Introduction/Administrative News The TRADE Industrial Hygiene/Occupational Safety Special Interest Group (IH/OS SIG) Steering Committee met on June 21, 2005 through a conference call meeting. IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Chair Ralph Hinterman, Argonne National Laboratory-East (ANL-E), facilitated the meeting in which the following Steering Committee members and guest participated:
Tom Cornell, Fluor Hanford Inc.
Harvey Grasso, DOE National Nuclear Security Administration, Livermore Site Office
Ralph Hinterman, ANL-E,
Michael Hurshman, S.M. Stoller
Dr. Daniel Marsick, DOE, EH-52, Office Of Worker Protection Policy and Programs
Deborah McFalls, Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE)
The following Steering Committee members notified the IH/OS SIG Chair/Coordinator that they could not participate in the meeting:
Lowell Howard, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Bob Kapolka, ORISE
Rob Nicholas, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)
Deborah McFalls reported that a Steering Committee election process will be delayed until new funding by the current sponsor has been approved. One delay related to have not received approval for additional funding from the sponsoring office is that a Director of that office (EH-7) has not been officially confirmed. It is anticipated the confirmation process will be completed by the end of July.
AIHce 2005 Conference Ralph Hinterman attended the AIHce May 2005 Conference in Anaheim , California . Ralph reported a lot of attention was given to nanotechnology at the conference. Discussion focused on the fact that there is a lot that is not known about the health effect related to working with nanomaterials which typically are on the scale of billionths of a meter or 1,000 times smaller than a human hair and offer different chemical and physical properties than the same materials in bulk form, and have the potential to form the basis of new technologies. There are studies underway on health effects from exposure to nanomaterials. DOE is one of the leaders in government in developing policies about safety related concerns for nanotechnology. They have an active working group developing a DOE policy statement at this time. It is anticipated the policy will be very generic in nature in the beginning and will be revised as more information is received about this technology. There will be 5 Nanoscale Science Research Centers within the DOE community.
At the DOE EH sponsored meeting at the conference, discussions also occurred about nanotechnology. No new information was shared about the DOE 851 draft document. Review comments are being considered at this time for the document. DOE is still hoping to have 851 finalized by the end of 2005.
DOE ESH DRAFT Laser Safety “Safety & Health Bulletin” Dan Marsick updated the Committee on the development of the DOE “Draft Laser Safety” Safety & Health Bulletin. Dan reported his office has completed the draft bulletin and has sent it to another office at Headquarters for review. Review comments have not been received at this time. When finalized, hardcopies will be distributed to the DOE community as well as posted on the DOE ESH Web page at: http://www.eh.doe.gov/.
LANL Electrical Lessons Video Rob Nicholas reported to Deborah McFalls that LANL has produced a video that examines three recent electrical safety incidents and their lessons learned. Though these incidents are demonstrated in three specific work environments, their lessons learned can apply throughout a site’s work environment: from office to workshop to research bench. The lessons learned Discussion Guide suggests using this video as a starting point to discuss electrical safety with a team or group as it relates to their individual work environments. The guide suggests allowing enough time for viewing the video and discussing the video and the three following electrical incidents:
Welding Electrical Shock
Overflow Electrical Shock
Lockout/tagout Near Miss
Three lessons learned are outlined in the video:
Lesson 1—Go to OcMed
Lesson 2—Confirm the handoff
Lesson 3—Verify!
The following questions are suggested as a guide for discussions:
What kinds of work do you perform that directly (and indirectly) involve electrical power?
Do you have multiple kinds of work in your area?
How might an electrical safety walkaround look in your organization?
How can everyone work to make this a positive, nonpunitive, collaborative experience to improve electrical safety?
What are your organization’s strengths and weaknesses? What can you improve?
How do we identify electrical safety issues? How quickly are they resolved?
When you find it, do you fix it? How soon?
What do individual workers want to see happen to upgrade electrical safety?
How can workers use their own awareness of electrical issues to improve their safety and work environment, and to meet their individual needs?
Rob will provide additional information about the video and lessons learned guide during the July Conference Call Meeting. The committee will consider the video for distribution through the SIG as a product as well as listing it on the DOE TSL Index Web site as a training related resource.
DOE Summer Safety Posters/Charts Posters developed by DOE that relate to summer safety are being reviewed for potential posting on the DOE TSL Index. The posters focus on the following topics that could be shared with employee to increase awareness of safety for work as well as for non-working activities:
Other resources being considered for the TSL are heat index charts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Weather Service.
IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Workshop The Committee decided to hold their 2005 IH/OS SIG Steering Committee Workshop in conjunction with the “ Annual Professional Conference on Industrial Hygiene” (PCIH) scheduled for October 22–25, 2005 in Denver , Colorado (http://www.aiha.org/TheAcademy/html/pcih.htm). The committee is planning on having their workshop on October 26 for four hours in the morning. The workshop is subject to continuation of funding from the current SIG sponsor.
Future Steering Committee Meeting The next Steering Committee Conference Call Meeting is scheduled for July 26, 2005 , 1:15 – 2:45 EST , conference call number is 202/287-1360.
For additional information, please contact: Deborah McFalls, IH/OS SIG Coordinator
Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education
P. O. Box 117, MS 10
Oak Ridge, TN 37831-0117
