualifications Authority, thus making the SAIOH
Professionals Certification Board’s Certification
Scheme is a legal entity in South Africa.

Personal Remarks
It has been a pleasure to serve on the IOHA Board andas IOHA President. Much has been achieved, much still
remains. I personally think one year is too short a timeto have a really efficient presidency, and advise that thecurrent structure undergoes evaluation and revision.
Jakob NærheimStavanger, December 2013

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4WORLDNews from Member Associations

Japan Association for
Working Environment
Measurement (JAWE):
General Meetings of thefiscal years 2012 and 2013.
Masayoshi Karasawa Special Adviser, JAWE
E: m19419k@yahoo.co.jp
Shigeru Asuka Secretary-General, JAWE
E: sasuka@jawe.or.jp

Since the last IOHA newsletter the Japan
Association for Working Environment
Measurement have held two Ordinary
General Meetings during 2012 and 2013.
Please click here for a detailed review
www.ioha.net/assets/files/JAWEUpdateJan14.pdf

So, what exactly isoccupational hygiene?
Videos from BOHS
reveal all.
Sharon Brunt BOHS Communications andMarketing Manager
E: sharon.brunt@bohs.org

BOHS, the Chartered Society for worker
health protection, is pleased to announce
the launch of a series of six new video
clips designed to shed light on thediscipline of occupational hygiene andexplain what a career as an occupational
hygienist is really like.
To view the clips and for further information please
visit www.bohs.org/newvideosfromBOHS/Contributions from Readers

Sharing Experiences –First Occupational Hygiene
Seminar In Chile.
Noel Tresider

In November 2012, in the city ofAntofagasta, the first seminar on
Occupational Hygiene in Chile was held.
Noel attended this meeting.
You can find out more information here
www.ioha.net/assets/files/SharingExperiencesNTresider
Jan14.pdf

February 2014 | Vol 1 No 1<Back to title page5