The Sampler (March 2021) - AIHA BC-Yukon Local Section

March 2021

FEBRUARY

MEETING RECAP

Measuring & Trending Occupational Exposure - Same Data / New View

Presented by: James Crichton, CIH, ROH

At this month’s meeting, James Crichton, from Buller Crichton Environmental Inc. provided some insight on how to display and communicate large sampling data trends as leading indicators in a digestible manner to a broader audience. He walked us through the process, emphasizing the early stages of gathering defensible data while sharing examples from his experience in the mining industry.

To develop similar exposure groups (SEGs) as well as determine representative sampling sizes and appropriate sampling methods, the hygienist needs to maintain complete records of the number of workers of each occupation and task, the registry of hazards and associated risks, and qualitative risk assessments. Differences in exposure limits (between provinces, countries or even workplaces), leadership, work shifts, and tools for managing large data sets, as well as subjectivity of qualitative risk assessments and SEGs can make data analysis a challenge. Over time, however, thorough and consistent data collection can be useful in observing trends that can be used as leading indicators. These leading indicators serve as a proactive way of evaluating implemented controls and programs to prevent future worker injury or disease.

A key takeaway point of this presentation is that the data must be simple, trackable, and related to health and not safety when communicating the information to a wider audience. One tip would be to present it in a visual format to help make it more palatable. Thank you, James, for the informative presentation.

AIHA BC-Yukon 2021 Annual Conference & Annual General Meeting

IT'S NOT TOO LATE! Take advantage of our reduced rates this year and sign up for our Annual Conference / AGM for 2021 which will be held virtually on March 12, 2021 between 8:00am to 4:30pm.

Our speaker line up and topics include:

Stephanie Carter on Ventilation in Confined Spaces: Best Practices
Diana Vissers on Mental Wellness
Paul Bozek on COVID-19 Ventilation
Rob Fontaine on MSI and Sensor Technology
ALARA Panel, starring:
Geoff Clark as the Regulator
John McCredie as the Employer
Zach Doyle as the Worker
Mike De Jong as the OHS Professional from Industry
Evan Alvernaz as the Industrial Hygiene Consultant

The AGM portion of the day will be between 1pm to 1:30pm. If you are a member, you can attend the AGM portion of the day for free if you're unable to or do not want to attend the Conference section of the day.

To register and learn more about the event, click on the button below.

AIHA BC-Yukon 2021 Conference / AGM Registration

EVENTS CALENDAR

AIHA BC-YUKON

April Meeting

Date: April 21, 2021

TIME: 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm PST

Presenters:

Corine Balcean - Director, Occupational Health & Hygiene of Teck Resources,

Teresa Corboy Kelly - Occupational Hygienist of Teck Highland Valley Copper,

Dan Sarkany - Lead Hygienist at Teck Coal

Topic: Advancing Occupational Hygiene Monitoring Through Technology: Nanozen Pilot Project

Location: Virtual Meeting on TEAMS

More information and registration to follow in the March Newsletter.

Mentor's Cafe

Each year, the AIHA BC-Yukon hosts a Mentor's Café for individuals new to Industrial Hygiene, who are looking for a mentor, and for mentors looking to teach an up-and-comer the in's and out's of the Hygiene world.

This year back by popular demand, Speed Mentoring returned (virtually, of course)! Participants bravely ventured into the virtual platform of Kumospace, from the comfort of their own homes, for an evening of discussing career paths in Occupational Hygiene. The evening was modeled after a "speed dating" format, where each of the students had a 5-minute opportunity to “meet” each of the mentors, who had private sector, consulting and governmental agency/enforcement backgrounds. After each student and mentor had a chance to connect, participants convened in a social/networking room for some more mingling.

Thank you to our mentors for volunteering their evening to share their wisdom and experiences, and to the mentees for taking a break from studying and showing us the bright future of Industrial Hygiene!

Retirement Announcement

If you have been to any AIHA BC-Yukon event, you will have likely spoken to the friendliest and kindest person in the world. That person is Ken Sasaki. Ken has been a standing member of the AIHA BC-Yukon and a regular sponsor for our events. Unfortunately, Ken has retired as of the end of February 2021, but, do not fear, as Ken is still happy to hear from you if you'd like to stay in touch. You can reach him at ksasaki@telus.net and we hope that Ken will continue to visit us at AIHA BC-Yukon events, especially when we can all meet in person again. Take care Ken and all the best in retirement.

UPCOMING VOTE

Dear members,

We will be voting at the AGM on March 12, 2021. What you need to do is:

Ensure you are an active and in good standing member for March 12th, 2021.
Attend the AGM business portion to cast your vote. As a member, you can attend the AGM portion of the day for free if you're unable to or do not want to attend the Conference section of the day.

Details of the vote will be discussed at the AGM.

Mentors Needed

Are you interested in sharing your experiences with the future of Industrial Hygiene / Health and Safety? We have two students in search of mentors and would love to connect them with you. Please contact our Outreach Director, Tammy Bowen, at outreach@aihabc.org, for more information.

Judges Needed for the Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair!!

It is that time of year again! For those who have judged in our previous fairs, thank you, and for those who have not, thank you for reading this. To all of you though, we need your help again this year to judge the 2021 Greater Vancouver Regional Science Fair. Obviously things are going to be very different this year, as we are not able to hold a fair in-person. Students have still put a lot of work into their projects, however, and we want to ensure that we continue encouraging them in those endeavours. Many of our sponsors are still with us, as well, so there will be nearly as many prizes for the students to win this year as there has been in past years.

Because the fair will be held virtually, we have the luxury of time, but we also have to do everything on-line. This year, instead of the standard project board setup, students will be putting together a PDF of their project. Our team of volunteer organizers will be assisting with this, to ensure consistent formatting across projects. As before, there will be two rounds of judging. The first round will use only the PDFs (i.e., no direct interactions with the students) and will go from March 15th to March 31st. During this time, we will ask you to evaluate each project against a defined scoring rubric. The scores from that round will then inform round 2, which will span from April 6th to 10th. For round 2, we will arrange video interviews between each judge and project. These interviews will be scheduled around your own availability, possibly including some evenings. We are looking for volunteers who can participate in one or the other or both rounds and, of course, we need expertise in all areas of science and engineering. If you are able to participate again this year, we would ask that you provide your availability on this brief form.

This is not an exclusive request, so if you have colleagues that are also interested in contributing then please pass this along. Judges should have at least a Bachelor's degree in some discipline of science or engineering. Questions? Please contact the Chief Judges at chiefjudge@gvrsf.ca.