IH News & Views: Delaware Section - AIHA

Transcription

1 IH News & Views: Delaware Section - AIHA Volume 11, Issue 1 1st Quarter 2008 Officers President Bruce Fine, CIH, CSP, CHMM AstraZeneca (302) President-Elect R. Alan Lloyd, CIH Pennoni Associates (856) Secretary OPEN Treasurer Gee Joseph DuPont Facilities Services (302) Communications Director/Newsletter Editor Neeraj Batta Batta Environmental (302) Outreach Director Marcus Suhr Batta Environmental (302) Past President Geoff Silverberg, CIH, CSP, MS, JD Valero Energy Corporation (302) Inside This Issue Next Dinner Meeting Topic for Next Dinner Meeting Note from President-Elect Recent Executive Meeting Note from Aaron Chen on an Outreach Event Health Bites Dinner Meeting Blue and Gold Club, Newark, DE, Wednesday, 3/05/08, 5:30 pm The next dinner meeting will be at the Blue and Gold Club, 44 Kent Way, Newark, DE. ( Topic: Test your Knowledge "Self-Assessment Questions from the CIH and CSP Exams Moderators: Marcus Suhr and Bruce Fine Cost:$27/$32 Member/Non-members. Buffet style Dinner. RSVP to Gee Joseph no later than February 29, 2008 and let him know if you will be bringing a check. Delaware AIHA Newsletter 1 1 st Quarter, 2008

2 Next Dinner Meeting Topic Test your Knowledge "Self-Assessment Questions from the CIH and CSP Exams The topic of the evening is a CSP / CIH examination review. We will present / discuss questions from the self-examination materials and develop a strategy for planning to take these examinations. We are planning a session that would review a series of questions from the CSP / CIH selfexaminations. If you would like to brush up on some of your skills, or are preparing for these exams you will find this meeting very useful. This will be a nice break from our usual speaker format and should be a good way to engage all of the members who attend. A Note from Your President-Elect 2008 is already ramping up to be a great year for our local section! We recently completed a draft of our new logo for the website. Hopefully we will have a final draft for review and approval at our upcoming meeting. The logo features the Delaware Memorial Bridge, water and the national AIHA logo. It was either that, chickens or horseshoe crabs. In any case, we are hoping to be competitive this year for the annual website competition. It s currently under construction, but check back often for updates! Secondly, we are hoping to reach out to all national AIHA members that are not members of our local section. We are working with Vicky Vobp at AIHA to get us a list of members with contact information. If you would like to help /call people please let me know! Lastly, if you know of ANYONE that might qualify for the Rachel Carson award or the Golden Seed Award please let me know so we can nominate them. Thanks for your involvement and keep those pumps running! Alan Recent Executive Team Meeting The Delaware AIHA Executive Team recently met for lunch on Friday, February 15 to discuss various topics such as the upcoming Dinner Meeting, future meetings, possible future topics/speakers, elections, etc. It was a very productive meeting led by Bruce Fine, President. upcoming meetings, topics, and events. Stay tuned for updates on Delaware AIHA Newsletter 2 1 st Quarter, 2008

3 Outreach at Kennett Middle School (by Aaron Chen) Here is a brief synopsis of the Outreach I did at the Kennett Middle School on January 24th. I participated in a Career Day at Kennett Middle School on January 24, 2008 at the invitation of one of my colleagues who was invited to present on chemistry. He thought it would be a good idea to also present on Industrial Hygiene. In the morning I set up a table for the morning job Fair. Kids from all classes at the middle school were allowed to attend the fair in the auditorium and each grade rotated thru in 45 minute periods. There were a number of professions represented from chemistry to modeling to law enforcement to medicine to industrial hygiene. There was some good interest and discussion with some students during the fair where pamphlets were also handed out to explain what IH is all about. In the afternoon (after a nice lunch provided by the Parent Teacher Organization) each profession was invited to give 30 minute detailed presentations to 7th and 8th graders who had signed up for 3 professions to hear about them in more detail. Unfortunately since the guidance counselors and students really did not know much about IH, no students signed up for the IH presentation. With that said, a number of students approached the guidance counselors during the lunch period asking if they could switch to IH for 1 of their 3 presentations in the afternoon. Unfortunately because of scheduling the students were unable to change their presentation schedules. Because of this I was asked to combine my presentation with the chemistry presentation. I only got 10 minutes for presentation but I made the best of the time for each of the 3 periods of presentations in the afternoon. I got good participation from the students who attended the afternoon presentations and many took the handouts I offered and also my business cards. After the afternoon sessions we did a wrap up with the guidance counselor team and I was asked to return for next year. Now that the staff had a better idea of what IH is they will be better prepared to give the students a view of IH so that they will have an informed opportunity to sign up for the IH presentations. Regards, Aaron Delaware AIHA Newsletter 3 1 st Quarter, 2008

4 HEALTH BITES by Dick Wolf, CIH, CSP Dusts Dust is a particulate. So is fume, but fume differs from dust in particle size and the way it is generated. Dusts are normally generated from operations such as grinding, crushing, cutting, and sanding. Dust particles involve a wide range of sizes. Size is one of the critical factors in the hazard of a dust. Other factors include length of exposure time, the type of dust, and the airborne concentration. Dusts can be health as well as physical hazards. Dusts can be organic or inorganic. Organic dusts can be natural (cotton dust) or man-made (dinitrobenzene). Inorganic dusts can be metallic (lead) or non-metallic (coal). Dusts can contain silica or be silica free. Dusts can produce local irritation and/or also systemic effects. Some dusts can cause pneumoconiosis a tonguetwisting term from the Greeks, means dusty lung. Some dusts can be explosive, too. Metals, plastics, agricultural products and some miscellaneous materials (i.e.; coal) have explosive potential. Regarding length of exposure, short exposures to high concentrations can result in acute disorders. Such occurred in the World Trade Center building collapse and such can result in varied work tasks (i.e.; sandblasting). In sandblasting, repeated exposure to silica can result in the acute form of silicosis exposure to a large concentration in a short time period, if appropriate controls are not applied (i.e.; supplied air respiratory protection). Particle size affects if the dust can be inhaled. If the dust particles are large, the dust will not be inhaled and will not reach the lungs. Respirable sized particles are considered to be less than 10 microns in size. These are the size of particles which can be inhaled. More recent particulate classifications include thoracic and inhalable, referencing where the dust can be deposited in the lungs. The more fine the particles, the more deep they can be inhaled. The following are some dust facts: If you can see it, it is not respirable. When dust is visible in the air about an operation, there is probably more nonvisible airborne dust present than visible dust. Small particles remain airborne longer than large particles. The more fine the dust, typically the more the health and explosion hazard. If air is re-circulated, the air must be filtered. If exhausted, it should also be filtered. Otherwise, one is job moving or redistributing dust, not collecting it. Ventilation for dust control involves higher velocities and flow rates than does ventilation for gases and vapors. Use of moisture can greatly reduce airborne dust levels. Use when possible. The minimum explosive concentration for combustible dusts in air is roughly 10,000 times the health limit (reference point is nuisance particulate TLV). So, control the dust when possible. Good housekeeping, adequate exhaust systems and other controls can protect people from both health and physical hazards. Delaware AIHA Newsletter 4 1 st Quarter, 2008

5 Delaware AIHA Newsletter 5 1 st Quarter, 2008