July - September
2023

GLOBAL EXPOSURE MANAGER
Editor: Maharshi Mehta, CIH, CSP, FAIHA
Email: maharshi.mehta@ioha.net

DublinProtecting Workers From Health
Hazards: Advancing in This
Changing WorldThe Occupational
Hygiene Society ofIreland (OHSI) and theBritish Occupational
Hygiene Society (BOHS)
are privileged to jointly
host the 13th IOHA
International ScientificConference.

WHERE?
Aviva Stadium
Lansdowne Road
Dublin 4Ireland
D04 K5F9WHEN?

The conference aims topromote occupational
hygiene and worker
health protection by theminimisation of worker
exposure to hazardous
agents globally through:
Plenary sessions
Keynote lectures
Parallel talks
Workshops
Poster presentations
And many networking
opportunities andsocial functions.

09 - 13 June 2024

FIND OUT
MORE HEREBEYOND THE STOP SIGN:TACKLING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER IN INDUSTRY SAFETY
Kate Cole OAM MAIOH Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH)® CFkate.cole@colehealth.com.au
AIOH Immediate Past President, Chair – AIOH External Affairs Committee
Have you ever wondered what
happens when you can't read astop sign? It's a thoughtprovoking question, and chancesare, you already have a notion ofthe answer. While road signs
may vary, the red octagon withfour letters spelling "STOP"
remains a universal caution
symbol. It's a visual language
understood by most,transcending linguistic barriers.
But what if we apply the conceptof a stop sign to other dangers,
particularly those that lack such
simplicity in communication?
Consider a scenario wherehandling a substance could
release deadly dust particles.
Common sense dictates that
there should be a warning label,right? Yet, unlike theunmistakable stop sign, thereality isn't always asstraightforward.

Right now, in some Australianstates, a staggering one in four
workers suffers from silicosis, anincurable lung disease. [1] This isa direct result of inhaling silica
dust, a by-product of working
with engineered stone throughcutting, grinding, or polishing.
Some might wonder, "Why didn't
they just read the labels?"
Well, what if they just can’t?
"Readability" measures how
easily written text can becomprehended. Tools like theGunning fog index and theFlesch reading ease score assess
the level of formal educationneeded to understand a text.
When the text from labels onengineered stone are enteredinto these tools, they indicatethat the readability level required
to comprehend the information
on one of the most hazardous
products in Australian
workplaces ranges from a thirdyear university student to acollege graduate.
The question then arises: Is it
reasonable to expect workers
handling engineered stone tohold a university degree simply
to understand essential safety
instructions? Logically, it's anunreasonable expectation.
Delving into the matter uncovers
the complexity of the problem
and is one reason why manyworkers were unaware of thehazards.

Protecting from Silica
Exposures Courtesy:
Breathe Freely Australia

Recent research conducted byMonash University sheds light on
this issue. [1] About one-third ofstone benchtop industry workers
in Victoria were born in Asia.
Furthermore, around one-third ofstone benchtop workers in NSW
have English as a second
language, with Mandarin being
the most common alternative.
This paints a vivid picture of the
Culturally and LinguisticallyDiverse (CaLD) workforce
present within the engineeredstone industry in Australia.
In an industry at such high risk
for work-related diseases, there's
an urgent need to improve how
hazards and risks arecommunicated to workers. The
solution lies in adopting more
inclusive communication
strategies that accommodate
the diverse backgrounds andlanguages of the workforce.
And while simplifying labels andmaking them available inmultiple languages is a goodstart, it’s also about crafting
safety messages that are
universally understandable.
Visual cues, symbols, andsimplified language cantranscend language barriers andensure that everyone
comprehends the potential
dangers and necessary
precautions. Achieving thisdemands a collective effort fromthe industry, regulators, andpolicymakers to safeguard thehealth and well-being of allworkers.

In an industry at such high risk for work-relateddiseases, there's an urgent need to improve how
hazards and risks are communicated to workers. The
solution lies in adopting more inclusive
communication strategies that accommodate thediverse backgrounds and languages of theworkforce.

Occupational hygienists play animportant part in this space, as
they are the scientists on thefront lines. They’re measuring theamount of toxic dust in the airand recommending practicalways to keep workers safe.
Occupational hygienists haverecently worked to improve theircommunications to reach CaLDworkers. [2]In a world where effective
communication can be a matterof life and death, it's incumbent
on all of us to ensure that safety
information is accessible to every
worker, regardless of their
linguistic or cultural background.
Only then can we truly dismantle
the barriers that prevent us fromunderstanding the hidden "stopsigns" around us.

The Breathe Freely Mandarin
initiative has built on thesuccessful Breathe FreelyAustralia program and has not
only translated vital information
on how to keep workers safe into
Mandarin, it’s created new bitesized video content to get acrossthe key messages workers needto know.

You can check out these new
resources in Mandarin here:

References
1. Hoy, R.F., et al., Prevalence andrisk factors for silicosis among alarge cohort of stone benchtop
industry workers. Occupationaland Environmental Medicine,2023: p. oemed-2023-108892.
2. AIOH. Breathe Freely Australia| Engineered Stone. 2023;
Available from:https://www.breathefreelyaustralia.org.au/stone/

https://www.breathefreelyaustralia.org.au/stone-cn/

Examples of bite-sized video content

and the English version here:
https://www.breathefreelyaustralia.org.au/stone/

AIHA and ACGIH Launch Initiative to Improve
Exposure Judgments By Larry Sloan - lsloan@aiha.org
A substantial and growing bodyof research has demonstrated
that the qualitative andquantitative exposure judgmentsof occupational andenvironmental health and safety
professionals are often wrong
and tend to underestimate risks.
When exposure judgments arebiased low, workers’ health could
be at risk.
To address these shortcomings,
AIHA has partnered with ACGIH
to create an Improving Exposure
Judgments Advisory Group
whose goal is to influence OEHS
practitioners to embrace androutinely use tools to aid
decision-making. Many of thesetools are freely available on theAIHA website.
The good news is that training
and practice are effective incountering these weaknesses.
The proper use of algorithmic
and statistical tools ensures asystematic approach thatsignificantly improves theaccuracy of practitioners’
exposure judgments.
The Improving ExposureJudgments initiative is expected
to run in phases for up to 10years:
Phase 1: Communications will
generate heightened global
awareness of existing tools
and activities that will
improve judgments and theneed to change OEHS
practice to routinely include
the use of judgment
improvement activities andtools.
Phase 2: The effectiveness ofexisting tools and activities at
improving exposure
judgment accuracy andinterpretation will beevaluated.~Phase 3: New and improved
tools and activities to fill gaps
identified in Phase 2 will bedeveloped.
Phase 4: This phase involves
communication to drive theuse of the improved tools andactivities.

AIHA offers unique educational
opportunities that improve OEHS
practitioners’ knowledge ofavailable tools to improve
exposure judgment. The free
AIHA webinar “Top 10
Imperatives for the AIHA
Exposure Risk Management
Process” is an introductory-level
explanation of the importance ofa well-defined decision statistic,
the use of AIHA’s exposure risk
categories, and ways to improve
the accuracy of exposure risk
decisions.
A more thorough online course,“Making Accurate Exposure Risk
Decisions,” offers nine hours ofinstruction on the use ofstatistics to improve exposure
judgments, rules of thumb forinterpreting exposure
monitoring data, Bayesianstatistical approaches, and otherrelated topics.
One outcome of completing thisfree course is readiness to takethe exam for the Exposure
Decision Analysis Registry. This
program distinguishes OEHS
professionals who have acquired
the skills and knowledge toeffectively manage workplace
exposure and monitoring data.
Those who successfully complete
the exam earn the RegisteredSpecialist: Exposure Decision
Analysis credential. The
credential signifies that a
professional has the knowledge
and skills to make informed
decisions about worker exposureand exposure uncertainty.

Since April 2023, 871
people have taken thefree online course“Making Accurate
Exposure Risk
Decisions,” signifying
their readiness to
become registered EDA
specialists, and thenumber of registeredspecialists has
increased from 40 to246.

These numbers show that theImproving Exposure Judgments
initiative is already making an
impact on OEHS practice.
Larry Sloan (lsloan@aiha.org) is
AIHA’s CEO.

References:
Arnold, Susan F., Mark Stenzel,
Daniel Drolet, and Gurumurthy
Ramachandran: “Using checklists
and algorithms to improve
qualitative exposure judgment
accuracy,” Journal of
Occupational and Environmental
Hygiene, Volume 13, Issue 3,
March 2016. DOI:
10.1080/15459624.2015.1053892.
Arnold, Susan, and Gurumurthy
Ramachandran: “Judgment Day:
How Accurate Are Industrial
Hygienists’ Qualitative Exposure
Assessments?,” The Synergist,
Volume 25, Issue 1, January 2014,
https://synergist.aiha.org/202111judgment-day.
Logan, Perry, Gurumurthy
Ramachandran, John Mulhausen,
and Paul Hewett: “OccupationalExposure Decisions: Can Limited
Data Interpretation Training Help
Improve Accuracy?,” The Annalsof Occupational Hygiene, Volume53, Issue 4, June 2009. DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1093/annhyg/mep011.
Vadali, Monika, Gurumurthy
Ramachandran, John R.
Mulhausen, and Sudipto
Banerjee: “Effect of Training on
Exposure Judgment Accuracy ofIndustrial Hygienists,” Journal of
Occupational and Environmental
Hygiene, Volume 9, Issue 4, April
2012. DOI:
10.1080/15459624.2012.666470.

IOHA

NEWSIOHA enthusiastically welcomes The Association ofIndustrial Hygienists, Lagos, Nigeria (AIHN) as the42nd association of IOHA. In one-year IOHA added
3 global associations from Nigeria, Chile andMongolia.

IOHA President participated at IOHA member
associations conference in Phoenix USA (AIHA),Leeds, UK (BOHS) and Manila, Philippines (ANOH,
IH Association of Philippines). A network meeting
was held at these conferences with IOHA boardmembers to solicit feedback on how IOHA canstrengthen its functioning.

Meeting with IOHA Board members andIOHA President at regional conferences

IOHA contributes to ILO's first OSH strategy in 20years
Several IOHA members participated in a virtual
release of ILO’s draft OSH strategy to be publishedlater this year. Following the meeting, IOHA
provided a detailed response including
background on Occupational Hygiene and IOHA, areview of the Global Strategy on OSH andopportunities for collaboration between IOHA andILO. Contributors included:
Andrea Hiddinga, IOHA Stakeholder Relations
Committee (SRC) ILO Contact, Dutch
Occupational Hygiene Association (NVvA)
Ruth Jimenez, IOHA Board Member (past IOHA
Treasurer), Spanish Association for OccupationalHygiene (AEHI)
Nancy Wilk, IOHA Governance Committee Chair &Board Member, American Conference ofGovernmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)
Andre Winkes, IOHA Stakeholder Relations
Committee Chair & Board Member, Dutch
Occupational Hygiene Association (NVvA)
Kevin Bampton, Chief Executive Officer, British
Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS)
Samantha Connell, IOHA President-Elect & BoardMember, Swiss Society for Occupational Hygiene(SGAH).

IOHA offered three webinars in 3rd quarter 2023
on Non-Ionizing Radiation, Emerging Issues in
Respiratory Protection and Industrial Hygiene –Digital Journey. About 130 IOHA member
association participants who attended thesewebinars provided rave reviews of the speakers
and webinar topics. IOHA has offered 18 webinars
which are free for IOHA member associations.
“IOHA webinars always have high-level speakers
discussing very interesting subjects. Thewebinars are very helpful and bring a lot of firstclass information to me and hopefully thecommunity”

IOHA would like to recognize the contribution from
Amazon in promoting occupational hygiene
education and training. IOHA has signed
agreement with Amazon in which Amazon would
support IOHA in communication, training andother outreach efforts.

The Iberoamerican Board of Occupational Hygiene (JIHO)JIHO was formed to create the first occupational hygiene certification exam inSpanish. JIHO is the newest member of IOHA’s National Accreditation andRecognition Committee. The first exam was in May 2023 at the Pan-American
Occupational Hygiene Congress. As of September 2023, 13 new Certified
Occupational Hygienists are from various Spanish-speaking countries,
including Guatemala, Peru, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, and Spain.

Coveted IOHA
Webinar onEmerging
Respiratory
Protection Issues

Proud to support education and training for healthand safety professionals across the globe

MEMBER UPDATESThe 39th National Congress of Industrial andEnvironmental Hygiene, organized by theItalian Association of Industrial Hygienists(AIDII) 14 to 16 June 2023 Arenzano (Liguria).
The conference was a resounding success withmore than 80 oral presentations, 25 posters andmore than 170 attendants. A very emotional time
was the opening ceremony where a moment ofsilence was given to remember the worldwide
victims of work-related accidents and diseases.
AIDII monograph “Chemical risk assessment
strategies in the workplace” (in Italian) edited byGiuseppe Nano and Andrea Spinazzè, waspresented at the Conference. 15 young
professionals participated to the ‘Young
Industrial Hygienists’ competition.

ANOH -IHAP Conference Manila – August 28August 23, 2023
Kudos to Maria Carmela Capule, Dooyong Park,
Philip Hibbs, organizing and scientificcommittee members for organizing one of themost successful conferences in Manila. Six IOHA
board members and affiliates, including Tracey
Bence, President of AIOH, Marina Zainal Farid,
CPIH, CIH, Norhazlina Mydin, MS, CIH, CPIH,CSFC, Hirohiko Nakahara, Hashimoto Haruo,Andrea Hiddinga and I spoke at the conference.
Several concurrent sessions, PDCs, keynote
speeches, and Symposiums provided a fantastic
learning opportunity for the participants.

17th Brazilian Occupational Hygiene Congressfrom Brazilian Association of Occupational
Hygienists (ABHO), São Paulo, August 28August 30, 2023

AHRA IV Occupational and Environmental
Hygiene Congress 2023, Salta, Argentina,
September 6-September 8, 2023
More than 250 participants attended thecongress. The event featured the Occupational
Hygiene Technologies Hackathon which was won
by a project on ergonomics data collection
through Artificial Intelligence.

ABHO celebrated 29 years of successful journeyin promoting occupational hygiene in Brazil atthis Congress. More than 350 participants
attended the congress and learn from speakers
from Brazil and other countries.

UPCOMING EVENTSIOHA is organizing 13th IOHA International Scientific Conference in Dublin from the 9th to the 13th ofJune 2024 in association with the Occupational Hygiene Society of Ireland (OHSI) and the British
Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS).
The theme for this conference is ‘Protecting workers from health hazards: Advancing in this changingworld’.

AIOH 2023 - 40th Annual Conference and Exhibition - December 4-6, 2023
Click here to register

23rd World Congress on Safety and Health at Work Sydney November 27-November 30, 2023
First held in 1955, the World Congress on Safety and Health at Work is one of the largest international
conferences for work health and safety. In 2023, it's coming to Sydney, Australia.
IOHA will participate at the Congress.
Click here to register.

Red Panamericana de Higiene Ocupacional
Ana Rocio Bautista, Chair, RePHO, rocio.bautista@inaf.com.gt

América Latina es una región donde la Higiene
Ocupacional se practica desde hace muchotiempo. Los primeros esfuerzos por desarrollar untrabajo colaborativo en Higiene Industrial surgieron
a partir de 1998, donde Berenice Goelzer y Paul
Olson organizaron el primer encuentro deAsociaciones de Higiene Ocupacional en América
Latina. Dicho encuentro se realizó en Sao Paulo
Brasil, con la participación de Brasil (ABHO), México(AMHI), Estados Unidos de América (AIHA) yVenezuela (AVHO).
En el año 2004, durante la Décima Semana deHigiene Ocupacional organizada por la Asociación
Colombiana de Higiene Ocupacional (ACHO) en
Medellín Colombia se llevó a cabo el Segundo
Encuentro Regional de Asociaciones de Higiene
Ocupacional de América Latina. A esa reuniónasistieron Brasil (ABHO), Colombia (ACHO), México(AMHI) y Venezuela (AVHO). Durante esa reunión,en la cual el grupo lo denominó Comité de lasAméricas de Higiene Ocupacional, todos losparticipantes acordaron en organizar un Congreso
Regional de Higiene Ocupacional para el año 2006
con carácter bianual.
En el año 2018, durante la 7ma Conferencia
Panamericana de Higiene Industrial que tuvo
como sede AHRA (Argentina) en Buenos Aires, lasAsociaciones se reunieron nuevamente ydecidieron formalizar una Red colaboradora bajo elnombre de: Red Panamericana de Higiene
Ocupacional, con el principal objetivo de fortalecerla práctica de Higiene Ocupacional en América
Latina.

Hasta el día de hoy, la Red Panamericana deHigiene Ocupacional reúne a 9 Asociaciones
Profesionales de Higiene Ocupacional de América
Latina, con la participación de Argentina (AHRA),
Brasil (ABHO), Chile (ACHISO), Colombia (ACHO &SCHO), Guatemala (AGSSO), México (AMHI), Perú(APHOA) y Venezuela (AVHO). Esta red también harealizado 9 Conferencias Panamericanas deHigiene Ocupacional en diferentes países deAmérica Latina. La última Conferencia se celebró
en Guatemala con más de 200 asistentes deAmérica Latina y Estados Unidos.
Esta red nos ha permitido alcanzar hitos
importantes a lo largo de los años, como latraducción al español del ACGIH TLV & BEI (R) y lacreación de la Junta Iberoamericana de Higiene
Ocupacional (JIHO), el primer esquema regional deCertificación en idioma local (español), reconocido
por el Comité NAR de la IOHA.
Creemos que el trabajo colaborativo entre la región
fortalecerá la Práctica de Higiene Ocupacional en
América Latina, permitiéndonos enfrentar los
desafíos de Higiene Ocupacional en el futuro.
Esperamos apoyar y dar la bienvenida a más
asociaciones profesionales de OH en América
Latina.