13th IOHA
International
Scientific
Conference
Dublin, Ireland
June 2024

The Occupational Hygiene
Society of Ireland (OHSI) andthe British Occupational
Hygiene Society (BOHS) are
privileged to jointly host thisconference and to contributeto its successful outcome.
The conference theme has
been confirmed as - ‘Protecting
workers from health hazards:
Advancing in this changing
world’.
The conference aims topromote occupational hygiene
and worker health protection
by the minimisation of worker
exposure to hazardous agents
globally through plenary
sessions, keynote lectures,
parallel talks, workshops,
poster presentations andprofessional development aswell as networking
opportunities and social
functions.
A strong Global media
campaign will publicise themain causes of occupational
disease throughout theconference.
More information including
venue, dates and abstract
submission arrangements will
be announced very soon.
Please mark your diaries forJune 2024 in Dublin, Ireland!

IOHA NEWSLETTERGLOBAL EXPOSURE MANAGER
International Occupational
Hygiene Association

Edited by Dr Thomas P Fuller: IOHA president
e-mail: tpfuller1@gmail.com

Promoting the contribution of women to
occupational hygiene
Alison Margary
e-mail: president@bohs.org
Kevin Bampton
e-mail: kevin.bampton@bohs.org

There is an increasing global understanding that women’s contributions to all workplaces have been underestimated and underminedby prejudicial attitudes. As occupational hygienists, we are concernedthat this is also the case in our profession and within our professionalorganisations. Considering the global need for additional capacity inoccupational hygiene, minimising the numbers or influence of womenin our profession can be assumed to negatively affect the health andsafety of workers everywhere. This is especially true for working women
who tend to be impacted in a variety of ways, including a) less emphasis
on workplace exposure assessment for women, b) poor availability ofproper personal protective equipment, and c) lack of focused research
regarding hazards and controls specific to female workers, such as
musculoskeletal, psychosocial, and reproductive research.
The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) recently conducted an informal and anonymous survey of members, and a series
of webinars, panels and workshops, to identify and report their female
gender-oriented experiences while working in the profession. The

results of the survey and other activities were used by the BOHS tofind ways to improve activities and practices that might influence thenumbers and roles that female occupational hygienists may play in theprofession in the future. The study may also be a model for other occupational hygiene organisations within the International Occupational
Hygiene Association (IOHA), and it may identify areas of collaborationon this important topic.
The basic results of the online member survey are shown in
Figure 1 and indicate that the current Society membership is approximately 18% female.

Figure 1. BOHS membership by gender, 2021

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IOHA NEWSLETTERGLOBAL EXPOSURE MANAGER
International Occupational
Hygiene Association

The survey included focused and open-ended questions. Someof the responses by our BOHS members were surprising, as shown by
the following example:“As a woman, when you find yourself in a situation where you areclearly being treated as a lesser person, with a lack of respect or ina sexist way, how do you recommend that situation is dealt with?
As often, being assertive leads to you being tarnished as ‘difficult’or ‘emotional’ but keeping quiet can make things worse and act as
an enabler for that person to continue to treat you in a derogatory
way with a complete lack of respect.”
The responses also highlighted the importance of women to theSociety and the profession, and the qualities that they bring to occupational hygiene. The survey highlighted that BOHS improvements
in gender representation on the Board have had a positive impact on
female members’ perceptions of the organisation.
“It’s great to see so many women in the profession now, especiallythe younger generation too! I remember coming to conferences
20 years ago and it was all grey-haired men in suits predominantly... it really has changed... I’ve seen the Board go to[a] 50% split [on] gender! We have seen more female presidents inthe last six years than we have in the previous 65 years!”
As we seek to attract the brightest and the best into occupational
hygiene, the BOHS has set out to identify obstacles to engaging withall potential future hygienists. If there are obstacles to the progression
and retention of female hygienists, then it is worthy of focus. Women
comprise a significant proportion of BOHS members, but the Society
could do more to encourage women into the profession and provide
pathways to increase the organisation’s membership numbers.
On 2 November 2021, the BOHS held a webinar where Ms Tina
Attenborough, an expert in discrimination in the workplace, andProf. Dulini Fernando, an academic expert in the field of equality
practice, joined Alison Margary to discuss opportunities for tacklingcommon challenges faced by female occupational hygienists. The
webinar was open to all BOHS members and was advertised via e-mailand the various BOHS social media channels. Approximately 70 BOHS
members attended the webinar.
The webinar was followed, a week later, by the President’s Session
at the 2021 BOHS Conference, which brought together a panel offemale hygienists and our Honorary Secretary to further explore thematter in open discussion with members of the Society. In addition,

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Vol. 28 No. 1 January/February 2022

a focused session took place at the BOHS Asbestos Conference, held
virtually on 18 November 2021, which poignantly highlighted thepainful experiences of some female occupational hygienists working
in the field of asbestos management and control.
As well as highlighting and raising awareness of an overlooked
issue, these sessions contributed to persuading the Board of the BOHSof the need to take positive action to promote the contribution of
women in the profession, and to address the inequalities in treatment and opportunities that they experienced. The Society is now
committing resources to an action plan to address these issues. The
benchmark that we are aiming for is a female membership of 35%,
which reflects the proportion of female science, technology, andengineering graduates in the UK.
The following initiatives will be included in the scope of the activities to be considered and developed:
1. A network of female occupational hygienists (potentially withother IOHA members and/or other UK safety professionals/
health professionals)
2. A leadership development programme aimed at developing
leadership skills, with priority for those from less represented or
disadvantaged groups, and for those whose careers have beeninterrupted for health or family reasons
3. More systematic analysis and development of equality, diversity
and inclusion through all our volunteer activities
4. Equality impact assessment of all policies, roles and practices of
the Society, ranging from role commitment to design and focus
of qualifications
5. Campaigns to recruit women and other less represented groups
into the profession to ensure that they see occupational hygieneas their natural home as a profession
6. Continued monitoring, scrutiny, awareness-raising and regularcentral inclusion in the Society’s main conferences, to highlight
women and occupational hygiene, until gender parity has beenachieved
The steps outlined above will not address all the societal issues
that cause gender discrimination in the workplace. However, we
hope that, as a Society, we can contribute positively to promoting
the enormous contribution that women already make to occupational hygiene.
We would very much welcome developing these approaches inpartnership with IOHA and other IOHA members. We are sure that
there is much we can learn from the practices of other organisations
and that, through global engagement, we can achieve more.

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IOHA NEWSLETTERGLOBAL EXPOSURE MANAGER
International Occupational
Hygiene Association

Pilot OHTA module on industrial hygiene in thepharmaceutical industry
Frédérique Parrot
e-mail: frederique.parrot@orange.fr
Nathalie Argentin
e-mail: presidence@sofhyt.fr
The French Society of Occupational Hygienists (SOFHYT) is proud to havebeen able to provide the new Occupational Hygiene Training Association(OHTA) module on the pharmaceutical industry for the first time in theworld. The module was translated into French and then adapted to an
online training format. The online training was conducted once a week,
for four weeks, from 19 November to 10 December 2021.
The decision was made to not have too many participants in thecourse since it was a pilot module; thus, only seven trainees wereselected. The training was offered to members of the Swiss Society ofOccupational Hygiene (SSHT) and SOFHYT. The participants came frommany different backgrounds and included a certified occupational
hygienist not working in the pharmaceutical industry, a consultant who
was more focused on the chemical industry but had some customers in
the pharmaceutical industry, a technical director of an analytical laboratory, a global environmental health and safety (EHS) manager from a
pharmaceutical company, a certified occupational hygienist working
for a few months for a pharmaceutical group, and two experienced
EHS professionals working for a pharmaceutical group. The training
was provided by five certified occupational hygienists, all of whom were
working for pharmaceutical companies. Frédérique Parrot, the former
president of SOFHYT, oversaw the management of this pilot project.
At the end of the four-day course, the students provided feedback.
One of the aspects most appreciated was the sharing of experiences andadvice by the trainers throughout the course. Facilitator discussions ofpractical situations were considered to be “…very enriching” and “certainly
one of the most interesting elements of the training”. Videos and practicalcases used to illustrate working conditions were also mentioned by theparticipants as being especially effective.
Overall, course feedback was very positive. Some of the comments were:“This was a very enriching training on occupational hygiene in thepharmaceutical industry. I appreciated the excellent technical knowledge and experience of the trainers in addition to the high-quality
course manual and supporting training material. The four days goby so quickly that I am already looking forward to a next session”.
“Thank you for adapting this course in French. With trainers who
have good experience, I was captivated all the time and I learned
a lot.”
Other OHTA trainings (or trainings using OHTA documents as a basis,but in French and with a French exam) may be conducted in the future.
A Zoom photograph of the course instructors and participants is shownin Figure 2, with Nathalie Argentin at the bottom right.

Figure 2. SOFHYT OHTA course instructors and participants with Nathalie Argentin (bottom right) Photograph: courtesy of SOFHYT

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IOHA NEWSLETTERGLOBAL EXPOSURE MANAGER
International Occupational
Hygiene Association

Occupational hygiene in Argentina
Armando Chamorroe-mail: achamorro@me.com

Argentina is located at the tip of South America, and borders
Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay. It has a population of
45 million people with 13 million living in its main city of Buenos
Aires. The national language of Argentina is ‘South American’
Spanish but is often supplemented with Italian, English andGerman words.
The Argentinian workforce includes a continuous influx of
migrant workers. Many of these workers speak a variety of native
languages and Spanish dialects, while a large number speakPortuguese as their native tongue. This presents a challenge tooccupational health specialists when conducting training andgathering information regarding workers’ activities and exposures.
Occupational hygiene began in Argentina in the 1940s and1950s with a period of heavy industrial production as a result of
post-World War II Europe’s needs for goods, machinery and food.
Today, Argentina has between 10 000 and 20 000 health and safety
professionals, many of whom hold an equivalent of an associatedegree. Others have bachelor’s degrees or postgraduate degrees
with various undergraduate backgrounds, including chemistry,
biology, engineering, architecture and physics.
Approximately 20 institutions are registered at the federal levelas tertiary educational institutions (primarily public universitiesor the equivalent of community colleges) that provide degrees
in occupational safety and health in Argentina. There are also
some private colleges that offer programmes in health and safety.
Most of these institutions are in or around Buenos Aires; several
others are located throughout the country. Currently, there is only
one certificate diploma offered by the Mechanical and ElectricalEngineering Council (COPIME) for an occupational health programme. The COPIME offers a ‘diplomatura’, defined by the federal
education legislation as a series of courses with a minimum numberof credits, generally more than 100 credit hours (120 contact hours

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in this case). Occupational hygiene is included in the health andsafety programmes that these institutions offer but, currently, no
designated graduate or undergraduate degree in occupational
hygiene is offered.
Internet links to some of the Argentinian institutions thatoffer degrees in occupational health and safety are provided in
the following list:
1. https://ahra.org.ar/diplomatura-en-higiene-ocupacional/
2. https://www.copime.org.ar/pages/detail/1110
3. https://exactas.uba.ar/ensenanza/carreras-de-posgrado/
seguridad-e-higiene-en-el-ambito-laboral/
4. http://www.fadu.uba.ar/post/64-68-seguridad-e-higiene-enla-industria-de-la-construccin
With regard to the professional organisations that promote
occupational health in Argentina, there are two non-profit
institutions: the Argentine Republic Association of Hygienists(AHRA) and the Argentine Society of Occupational and Industrial
Hygiene (SAHIO). These two organisations have more than 400
registered members, and both have yearly events where local
professionals meet. As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, themeetings have taken place virtually in the past two years, but
in-person events are being planned for 2022.
There are two industrial hygienists, residing in Argentina,
who are certified by the Board of Global Credentialling (BGC).
Although there are no official statistics regarding occupationalsafety and health professional salaries, informal inquiries andexperiences of practising professionals indicate that the averagesalary for a health and safety professional in Argentina ranges
from US$ 400 to US$1 500 per month, with higher salaries of morethan US$ 4 000 for upper-managerial positions at international
corporations.

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