The occupational health and safety profession includes many sub-disciplines, including occupational hygienists.  Currently there are no Canadian jurisdictions that legally regulate occupational hygienists. Consequently, anyone can call themselves an occupational hygienist and offer such services, some have the required skills, knowledge, and training to protect workers, others do not, which can put workers at risk.  The new Alberta Society of Health and Safety Professionals (ASHSP) is a provincial society aimed at regulating occupational health and safety professionals in Alberta, including occupational hygienists.   We need Alberta Certified Industrial Hygienists, Registered Occupational Hygienists, Registered Occupational Hygiene Technologists, and anyone with the intention of seeking these professional designations to buy a ASHSP membership and help us make this a reality.  We are tired of talking about “licensing occupational hygienists” in Alberta, it is time for action.  All ASHSP members are invited to the ASHSP Annual General Meeting:

www.ashsp.ca

April 28^th, 2018

1:30 pm – 4:30 pm

University of Alberta, Lister Centre-Aurora Room

Located at 87 Avenue and 116 Street, Edmonton, Alberta

The Alberta Ministry of Labour is announcing its fifth year of the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Futures – Research Funding Program. OHS Futures formalizes the way researchers, institutions, industry, and labour organizations across Canada access funding for OHS research. The program links government with experts for the purpose of enhancing OHS knowledge and capacity within the province.

OHS Futures is accepting Notices of Intent for projects that support the prevention of occupational injury, illness, and disease in Alberta workplaces. The notice of intent submission period opens today (the Notice of Intent fillable form is available on the OHS Futures website[work.alberta.ca]) and closes March 19, 2018.

• Please note that if you do not submit a Notice of Intent you will not be eligible to apply for OHS Futures grant funding.
• Once the Notice of Intent is submitted, it will be reviewed to ensure that it is complete, that the proposed research project meets the eligibility criteria and research priorities, and that the proposed research is pertinent to workers and workplaces in Alberta.
• Success at this stage will result in an invitation to submit an application. The invitation to submit a full application form does not guarantee funding. A completed application is required, and will be adjudicated accordingly.
• OHS Program staff are here to provide feedback on your Notice of Intent and to mentor you through the application process. Meetings will be set up to discuss your research idea prior to you completing the full application.

Please visit the OHS Futures website[work.alberta.ca] for information on research priorities, the grant agreement, applicant eligibility, the review process, data sharing, and the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act under which the information you provide is being collected.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Dr. Karina Thomas at 

SEEKING EXTERNAL REVIEWERS

We are seeking external reviewers for our OHS Futures applications. If you know of graduate students (Ph.D. preferred) or post-doctoral students in fields related to occupational disease and injury prevention who would be willing and able to review applications and fill out our standardized review form, please let us know or have them contact us at  to indicate their interest and provide us with their CV. Reviews are expected to occur between the months of May and July 2018.

Dr. Lisa Ross-Rodriguez, MSc, PhD

Director | Occupational Disease and Injury Prevention

OHS Policy and Program Development | Alberta Labour

Phone: 780.638.1069 | Cell: 780.690.0410 | Fax: 780.644.2100

8th Floor Labour Building, 10808-99 Ave | Edmonton, AB  T5K 0G5

“The University of Alberta has a study on the health effects of welding fumes. The University is presently recruiting professional welders to collect one air and one urine sample for the study. To be eligible the welders have to be male, must have 10 years experience, and have no known health issues. If you know any company that could be interested in participating or if you are an occupational hygienist/health and safety professional for a company employing welders and you are interested, please contact Dr. Bernadette Quemerais by email at  or by phone at 780-492-3240 and they will send you more information about the study.”

Proposed Changes to the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines and Possible Impacts Based on a Case Study of Lead in Drinking Water in the Lower Mainland

By Chris Taylor

In January, Health Canada announced a proposed change to numerous compound standards in the Canadian Drinking Water Guidelines. While there are several items of note, of particular impact may be the proposed changes to the lead standard.

The current standard is an allowable level of 0.01 mg/L taken from a “flushed” sample where the water runs for a set period of time; the proposed standard drops this to 0.005 mg/L for locations such as schools and requires that the sample (in most instances) now be taken from the “static” sample or from the initial draw of the water.

Based on the data we have collected over the years for various clients, this change will be very significant. To illustrate, we reviewed hundreds of samples collected in the lower mainland during 2016 after lead in drinking water in schools became a very public issue.

As a firm, our policy has been to routinely collect static samples along with flushed samples as a means of helping diagnose whether or not potential lead contamination was coming from the municipal water supply, or from within the interior water systems of the building. In this particular area, the municipal water systems reported testing regularly for lead – but only using the flushed collection method (with all reported results being below the current guideline). In reviewing our data, while we did find several schools where lead-containing piping/fixtures were having an impact on delivered water quality, nearly all static samples collected nearest the municipal source were returning results above the existing guideline. Suspecting an issue related to the municipal systems, we were able to collect samples from outdoor hydrants extremely close to the connection points to the municipal systems and again, a very high percentage exceeded the current guideline in the static sample.

Based on this data set, and our experience in other jurisdictions, we know that if all Health Canada did was change the standard by changing from flushed to static samples, let alone cutting the standard in half, essentially all the drinking water in that region would fail the guideline. Based on other, more limited, data that we have collected, this would likely be the case in most municipalities. While it is difficult to debate a standard that is being proposed to better protect children, the logistical impacts of this change, we feel, will be significant and costly. Forewarned is forearmed.

 

Chris Taylor is Regional Practice Leader – OHS for Western Canada for Pinchin Ltd.

The School of Public Health at the University of Alberta is always looking for field practicum opportunities for Master of Public Health students specializing in Environmental & Occupational Health. Some students are interested in Workplace Health and Safety broadly  others in Occupational Hygiene specifically. We are interested in connections with companies/institutions interested in hosting these MPH students. The practicum is a minimum of 13 weeks full-time and is typically completed during the spring/summer term – beginning in early May. Occupational Hygiene placements should be supervised by a qualified occupational hygienist. Workplace Health & Safety placements could be supervised by other appropriate individuals. Companies or institutions interested in exploring this are encouraged to contact either Bernadette Quemerais at  or Ruth Wolfe at .”