Essential Protections: Young Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

I'm a featured presenter at this upcoming California Industrial Hygiene Council webinar happening on February 9, 2021. 

Topic

Essential Protections: Young Workers During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Description

Jennifer Maclachlan, Chair of AIHA's Teen Workplace Health and Safety Committee and Yasin Kan, CA Young Worker Partnership

Time

Feb 9, 2021 11:45 AM in Pacific Time (US and Canada)

CLICK BELOW to REGISTER

CIHC Feb 9th Webinar Registration 

Reminder: Each webinar will qualify for 0.167 CM point (equivalent to one hour of technical 

content).

Teen Workplace Health & Safety Education: Isn't It Every IH's Responsibility?

Pop-Up Education: Teen Workplace Health & Safety Education: Isn't It Every IH's Responsibility?

Mon, 5/20: 9:30 AM  - 9:55 AM Education Session 

Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC) 

Room: Level 2 Lobby/Landing (200 Level) 

Description

The Teen Workplace Health & Safety Task Force has served the IH/OH profession well since its formation in 2018. They have developed materials for all IH/OH professionals to use for community outreach, lobbied their state legislatures, and are now posing a challenge to all IH professionals… isn't education about teen workplace health and safety our professional responsibility to undertake? Come out to learn more about the progress of the task force; check out the free, ready-to-use tools they have developed; and hear why your peers challenge you to help this movement.

Presented by: Jennifer Maclachlan, PID Analyzers.

Talking safety: Why safety matters

Invited presentation on the PRES track at #ACSBoston

Talking safety: Why safety matters
by Jennifer Maclachlan, PID Analyzers, LLC

Maclachlan is the Chair of the American
Industrial Hygiene Association's Teen
Workplace Safety Task Force

Safety is a core value for many professional societies including the American Chemical Society (ACS) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). Through education, training and leading by example, members of the ACS and AIHA can create what ACS President, Peter Dorhout, has coined an "ethos of safety". 40 young workers die each year, and 60,000 more are rushed to the emergency room due to workplace injuries. Educating students about workplace hazards that include but are not limited to chemical, electrical, physical (fall, trip, slip), emotional (includes verbal abuse, bullying etc.) and more using tools like the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH) Talking Safety curriculum and abbreviated materials known as Safety Matters, developed jointly by NIOSH and AIHA, member volunteers of AIHA and ACS can introduce these to teachers, students and legislators in their own communities. Communication about ACS resources such as the Guidelines for Chemical Laboratory Safety in Secondary School and Academic Institutions will be addressed as well as other outreach opportunities that ACS can leverage to support safety cultures in 2018 and beyond.

Safety Matters/Teen Workplace Safety Beta Group Task Force

Volunteer opportunity for AIHA members:
I am currently chairing the Safety Matters/Teen Workplace Safety AIHA Beta Group Task Force. We are just getting started and I am  accepting AIHA member volunteers to serve on this task force. Like any task force, this will require a few conference calls and several emails with a specific time limit. Please contact me if you are interested in serving in this capacity.

Photo Credit: B.Chirico, AIHA

What is Safety Matters? This general awareness training program developed jointly by the National Institute of Occupational Heath and Safety (NIOSH) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is designed to teach young workers how to identify workplace hazards and know their rights as workers.

Why is this important? Here are some statistics you may not know: 

• "Approximately 1.6 million U.S. teens (aged 15–17) work.
• Every nine minutes, a U.S. teen is injured on the job.
• On average, each year:
• 59,800 workers under the age of 18 are sent to the ER for job-related injuries
• 37 workers under the age of 18 die on the job.
• Young workers are twice as likely to be injured compared to adult workers." (from https://www.aiha.org/get-involved/SafetyMattersCenter/Pages/default.aspx)

Want to help bring Safety Matters to your community and teach young workers to expect a safe workplace? Then contact me to learn how you can mobilize this effort locally.

'Safety Matters' on Cape Cod

On Friday December 16, 2016, I'll be rolling out the education module 'Safety Matters' to the 7th grade at the Monomoy Regional Middle School in Chatham, Cape Cod. 

This general awareness training program developed jointly by the National Institute of Occupational Heath and Safety (NIOSH) and the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is designed to teach young workers how to identify workplace hazards and know their rights as workers.

Why is this important? Here are some statistics you may not know: 

• "Approximately 1.6 million U.S. teens (aged 15–17) work.
• Every nine minutes, a U.S. teen is injured on the job.
• On average, each year:
• 59,800 workers under the age of 18 are sent to the ER for job-related injuries
• 37 workers under the age of 18 die on the job.
• Young workers are twice as likely to be injured compared to adult workers." (from https://www.aiha.org/get-involved/SafetyMattersCenter/Pages/default.aspx)

As you may know, if you follow any of my social media, I'm an avid volunteer for the American Chemical Society (ACS) and serve in various public relations leadership roles. Notably, American Chemical Society CEO, Tom Connelly described an interest in partnering with other professional societies on chemical and lab safety issues in his June 27, 2016 comment titled ACS's Role in Safety in Chemical and Engineering News. This got me thinking about potential partnerships between the ACS and AIHA. It seemed logical to me to get the ACS involved in this particular education outreach effort because of its central workplace safety message; especially the American Chemical Society Division of Chemical Health & Safety (DCHAS). So I pitched the idea to the DCHAS Executive Committee at the recent Fall National Meeting of the American Chemical Society of having DCHAS 'endorse' my efforts to bring 'Safety Matters' to Cape Cod students, as well as my own local ACS section: Northeastern Local Section and NEAIHA, my AIHA Local section. The overall goal in partnering with so many groups is for me to report back with a 'best practices on how to implement 'Safety Matters' in a way that will inspire and guide members of the various groups/subgroups I have engaged, to encourage their members to bring this program to their own communities. Eventually, once I've completed this pilot program on the Cape & Islands, I'd like to tap into the ACS Local Section networks, there are 187 of them, who have outreach activities in place for National Chemical Week in the Fall and Chemists Celebrate Earth Day in the Spring and have their interested members use their community connections to bring 'Safety Matters' to those grade 7-12 educators. Ultimately, once the teachers are introduced to 'Safety Matters' by a volunteer, they can access more in-depth workplace safety programs for young workers that can be added to their curriculum. 

I am grateful to have the support of the ACS Office of Public Affairs, Tom Connelly, DCHAS and NESACS as well as the AIHA Board of Directors, AIHA CEO Larry Sloan and the NEAIHA Executive Committee as I launch 'Safety Matters' Cape-wide.

Join us in San Antonio for the AIHA Fall Conference on Leadership & Management

In about a week we’ll be headed to San Antonio and we hope you'll join us! If you can't travel to the meeting but still want to participate, check out how to register for the virtual conference here.

We’re proud to participate as a Silver Conference Partner for the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) AIHA’s Fall Conference on Leadership and Management.

With dynamic education sessions organized by tracks, an excellent line-up of speakers and coordinated events to facilitate networking, AIHA’s Fall Conference is the best setting for IH/OEHS professionals to collaborate and learn.

AIHA Fall Conference 2015, Orlando, FL

Make sure you visit us at the center of it all, the Hub! We’ll be there to showcase the new additions to our HNU portable gas detection product line which includes the Model 121 hand-held gas chromatograph, the Model 115 and the latest HNU PID's (with sensors, ppb readings etc). Plus, you can enjoy some refreshments, swap ideas with your colleagues, and boost your creativity with interactive games. 

The Hub is also where you can mix and mingle with us and your new friends at the Networking Welcome Reception on Monday evening. 

Check out the full schedule of events located at the Hub. 

We look forward to connecting with the best and brightest of IH/OEHS profession in San Antonio; we hope you’ll be one of them!

-Jennifer Maclachlan, HNU-PID Analyzers, LLC, @pidgirl

New England Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (NEAIHA) June Technical Meeting

A view from US Coast Guard Sector Boston when we arrived at the
NEAIHA June Technical Meeting yesterday afternoon.

Our company, PID Analyzers, LLC was the vendor sponsor for this
June Meeting.  Corey Briggs, NEAIHA Past President, was kind enough to
mention us in his five minute talk which included
his hazmat class at University of Rhode Island and about his goals for a NEAIHA archive.
We'll be contributing information about the history of photoionization.

Here's a photo of Jack and I at our vendor table at the dining room entrance at
the US Coast Guard All Hands Club. We even brought Pete Bonk with us, although
somehow we managed not to get a photo of him in his purple tie.
Mr. Mo Yuong Kang, the recipient of the Robert Weker Memorial Scholarship, attended the meeting last night and was recognized and had his photo taken with the NEAIHA Executive Committee.  Mr. Kang was selected from among six excellent applicants according to a press release issued by Bart Ellingsen, NEAIHA Immediate Past President. 

NEAIHA Vendor Liaison, Steve Goselin of Enviro Tech introduced Jack during dinner. They gave him five minutes (and he used over 7)!
I took a video of the talk which I'll likely upload and post here.

This was a view of the room from our vendor table. We are looking forward
to participating in the day-long event that NEAIHA hosts.
This year it is October 21, 2014 in Norwood, MA.

The full meeting agenda is accessible below.

  New England American Industrial Hygiene Association June 2014 Meeting by Jennifer Maclachlan

Real Time Detection Systems II #AIHce 2014

EDUCATION

L To r: e. ligus, p. smith, j. maclachlan and e. floyd

PO 123

Real Time Detection Systems II

Live tweeting during this session? Use hashtag #RTDS2 in addition to the conference hashtag #AIHce

DATE: Wednesday June 4, 2014 | 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM

LOCATION: San Antonio, TX Convention Center 0006 C-D

TOPIC: Real-Time Detection Systems

Arranger: W. Groves, Energy and Mineral Engineering, Penn State University, University Park, PA
Moderator: P. Smith, U.S. Department of Labor  - OSHA, Sandy, UT
Monitors: E. Ligus, Draeger Safety, Inc., Pittsburgh, PA; T. Pearce, OSHA, Edmond, OK

10:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Field Measurement of Common Fumigants via Portable GC with PID & FUV Detectors
J. Driscoll, J. Maclachlan, PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, Massachusetts, MA

10:30 AM – 11:00 AM WITHDRAWN. PHIL SMITH LED AN INFORMAL DISCUSSION WITH AUDIENCE MEMBERS ABOUT REAL TIME DETECTION SYSTEM NEEDS.

11:00 AM – 11:30 AM Elimination of Sensor Maintenance by Sensor Interrogation and Correction T. Scheffler, Mine Safety Appliances Co., Cranberry Township, PA

11:30 AM – 12:00 PM
Estimating Integrated VOC Exposure in Near Real-TimeE. Floyd, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, OK; C. Lungu, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL

- See more at: http://aihce2014.org/course/real-time-detection-systems-ii/#sthash.JpNFdp80.dpuf

Field Measurement of Common Fumigants via Portable GC with PID & FUV Detectors

The session "Real Time Detection Systems II",  PO123 occurred on June 4, 2014 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.  

AUTHORS (FIRST NAME INITIAL LAST NAME): J. N. Driscoll¹, J. L. Maclachlan¹PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, Massachusetts, Massachusetts, UNITED STATES

PRESENTATION TYPE: Podium

CURRENT TOPICS: Real-Time Detection Systems
Field Measurement of Common Fumigants via Portable GC with PID & FUV Detectors

ABSTRACT BODY: 
Objective: More than two dozen different chemicals have been used as fumigants for grain including organics like methyl bromide, inorganic chemicals like sulfuryl fluoride ,and even chemical agents such as cyanogen chloride. Deaths from fumigants have occurred in rail cars, ships, grain elevators, green houses, pest control … A field method for detecting common fumigants is essential since many workers encounter these dangerous chemicals which do not have OSHA field detection methods.

Methods: Utilizing a portable gas chromatograph Model GC312 equipped with a battery and weighing in at 26 pounds, this field tool can detect part per billion (ppb) levels of fumigants with a photoionization detector (PID). A 30M x 0.32 mm capillary with 5 or 10 micron methyl silicone film is used for separating gases and volatile compounds. The far UV absorbance (FUV) detector detects the low or sub ppm levels of a variety of hydrocarbons & low molecular weight (MW) gases such as hydrogen cyanide, sulfur dioxide, and sulfuryl fluoride that absorb at 126 nano meters (nm).

Results : Some of the common fumigants used today are methyl bromide, ethylene oxide, phosphine, and ethylene dibromide. All of these compounds can be detected at ppb levels by GC/PID with a thick film capillary column. The PID has a detection limit of < 5 ppb for PH3, and can detect part per trillion (ppt) levels of dibromochloro propane (PEL = 1ppb) by PID if the internal concentrator on the portable GC is used. The FUV can detect hydrogen cyanide, ethylene dichloride, dichloropropane, sulfur dioxide and sulfuryl fluoride at low or sub ppm levels. The detection limit for SO2 by FUV is 0.5 ppm.

Conclusions: A portable GC with a thick film cap column equipped with PID and Far UV detectors can detect the most common fumigants in use today at levels of 0.1 of the PEL. The portable GC is easily carried to the field and can be operational in about 20-30 minutes. It can detect the ten most common fumigants described above plus many of the more than two dozen chemicals used in fumigation.

Below is a new application note illustrating the use of our Model 100 series portable analyzer for fumigant gas analysis

  Fumigation Analyzer by Jennifer Maclachlan

My first New England Local Section American Industrial Hygiene Association meeting

I had the opportunity to attend my first Local Section New England American Industrial Hygiene Association meeting last night in Waltham, MA. It was a joint meeting with the Greater Boston Indoor Air Quality Association. I brought my husband along since the evening topic of wet crawlspaces is applicable to his work as an HVAC specialist. 

Russ Kraiterman and Jennifer Maclachlan

We arrived at 5pm so we didn't have much time to mingle with the crowd of hundred or so that turned out for this event. I did manage to find and speak to the one person I knew in the room: Russ Kraiterman of AJ Abrams Company. Russ has much enthusiasm and a special fondness for the HNU PI101 whose easy sales throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's made him a good living. He exclaimed: "PID's put my kids through college and they must have put you through college too"! I echoed with a "Yes, Yes". He said he saw my dad last month at the National Meeting in Montreal and couldn't believe the event we had to celebrate my dad's work with PID's and Industrial Hygiene was two years ago. Russ was one of the first manufacturer's representatives to have the HNU portable photoionizer line. He said he sometimes misses the analog units. I told him that I think alot of people do and that we still service a surprising number of these thirty and forty year old analyzers. 

We were asked to take our seats and were introduced to each of the three vendors who were supporting this meeting by way of sponsorship. I thought this was great to have vendors in the meeting room. In fact, don't be surprised to see me at a vendor table at an upcoming NEAIHA meeting showing off our PID's, confined space entry analyzers and portable GC's. I introduced myself to Bart Ellingsen, NEAIHA Past President and Debra Gursha, NEAIHA Secretary and expressed my interest in participating in this marketing genius, I mean sponsorship opportunity. 

I tweeted this picture above from the meeting: Jennifer Maclachlan ‏@pidgirl

15h

A special treat: listening to Joe Lstiburek speak at #NEAIHA #IAQA joint meeting in Waltham, MA #awesome I should have also included #ticketyboo in my tweet and if you went to the meeting you'd know what I mean. I can tell you that I am now a fan of Joe Lstiburek mostly because I admire his presentation stage presence but also because he is funny as hell.

It was worth the ride, worth the hectic rush from volunteering a double shift at field day at my daughter's elementary school (in the rain) to attend this meeting. I look forward to participating in upcoming events with the NEAIHA folks as well as continued cooperation between the AIHA and IAQA with respect to the registry that they are developing.

PO 129 #AIHCE Wednesday may 22, 2013 

Real-Time Detection Methods and Systems for Extremely Dangerous Atmospheres and Emergency Response

WEDNESDAY | 10:00 A.M.-NOON

Real-Time Detection Systems Committee Meeting in Montreal 5/20/13

Topics:
Incident Preparedness & Response, Real-Time Detection Systems, #RTDSC

Arranger/Moderator: P. Smith, OSHA, Sandy, UT. Arranger: J. Hill, Alameda, CA. Monitors: P. Owens, Shell Martinez Refinery, Martinez, CA;  J. Wallace, ExxonMobil Production Company, Houston, TX.

10:00 a.m.-10:30 a.m.
CS-129-01 Counterterrorism and Industrial Hygiene: Applying Real-Time WMD Detection Technologies and Countermeasures in a Mass Transit Environment — A Case Study. C. Burrus, MTA/NYC Transit, Brooklyn, NY.

10:30 a.m.-11:00 a.m.
SR-129-02 Development of Methods for a Portable Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer for Rapid On-Site Measurements of Fumigants. M. Elliott, A. Foote, NIOSH, Cincinnati, OH.

11:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
CS-129-03 Cold Vapor Atomic Fluorescence Spectroscopy: A New Approach to Mercury Vapor Analysis. G. Rowe, Arizona Instrument LLC, Chandler, AZ.

11:30 a.m.-Noon
SR-129-04 An Air Analysis Method for Extremely Toxic Atmospheres. J. Driscoll, PID Analyzers, LLC, Sandwich, MA; P. Smith, OSHA, Salt Lake City, UT.

Click here to view afternoon session of Real-Time Detection Systems programming at this meeting