Quebec-based research organization IRSST recently released a Web-based support tool intended to help industrial hygienists and occupational health and safety professionals, including physicians, choose respiratory protection against bioaerosols in the workplace. The tool guides users through a six-step process and proposes appropriate respiratory protection based on the hazards associated with infectious or non-infectious bioaerosols present in the workplace and workers’ level of exposure. Users are asked to provide information on the sector for which the tool is being used; the risk group; the air-quality control level in the workplace; and the bioaerosol generation rate. Based on the parameters selected by the user, the tool helps determine the assigned protection factor (APF) and then presents a table of various respirators and corresponding APFs.

According to IRSST, the new tool, which is based on a control-banding model developed by the organization, can be used in a variety of sectors, including healthcare, agriculture, municipalities, and businesses.

Access the tool online.

For more information on IRSST, visit the organization’s home page.

On March 27, 2015, the Ministry of Jobs, Skills, Training and Labour opened the 2015 competition for the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Futures – Research Funding Program.

 OHS Futures is a research funding program to help support a better understanding of occupational health and safety issues in Alberta’s workplaces.  This program will enhance the partnership between the OHS program and experts across our province and Canada to make better policy for the issues of today and the emerging issues of tomorrow.

 OHS Futures is accepting research applications for projects to support the prevention of injury, illness and occupational disease in Alberta workplaces. The program is designed to increase the transparency of funding and assist in engaging researchers and other stakeholders in addressing the long term health and safety of Alberta’s workers and workplaces.

 OHS Futures started in 2014 and is distributing up to $1 million per year for three years for approved research projects. Results of the 2014 competition are posted on the OHS Futures website: work.alberta.ca/OHSFutures[work.alberta.ca].

 For the 2015 competition, the OHS Futures research priorities are grouped in two main categories: Broad OHS Themes and Specific Hazards, Health Outcomes, Populations, and Impacts.

 The Broad OHS Themes are:

 Work-Related Surveillance, Data, and Metrics

• Programs, Initiatives, and Evaluation

 The Specific Hazards, Health Outcomes, Populations, and Impacts are:

 Work-related Chemical, Biological and/or Physical Hazards

• Work-Related Psychological Hazards
• Work-Related Health Outcomes
• Interest Populations
• Economic Impact

The application package consists of an online application and application supplement. It is now available on the OHS Futures website: work.alberta.ca/OHSFutures[work.alberta.ca]. The submission deadline is June 1, 2015.

Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact .

A new document published by NIOSH focuses on engineering controls for pavement-milling machines that can be used to reduce occupational exposures to respirable crystalline silica. The publication, which was developed through the Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership, represents more than ten years of collaborative research by labor, industry, and government to reduce silica exposure during asphalt pavement milling in highway construction.

According to NIOSH, approximately 367,000 U.S. workers employed in highway, street, and bridge construction are at risk of exposure to respirable crystalline silica. Many of these workers use or work in close proximity to cold-milling machines, which have toothed, rotating cutters that grind and remove asphalt pavement. The document provides recommendations to reduce silica dust exposure, including ventilation controls in addition to water sprays used to cool the cutting teeth of the milling machines.

The new publication also includes case studies in which NIOSH and its partners evaluated the effectiveness of changes in water spray applications on multiple job sites. Studies showed that worker exposure to silica from asphalt milling operations was lessened when machines used this dust control approach.

View the publication on NIOSH’s website.

The Silica/Asphalt Milling Machine Partnership was formed in 2003 and is coordinated by the National Asphalt Pavement Association. The partnership includes paving contractors; organizations such as the International Union of Operating Engineers and the Association of Equipment Manufacturers; government agencies such as OSHA, NIOSH, and the Federal Highway Administration; and all U.S. and foreign manufacturers of heavy construction equipment that currently sell pavement-milling machines to the U.S. market.

On February 11, 2015 the federal government announced that the Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) legislation has been updated to align with the Globally Harmonized System for Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS).  This legislation comes into effect today but there is a transition period during which suppliers and employers will be able to comply with the old (WHMIS 1988) or new (WHMIS 2015) systems.  For more information, please refer to our bulletin Changes to WHMIS Legislation, available online at http://work.alberta.ca/documents/OHS-Bulletin-CH009.pdf.

ASTM International recently published a new standard that provides a method for making valid exposure measurements for crystalline silica exposures in industry. According to ASTM, the Standard Test Method for Measurement of Respirable Crystalline Silica in Workplace Air by Infrared Spectrometry “specifies a generic sampling and analytical method for measurement of the mass concentration of respirable crystalline silica in workplace air using infrared spectrometric methods.” The standard is intended for use by agencies concerned with health and safety at work; industrial hygienists and other public health professionals; analytical laboratories; and industrial users of silica-containing products and their workers.

For more information, visit ASTM’s website.