Program
Keynote Speakers
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Thomas H. Gassert
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, USA Title Burden of Occupational Disease, Climate, the Pandemic and Planetary Health: Roadmap to Universal Occupational Health Coverage (UOHC) through Basic OH ServiceBiographyDr. Gassert is board certified in Occupational & Environmental Medicine (OEM) and Internal Medicine, and has worked as an Occupational (Industrial) Hygienist. He has been an instructor and a professor of medicine at Harvard University, Dartmouth College, Boston University, and University of Massachusetts, and staff member of their affiliated hospitals. Since 1995, he has been with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the OEM residency program and in continuing education for industrial hygienists. His main interest is education in OEM and hygiene.
His work experience has included worker injuries and illnesses, medical surveillance, disability cases, work-site investigations, and medical-legal cases as expert witness. He has consulted in construction, mining, electronics, garments, pharmaceuticals, and other manufacturing and service industries, including hospitals and healthcare work and biomedical research on infectious disease.
He has visited and at times worked in Asia-Pacific region since 1975. While in Hong Kong 1980-1985 he authored a detailed handbook on health hazards in electronics manufacturing. He has published on occupational asthma and on toxicology of the 1984 gassing incident at Bhopal, India, the world’s worst industrial disaster. During 2020-21, he has advised extensively on SARS-2 pandemic prevention and response as an occupational disease.
In Asia and Africa, Dr. Gassert has conducted training in OEM, nursing, hygiene and safety in Thailand, China mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, Mongolia, India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Vietnam, India, South Korea, Cambodia and Lao PDR, Fiji Islands, South Africa, Saudi Arabia. This has included technical expert service to the U.N. WHO Western Pacific Region to consult and to conduct basic occupational health services (BOHS) training, and to help develop a WPR initiative for a five-year 2020-2025 Action Plan for Workers’ Health to achieve Universal Occupational Health Coverage in line with the UN SDG-8 for Decent Work.AbstractThe global burden of disease (GBD) attributable to occupational and environmental health (OEH) risks is rapidly changing as traditional definitions of estimates must now account for the large and rapidly worsening impacts on working conditions of permanent manmade climate change and the hideous global SARS-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Climate is now a global crisis of children’s rights, our future workforce, and already poses serious worker health and safety challenges due to heat, drought, massive fires, floods, severe storms, sea rise, infectious disease outbreaks, human migration, civil strife, and wars. Most pronounced perhaps is the impact and downstream effects on migrant workers and refugees looking for work, within and among nations. The COVID-19 pandemic is also an occupational disease (OD) of widespread death and disruption for workers and their families, as well as to businesses. Indeed, our home, the Earth itself, is in peril if we do not integrate and align OEH practices with a farsighted view to protect Planetary Health, not just of humans, but of the natural world that sustains us.
More locally, each day reports of preventable industrial disasters fill the news media, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). While examples abound of excellent technical and legal remedies, we cannot survive if we do not collaborate globally and locally within a framework and vision that protects the homeland, our planet and its resources and ecosystems. This will require a paradigm shift from current socioeconomic industrial practices that are based on exploitation more than restoration of natural and human resources.
How do we grasp a practical sense of our individual roles in collectively achieving a brighter, more just and healthier future for the world’s 7.8 billion people, and for its projected 11 billion in the year 2100 when newborns today reach age 80? Now, 62% (age 15+) of the global population work, nearly half of them in Asia and the Pacific. The 10 worst CO2-emitting nations, including China, USA, Russia and Japan (with exception of India) suffer the least impact, whereas 33 of the poorest nations emit the least amount of CO2 yet are suffering the most from climate change. COVID-19 vaccines have barely reached 17% of the world’s people, and the virulence of emerging variants requires a minimum of 85-90% herd immunity to drive down the pandemic.
Globally, only about 20% of workers on average have access to basic occupational health services (BOHS), and most who do have access reside in wealthier nations. BOHS includes occupational hygiene and safety services, and hazard controls, which is “where the money is” for smart industries, large and small. The global response to the pandemic has shown us that in the face of disaster that knows no boundaries, we can unite and respond effectively. Remedies are discoverable and can work if applied broadly and equitably. We have learned so much from the SARS-2 pandemic that can be applied in many areas of OSH practice. Similarly, there are many remedies for climate change mitigation. And, if we seriously address the burden of OD for workers, with a truthful vision to achieve clean, safe and environmentally sustainable industries and jobs, this itself would go a long way to help mitigate manmade climate change and to restore planetary health. So, why is there not a global collaborative movement by industry leaders, employers and investors toward a “vision zero” for occupational diseases?
We have the answers and the means. There is still a chance for human and planetary survival. But do we have the will, individually and collectively? Collective action breeds hope and inspires. It requires more than technology. It requires a symphony of applied systems, a new renaissance of industrial designs and practices. But this can only work if done in the context of a global code of ethics, equity and justice that does no harm and leaves no one behind.
What is the framework within which to see our individual and collective roles when it comes to eliminating poverty, achieving basic health services for all including workers, providing productive, safe, decent work, and mitigating the devastating effects of climate change? There are four key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs 1, 3, 8 and 13) for 2030 endorsed by the UN in 2015 that are directly pertinent to the practice of occupational hygiene and safety as experts in primary prevention of occupational disease: SDG-1 eliminate poverty; SDG-3 universal health coverage; SDG-8 decent productive work for all; and SDG-13 climate change mitigation. The ILO has also provided key OSH and OHS framework guidance for all 193 UN member states.
Recently, member states of the UN Western Pacific Region, convened an initiative to generate both regional and national occupational health profiles, and defined the term Universal Occupational Health Coverage (UOHC) as a critical component not clearly stated in SDG-3 (universal health coverage), for without recognizing the explicit need for BOHS, SDG-3 cannot be achieved. Foundational to UOHC and BOHS is a standard legal framework, recognition of the ILO classification of occupational diseases as ICD-10 diagnoses, adoption of global hazard exposure standards and hazard communication, and training of hygienists and safety professionals, nurses and doctors in the practice of OEH, disaster prevention, and infectious disease – all with a view eventually to generate centers of OHS and OEH excellence in public health institutions and medical schools so that eventually each nation or local region can be self-sustaining in hazard controls, worker health services and environmental protection.
By integrating our existing and evolving skills, and inspiring our collective wills, to apply remedies learned from the global burden of OD, and from the climate and pandemic challenges, we can formulate a roadmap to achieve the 2030 SDGs for UOHC and BOHS for all workers that also realizes during this next generation of our children a “great transition” needed to preserve planetary health. It falls to us, to the OEH and safety design professionals to lead the way – now. As the Swedish child activist for climate Greta Thunberg said of today’s adults, “The eyes of all future generations are on you.” It will be very exciting if we can organize our efforts and collectively meet this greatest challenge of our time – worker and planetary health! -
Wouter Fransman
Senior Research Scientist, Department of Risk Analysis for Products in Development at TNO, Netherlands Title Innovative methods & tooling to stimulate healthy working with hazardous substancesPromotional Video ClipBiographyDr. Wouter Fransman is senior research scientist at the department of Risk Analysis for Products in Development at TNO in The Netherlands. His main fields of interest are exposure assessment in epidemiology and exposure assessment for risk assessment / risk management. He has extensive knowledge in measuring and assessing (occupational) exposure and statistical modeling, and is involved in a wide variety of projects on modeling of exposure variability. He coordinates studies on measuring exposure in different (work) situations and designing exposure / risk assessment models based on these measurement data. He has >90 peer reviewed publications in the areas of risk assessment, occupational exposure assessment and epidemiology -
Melissa Friesen
Senior Investigator, National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA Title The Importance of Exposure Science in Identifying Causes of Cancer and Other Health EffectsPromotional Video ClipBiographyDr. Friesen is a Senior Investigator in the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch at the U.S. National Cancer Institute. Prior to joining the NCI in 2009, she completed her graduate studies in occupational and environmental health at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and postdoctoral studies at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, and at the University of California at Berkeley. Dr. Friesen's research has focused on quantitative assessment strategies to minimize exposure misclassification in occupational epidemiologic studies. She has focused on improving exposure estimates, evaluating the robustness of exposure-response relationships to exposure assessment strategies, and using statistical models for both developing exposure metrics and evaluating their exposure-response relationships. By using more refined and more proximal exposure measures, her research has resulted in quantitative exposure-response relationships for several exposure-disease associations that have not previously been published.AbstractThe interdisciplinary field of exposure science, which includes knowledge of chemistry, biology, statistics and epidemiology, is a crucial component of identifying causes of cancer and other health effects in humans using epidemiologic studies. This talk will focus on state-of-the-art approaches used in population-level studies of cancer and chronic diseases. This includes new approaches for occupational data collection from study participants and linking their questionnaire responses to measurement-based exposure estimates to derive exposure estimates for their entire working life that can be used in epidemiologic studies. To illustrate this, two case studies will be presented: exposure to metalworking fluids and bladder cancer risk and exposure to biologically active dusts in agricultural settings (e.g., endotoxin) and lung cancer risk. -
Marianne Levitsky
Founding President, Workplace Health Without Borders, Canada Title No borders – New Meanings: COVID-19 Lessons for Occupational HygienistsPromotional Video ClipBiographyMarianne Levitsky was founding President of Workplace Health Without Borders, a non-profit organization that engages volunteers in promoting occupational health for workers everywhere. A senior associate with ECOH, an Ontario consulting firm, she was previously Director, Prevention Best Practices in the Ontario Workplace Safety and Insurance Board, an occupational hygienist with the Ontario Ministry of Labour, and a co-founder of the Toronto Workers’ Health and Safety Legal Clinic. She is adjunct faculty at the University of Toronto and was a member of the Toronto Board of Health. Marianne has received the Hugh Nelson award for excellence in occupational hygiene from the Occupational Hygiene Association of Ontario and the Yant Award from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). She has served as chair of the AIHA International Affairs Committee and is an AIHA Fellow and Distinguished Lecturer.Abstract“Without Borders” implies overcoming boundaries - transcending the limits that restrict us to our own countries, cultures and perspectives. As members of a small profession with its own distinctive culture, Occupational Hygienists have had to transcend borders of many kinds, in efforts to cross-pollinate with other disciplines in an exchange of scientific perspectives. Perhaps no experience has taught us this more unequivocally than the COVID-19 pandemic. We have had to learn unfamiliar paradigms and different ways of looking at disease prevention in multi-disciplinary efforts that brought us together with aerosol scientists, engineers, infection control experts and health care professionals. This path has not been without conflict, as many of us have learned in debates over PPE and aerosol transmission. We have also learned the value of cultural humility, and what the so-called “developed” nations can learn from colleagues all over the world. We have also had to confront the inequities in disease prevention internationally and within our own countries. This talk will build on the experience of Workplace Health Without Borders, an all-volunteer non-profit organization, in exploring these ideas. -
Anh Tho Nguyen
Deputy Director General, Department of Work Safety under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs, Vietnam Title Experiences Implementating the Law on Occupational Safety and Health and Building a Safe Society in VietnamPromotional Video ClipBiographyProfile:
Over 24 years experience in OSH policies development with core competencies in:
• Occupational safety and health Law Development;
• Occupational safety and health technical regulation development;
• National Programme on Labour Protection, occupational safety and health;
• OSH policies Devolopment
• Labour Protection including occupational safety and health;
• OSH traning to Employers, employees and OSH trainers, OSHofficers ;
• Safety technical regulation on mining; and Quarry, equipments, PPE.
• PPE quality
Employment history:
This period covers full time employment in Bureau for Safe Work, MOLISA (96 – 2019); attended the Occupational Safety and Health Management Master Degree Course in Korea (2004 – 2006); deputy chief of Safey regulation department, Bureau for Safe Work (from June, 2007); Responsible for MOLISA WTO/TBT Notification authority and Inquiry point; Chief of Office of Bureau for Safe Work (from 2010 to 2012); from 01 January 2013 as Deputy General Director of Bureau for Safe Work, Ministry of Labour , Invalid and social Affairs and in charge to developing the OSH Law, Safety technical regulations and OSH training system.
Current Position:
As deputy general director of Bureau for Safe Work (from January, 2013); I am currently responsible for OSH Law Devolopment, MOLISA WTO/TBT Notification authority and Inquiry point; labour protection policies development; safety technical regulation development; A number of training materials, OSH traning material for employers, OSH training material on Mining, etc have been prepared in Vietnamese.AbstractLabour laws are promulgated in Vietnam from 1994. However, regulations about occupational safety and health are only one chapter in the labor laws. In the years of the 2000s, Vietnam's economy has grown very quickly, especially in the field of industrial production and construction, materials manufacture, quarrying, etc. In addition, must be considered the increased rapidity of small and medium enterprises, the number of this enterprises proportion more than 80% of the Vietnamese economy. So, the numbers of fatal accidents and diseases were increasing at construction sites and quarrying. In this context, the Occupational Safety and Health law (OSH law) were issued in 2015. The content and all the guidelines of this law, has focused on making the management regulations about safety to prevent accidents for employees at the workplaces. Moreover, regulations about risk assessment and controlling of hazards in workplaces also prescribed for the companies with a high risk. And, this regulation also prescribed for small and medium enterprises in Vietnam. After four years (from 2015 to now), the accident rate at workplaces has decreased in the sectors of quarrying, construction, materials manufacture, oil and gas. This indicates that OSH law and all the guidelines, regulations about system of accident prevention and occupational diseases, risk assessment and controlling of hazards in workplaces are actually being implemented effectively in Vietnam. -
Doo Yong Park
President, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA), Korea Title How can IH embrace new challenges in the post-COVID-19 world?Promotional Video ClipBiographyPresent Position
Korea Occupational Safety and Health (KOSHA)
Chair of OSH Committee of Economy, Social and Labor Council of KOREA
Professor at the Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Hansung University
Professional Experience
Director General of KOSHA Research Institute (OSHRI), 2006~2008
Immediate Past President of International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA), 2016~2017
Immediate Past President of Korea Industrial Hygiene Association (KIHA), 2015~2017
Past President of Asia Network of Occupational Hygiene (ANOH)AbstractThere have been raised a variety of emerging occupational safety and health (OSH) issues in every historical turning point. The years of 2020 would be recorded as another turning point in the OSH history since it faced a number of issues in the working environment, working ways, work-related culture and so on.
During the pandemic, the primary efforts focus on the prevention of epidemics, disinfection and quarantine against the COVID-19. However, soon after, we will face a great many of OSH issues beyond the COVID-19. Many of them were already emerged during the pandemic and it will be added newly emerged issues in the post-COVID-19 era.
Some of them can be resolved by the traditional industrial hygiene approaches but many of them cannot be. Thus it is necessary to explore new methodologies to transform to the age of the new normal. It will present on what is the impact of these new risks, and what are the future OSH challenges we face. Also, it will cover the topic on how we can embrace the newly emerged issues in this presentation. -
Jorma Rantanen
Professor, University of Helsinki, Finland Title Challenges to Professional Ethics in the Globalising World of WorkBiographyProfessor Jorma Rantanen, MD, PhDis researcher and specialist in occupational health.He made his PhD on radiation biology and biochemistry in 1973 (Radiation Injury of Connective Tissue. A biochemical investigation with experimental garnuloma). He specialized in occupational health in the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, FIOH. Until 2003 he served for 30 years as the Director General of theFIOH. He has served as the President of the International Commission on Occupational Health, ICOH for the tenures 2003-2006 and 2006-2009.
Dr Rantanen has experience in practical occupational health services, in clinical occupational medicine, clinical radiology, occupational toxicology and risk assessment, He has published about 500 research and professional (practice) articles. He is an author of several books and book chapters on occupational health,occupational medicine, radiation biology and toxicology, risk assessment, prevention of occupational cancer and during the recent years on research on work in the information society and professional networking. He has authored several textbooks and guidelines for training and education of OSH professionals on risk assessment, good occupational health and safety practices, basic occupational health services, prevention and health promotion, and guidelines for implementation of new legislations on occupational health and safety.AbstractProfessional ethics is a branch of applied ethics, which has its roots in the principles of antique Hippocrat (460-370 BC) then formalized and generalized by Plato (428?-348 BC) and Aristotele (384-322 BC). Today applied ethics is considered to have several branches, including Medical ethics, Bio-ethics, Cyber Ethics, Environmental Ethics, Personal Ethics, Professional Ethics, Public Ethics, International Ethics and so on.
Several professional organizations on occupational health and safety, including IOHA and ICOH, IEA, IALI have drawn codes of ethics or codes of conduct for the memberships. In these codes, the core principles in professional ethics have remained the same since times of Hippocrat, but certain variation in the contents are observed and a number of additional dimensions have been included in the course of development of the working life. The key principles found in the codes are:
• Autonomy: Respecting autonomy of the client
• Beneficence: Doing good: Protection of Life and obligation to help those in need
• Non-maleficence: Not doing bad, avoiding harm
• Objectivity: Basing judgements and decisions on evidence and or recognized professional experience
• Confidentiality: Keeping and protecting the individuals’ secrets
• Collegiality: Respecting fellow professionals
• Competence: Maintaining and continuously developing professional knowledge and skill
• Moderation of financial rewards in relation to service and the ability of the client to pay.
Numerous threats hurt the professional ethical principles in the contemporary world of work, for example:
• Value relativism
• Excessive competition
• Dominance of economic dimension
• High rhythm of work life
• New unexperienced events and activities
• Ethical incompetence
• Conflict between institutional/organizational ethics vs. professional ethics
• Dramatic business scandals (=collapses of business ethics) even in giant multinational corporations.
Several professionals have reported “ethical stress” at work due to conflict between their professional values and unethical principles of cultures of communities and organizations. Protecting professional ethics is not only the benefit of professionals themselves, but important for the whole international and national communities, enterprises, workers and public at large, i.e. common good. The seven guiding principles by the UK Government Chief Scientific Advisor, sir David King are.
• Act with skill and care, keep skills up to date
• Prevent corrupt practice and declare conflicts of interest
• Respect and acknowledge the work of other scientists
• Ensure that research is justified and lawful
• Minimise impacts on people, animals and the environment
• Discuss issues science raises for society
• Do not mislead; present evidence honestly.
High and up to date competence behind the professional independence and support by professional Associations, their ethics codes, support to members and collegial support by fellow-members are crucial in maintaining the principles of professional ethics in the contemporary globalizing world of work. International professional Associations in occupational health and safety should recognize their roles as guardians of professional ethics, they could collaborate more intensively in promotion of ethical dimension in the globalising world of work and provide support for the implementation of the key ethics principles in the everyday life of their memberships. -
Yogindra Samant
Chief Medical Officer, Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority, Norway Title The Changing Nature of Work Now and Beyond: Challenges for Occupational HealthPromotional Video ClipBiographyDr. Yogindra Samant is a trained physician and epidemiologist employed as a chief medical officer at the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority. He has Medical degree from University of Mumbai, India. A Master’s in Public health from the University of Minnesota, USA and a PhD. from the Norwegian University of Science Technology (NTNU), Norway.
Dr. Samant has been working in the fields of Occupational and Public Health for over 20 years as an researcher, practitioner and a policy-adviser. Dr. Samant represents the Norwegian government at the executive board of the European Agency for Occupational Safety and Health (EU OSHA), and also serves as an occupational health expert on several European, and Nordic Occupational Safety and Health initiatives. Dr. Samant is also an active member of the management board at the Norwegian Association of Occupational Medicine.
A significant amount of his work at this time involves chairing the Nordic Group on the Future of Work and Occupational Safety and Health where issues such as digitalization, climate change and migration are being addressed. Dr. Samant continues to work as a part-time as public health doctor engaged in control and prevention of environmental exposures in the local communities.AbstractThe world of work is changing, and changing at a rapid pace. New technologies, globalization , demographic changes along with climate change will continue to impact occupational health of working populations globally. The purpose is to provide a brief overview of the occupational health challenges that we face vis-à-vis Future of Work. The presentation will include some historical and contemporary background on how technology in the past, present and future is a bane and a boon for occupational health. Specifically we will look at issues of occupational health as it relates to digital platforms, but also other topics of relevance to the future of work. The presentation will conclude with challenges that future work poses for practitioners, regulators and researchers. -
Tzu-Lien Tzou
Director General, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Ministry of Labor, Taiwan Title Strategies to Improve Occupational Hygiene Capabilities for SMEsPromotional Video ClipBiographyProfessional Experience
Dr. Tzou was the Deputy Director General of Department of Labor, Taipei City Government from 2016 to 2017 and served as Director of Taipei City Labor Inspection Office from 2011 to 2016.
Dr. Tzou has been servicing OSH field for 30 years.
Education
Dr. Tzou received the Ph.D. degree from Department of Chemical Engineering, Loughborough University, UK and the M.Eng. degree in Chemical Engineering at University of Sheffield, UK.AbstractSmall and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) account for 97.6% of businesses in Taiwan, and they are important contributors to job creation and economic development. However, SMEs often have higher rates of occupational accidents and worse working environment compared to large enterprises due to the limited resources. To improve the problems and promote occupational hygiene capabilities for SMEs, tiered management based on risk ranking and multiple approaches of compliance inspection, counseling and outreach programs have adopted by Occupational safety and Health Administration of the Ministry of Labor in Taiwan (Taiwan OSHA).
In respect of chemical management, Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSH Act) has introduced the tools of chemical control banding for exposure assessment. To master the patterns about how to carry out the exposure assessment by enterprises, there are multiple ways utilized including propaganda, counseling and on-site visiting by professional counselors. From 2016 to 2019, Taiwan OSHA has collected patterns from more than 10,000 SMEs. Furthermore, Taiwan OSHA has devised a special subsidy program to assist SMEs to employ or contract medical personnel to conduct occupational health services in accordance with OSH Act.
In the so-called 3D (difficult, dirty and dangerous) traditional manufacturing industry, Taiwan OSHA assists SMEs to improve the working environment by site counseling and subsidies providing up to US$ 80,000 for each enterprise. From 2014 to 2019, Taiwan OSHA has cooperated with three industries: casting, surface treatment, and dyeing and finishing of textile industry, encouraged more than 150 enterprises to build the working environment safer and healthier, promoted industry investment that totals about US$89 million, and approved subsidies of nearly US$4.33 million.
Special Lectures
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Session chair Jinjoo Chung (Korea)
Karen Messing
Professor, University of Quebec at Montreal, Canada Title Making workplaces safer for women: Gathering data & developing strategies Live QA Schedule09:30 -10:00 PM, 13 September (KST)Promotional Video ClipBiographyKaren Messing is an ergonomics researcher at the CINBIOSE research centre and professor emerita in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Québec in Montréal, Canada. She is the author of Bent Out of Shape: Shame, Solidarity and Women’s Bodies at Work (2021), Pain and Prejudice: What Science Can Learn About Work from the People Who Do It (2014) and One-eyed Science: Occupational Health and Working Women (1998). She has received various awards such as Officer status in the Order of Canada (2020), the Governor General of Canada award for contributions to women's well-being (2009) and the William P. Yant Award (2014) from the American Industrial Hygiene Association for contributions to industrial hygiene. Her current research concerns the interface between gender, biology and occupational health, and the identification of factors that facilitate or hinder incorporating a gender perspective in ergonomic analysis. -
Session chair Thomas Fuller (USA)
Rafael Moure-Eraso
Professor, University of Massachusetts Lowell, USA Title Catastrophic Investigations:The Fallacy of Human Error Live QA Schedule10:00 -10:30 PM, 14 September (KST)Promotional Video ClipBiographyRafael Moure-Eraso earned graduate degrees in chemical engineering and a Ph.D. in environmental and occupational health. He has taught occupational and environmental health for 23 years at UMass Lowell. During his career he consulted full time in occupational health matters for two international labor unions (UAW, OCAW) for 15 years. He served the Obama administration as chair of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board in Washington DC for five years (2010-15). He is a Fulbright Scholar and have taught Process Safety Management and Mayor Accident Investigation Methods in various international venues (Thailand, Australia, Mexico and Colombia). He is a naturalized US citizen from Colombia.Abstract"Human error" concepts (the finding of culprits) is a fallacy that create difficulties to professional investigations of root causes of disasters (Train wrecks, plane accidents and industrial major fires and explosions). Drawing on experiences of directing fire and explosion investigations at the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard investigation Board (CSB) for 5 years (2010-15), Dr. Moure-Eraso will discuss 3 major disasters (train derailment , Quebec, 2013, refinery fire, Richmond CA, 2012, West , TX town destruction, 2013).
The problems of finding blame as a serious obstacle to learn lessons for prevention will be explored. It is either: Blame or Learn
The accident investigation methods will describe contributions of Industrial Hygiene concepts in CSB work, such as, inherently Safer Technologies (ISTs) and Hierarchy of Controls. An application to a major refinery accident will illustrate IH applications. -
Session chair Seshananda Sanjel(Nepal)
Gurumurthy Ramachandran
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, USA Title Data, Professional Judgment, and Modeling in Occupational Exposure Assessment Live QA Schedule09:30 -10:00 PM, 15 September (KST)Promotional Video ClipBiographyDr. Gurumurthy “Ram” Ramachandran is a Professor in the Department of Environmental Health and Engineering in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University. He is also the Director of the Johns Hopkins Education and Research Center for Occupational Safety and Health funded by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). He has conducted research in various areas relating to human exposure assessment in occupational, residential, and outdoor settings. His research has included the development of occupational exposure assessment strategies for airborne contaminants, mathematical modeling, and statistical analysis including Bayesian methods. He teaches courses on measurement of airborne contaminants and human exposure assessment. He has served as a member of the Board of Scientific Counselors to the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and advisory committees for the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA). He is also serving on the editorial boards of the Annals of Work Exposures and Health, and the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. He has a Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, a Master's degree in Environmental Engineering, and a Ph. D. in Environmental Sciences and Engineering from the University of North Carolina.AbstractExposure underestimates are a professional and ethical issue for Industrial Hygienists. This presentation will discuss the lack of adequate monitoring data for decision-making in industrial hygiene (IH), the over-reliance on professional judgment, and the limitations of professional judgments including their poor accuracy. It will discuss approaches and tools including the use of heuristics and mathematical models to improve the accuracy of professional judgment in industrial hygienists. The use of distributed low cost networks for monitoring will be discussed as another possible approach and the ethical implications of this. -
Session chair Eun-A Kim (Korea)
Laurence Svirchev
Svirchev OHS Management Systems, Canada Title The International Trajectory of SARS-CoV-2 & COVID-19 from Localized Epidemic in Wuhan China to Pandemic End-Phase Live QA Schedule10:00 -10:30 PM, 13 September (KST)Promotional Video ClipBiographyLaurence Svirchev, CIH, has a four-decade career in Occupational Health and Safety spanning occupational cancer epidemiological research as an occupational hygienist at the British Columbia Canada Cancer Agency, a Health and Safety Officer and Fatalities Investigator at the Workers' Compensation Board of BC, and as the OHS Manager for large Chinese Infrastructure Construction companies building hydro-electric infrastructure in Fiji, Niger, Indonesia and Pakistan. He was a member of the BC SARS Scientific Committee in 2002. He has a long history of volunteer work in the International Affairs Committee of the American Industrial Hygiene Association. He holds a BSc from the Montana School of Mines in Occupational Health and Safety and an MA from Royal Roads University in Disaster and Emergency Management. He also spent four years investigating the geological and social effects of the 2008 Ms 8.0 Wenchuan earthquake in Sichuan China with the Chengdu University of Technology. He was a member of the International Scientific Committee, 2018 IOHA Conference, Washington DC and the present IOHA Korea Conference. Mr. Svirchev has authored and co-authored 17 peer-reviewed articles in the industrial hygiene, disaster management, and geology literature. -
Session chair Perng-Jy Tsai (Taiwan)
Ying-Fang Wang
Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan Title Application of Sensor, IoT and Big Data for Occupational Exposure Assessment Live QA Schedule10:30 -11:00 PM, 13 September (KST)BiographyYing-Fang Wang is an assistant professor in the Department of Occupational Safety and Health, Chung Shan Medical University, Taiwan.
My research interests include developing exposure assessment methods for hazard materials and control strategy in the variety areas of occupational health, such as long-term multiple chemical exposure assessment and control techniques of nanoparticle exposure assessment.
I have a strong interest in developing long-term exposure assessment technology and application in the workplace. My recent work was focusing on development of smart monitoring system for workplace hazardous materials, such as developing gas sensing devices and computation analyzing technology to characterize exposure conditions and combined with gas sensor continuous monitoring and indoor positioning technology to conduct personal long-term exposure.AbstractThis presentation will share the experience of building a smart monitoring system and a smart monitoring method for workplace hazardous materials and for determining health risk of worker in Taiwan. How to build a workplace environmental monitoring system, developing sensing devices for different product combinations, and use IoT technology to collect monitoring data for subsequent calculation and analysis of the huge amount of data for workplace hazardous materials will illustrate the application. -
Session chair Mohammed Virji (USA)
Chungsik Yoon
Seoul National University, Korea Title Aerosol, Bioaerosol, and Mask Live QA Schedule10:00 -10:30 PM, 15 September (KST) Presentation MaterialPromotional Video ClipBiographyHe is a professor of the Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University and president of the Korean Industrial Hygiene Association
He has published more than 150 peer reviewed papers. He also published many papers on the respirators used in workplace and for general citizens.
Recently, his research area includes nanomaterial assessment of the consumer as well as workers and health hazards in the semiconductor industry and liquid crystal display industry. He is also studying how to deal with unknown risks in the workplace.AbstractIn the age of Covid-19, interest in the use of masks is increasing.
Different countries have different standards for masks and also different wearing guidelines for Covid-19. Also, there are disagreements about wearing masks to protect the health of ordinary citizens and workers. This lecture will provide information on the comparison of mask standards in many countries and the performance of masks on aerosols and bioaerosols. In particular, it will explain the difference between WHO's droplet definition (including its inadequacy) and aerosols defined by environmental health and occupational health realm, and explain the results of existing studies on how much filtration efficiency a mask has for bio aerosols.
This lecture will provide accurate information about facts that occupational health professionals know superficially or are inaccurate. Therefore, after listening to this lecture, the listeners can learn about aerosols and bio-aerosols, and knowledge of the proper use of masks. -
Session chair Seong-Kyu Kang (Korea)
Renate Lemke
ROHT (SAIOH), South Africa Title [Co-Presentation] Enabling better protection of workers and managing exposure risks at remote mining sites in Africa Live QA Schedule09:30 -10:00 PM, 14 September (KST)BiographyRenate Lemke, ROHT (SAIOH) is an Occupational Hygiene Advisor and Hazardous Substances Coordinator for Rössing Uranium mine located in Namibia. She is responsible for occupational hygiene at Rössing Uranium Ltd. heading programs involving hazardous materials, managing various occupational hygiene stressor programs as well as the monitoring and awareness training aspects of each program.
Renate has over 12 years’ experience in the mining industry. She began her career as a Fisheries Research Technician at the National Marine Information and Research Centre of Namibia working on the commercial hake fisheries for 4 years. Her interest in occupational hygiene was sparked after she moved to the mining industry, shortly thereafter she enrolled for several short courses in the field of Occupational Health and Safety and later pursued a full-time career in Occupational Hygiene.
She is a Registered Occupational Hygiene Technologist with the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH) since 2016. Renate received her BSc with a double major in Microbiology & Physiological Biology and Environmental Biology from the University of Namibia. In 2020 she received her BSc HONS in Occupational Hygiene from the University of Pretoria in South Africa.AbstractBackground
Respirable dust and respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust is a well-known occupational health hazard across several industries. Employee exposure to RCS/quartz dust, occurs in several occupational environments and industrial settings. Crushing, drilling, grinding, masonry, concrete work, sandblasting, and mining of silica containing rocks, soil, and sand results in the generation of RCS dust. Harmful effects of exposure to RCS include the risk of developing serious diseases such as silicosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease.
In order to protect employees from the harmful effects of RCS, effective and timely exposure monitoring and sample analysis is essential. Conventional monitoring techniques consists of placing a flow pump with sampling media attached within the workplace or in the breathing zone of the worker. After collecting the dust on a filter, gravimetric and subsequent chemical analysis is performed on the filter. The constraints with this are that it is a time-consuming and costly process. Traditional analysis methods may present a time lag of weeks before exposure data is received. The turnaround time is constrained by the distance between the sampling site and the laboratory, transport arrangements to the site, as well as the workload of the specific laboratory. Mining sites located in remote areas often need to send samples to a significantly distanced geographic location or even a different country due to the unavailability of appropriate laboratory facilities. This means that crucial results, especially in the case of exposures that exceed the permissible levels are delayed. Real-time and near real-time monitoring can be the solution to this. Nanozen developed a personal dust monitor, the DustCount 9000. This unit can be worn by employees or placed within the work area. An optical particle counter and size separating part provides dust mass concentrations in real-time. During sampling, the DustCount contains a sampling filter that can be removed for additional gravimetric and chemical analysis. The United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a non-destructive analytical method to quantify respirable crystalline silica (RCS) deposited on sampling filters, at the end of a shift (EoS), at site where sample collection has occurred. A portable FTIR Spectrometer is used to analyse the dust collected on the sampling filter. This provides the end user with a near-real time RCS content quantification.
Aims
The primary intent of the studies conducted were to understand whether the newly developed personal airborne dust sampling technology (Nanozen DustCount 9000), can provide sufficient accuracy and precision when employed to quantify full-shift worker respirable dust exposure mass concentrations. Additionally, to test the suitability of the new analytical technique developed by NIOSH in relation to a conventional analytical technique (X-Ray Diffraction).
Study Design
Areas of concern at 2 different mines in Africa were selected based on the nature of operations and historical exposure data to test this technology.
To meet the study intent, a sampling methodology was created whereby conventional sampling which consists of a standard flow pump fitted with a cyclone and filter cassette would be carried out alongside sampling using the DustCount 9000. Sampling occurred in a “side by side” fashion meaning a conventional sampling pump and a DustCount 9000 were fitted simultaneously to the same worker and sampling was carried out over a large proportion of the work shift whilst the worker being sampled was carrying out normal work duties. To validate the data, conventional sampling results were compared with historical sampling data collected over many years. Thereafter, sampling results i.e., the real-time sampling results and near real-time analytical results, were compared with conventional sampling results and conventional analytical technique results. NIOSH direct-on-filter portable FTIR and laboratory XRD analysis was performed on all filter samples collected.
Results
A strong correlation between the NIOSH direct on filter (DoF) FTIR and XRD measurements was found. Statistical analysis of these results indicated that NIOSH direct on filter (DoF) FTIR values were consistently higher when compared to XRD values. Both methods reported LOD (Limit of Detection) consistently. In other words, when the XRD analytical method reported results below the LOD the NIOSH direct on filter (DoF) FTIR method also reported results within its LOD range. In low exposure environments i.e., where respirable dust concentrations are expected to be well below respirable dust permissible exposure levels, the studies revealed poor parity between the mass concentration results delivered by the DustCount and the mass concentration results delivered by the conventional gravimetric sampling technique. This said, it must also be mentioned that both sampling techniques measured consistently low in this environment. Sampling carried out in higher respirable dust environments, revealed results between both methods being more comparable and on par with one another. At both high and low respirable dust exposure scenarios, the DustCount results exhibited less variation than those of the conventional gravimetric sampling method.
Conclusions
It can therefore be concluded that the DustCount sampling method is more precise than that of the conventional gravimetric sampling method. The conventional gravimetric sampling method is regarded as the current reference method for respirable dust sampling and therefore results delivered by this method were the standard aimed for. For this reason, at lower respirable dust concentration scenarios, the DustCount was less accurate and at higher respirable dust scenarios comparably accurate to the conventional gravimetric sampling method.
Considering all the study findings, the following can be concluded:
Introduction of the real-time and near real-time sampling techniques within any work environment needs to be done in such a manner that it taken cognisance of current technology implementation requirements and caters for these. Such requirements include developing site-specific reference standards to ensure accuracy and precision of results. -
Session chair Seong-Kyu Kang (Korea)
Veruschka Jansen
SAIOH, South Africa Title [Co-Presentation] Enabling better protection of workers and managing exposure risks at remote mining sites in Africa Live QA Schedule09:30 -10:00 PM, 14 September (KST)BiographyVeruschka Jansen is registered as an Occupational Hygiene Assistant with the Southern African Institute for Occupational Hygiene (SAIOH). She is currently employed at Sedulitas, a monitoring solutions provider.
Veruschka is responsible for consulting with clients, conducting surveys and assists with product development. She completed her Bachelor of Health Sciences degree in Occupational Hygiene at the North West University in South Africa in 2019 and has experience in research with a keen interest in the development of monitoring solutions. Veruschka aims to obtain her master’s degree in Occupational Hygiene in 2021 and has recently commenced with her career in the field of occupational hygiene, working towards obtaining professional registration as an occupational hygienist within the next few years.
Her interest in protecting workers and improving their quality of life has developed over several years. Specifically, through participation in various projects, where she has been able to see first-hand the change that can be brought on by caring for others. She plans to enrol for various health & safety related courses within the near future to improve her knowledge across different industries. She believes that health and safety should always be a priority and there should be no compromises when it comes to protecting life.AbstractBackground
Respirable dust and respirable crystalline silica (RCS) dust is a well-known occupational health hazard across several industries. Employee exposure to RCS/quartz dust, occurs in several occupational environments and industrial settings. Crushing, drilling, grinding, masonry, concrete work, sandblasting, and mining of silica containing rocks, soil, and sand results in the generation of RCS dust. Harmful effects of exposure to RCS include the risk of developing serious diseases such as silicosis, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and kidney disease.
In order to protect employees from the harmful effects of RCS, effective and timely exposure monitoring and sample analysis is essential. Conventional monitoring techniques consists of placing a flow pump with sampling media attached within the workplace or in the breathing zone of the worker. After collecting the dust on a filter, gravimetric and subsequent chemical analysis is performed on the filter. The constraints with this are that it is a time-consuming and costly process. Traditional analysis methods may present a time lag of weeks before exposure data is received. The turnaround time is constrained by the distance between the sampling site and the laboratory, transport arrangements to the site, as well as the workload of the specific laboratory. Mining sites located in remote areas often need to send samples to a significantly distanced geographic location or even a different country due to the unavailability of appropriate laboratory facilities. This means that crucial results, especially in the case of exposures that exceed the permissible levels are delayed. Real-time and near real-time monitoring can be the solution to this. Nanozen developed a personal dust monitor, the DustCount 9000. This unit can be worn by employees or placed within the work area. An optical particle counter and size separating part provides dust mass concentrations in real-time. During sampling, the DustCount contains a sampling filter that can be removed for additional gravimetric and chemical analysis. The United States National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) developed a non-destructive analytical method to quantify respirable crystalline silica (RCS) deposited on sampling filters, at the end of a shift (EoS), at site where sample collection has occurred. A portable FTIR Spectrometer is used to analyse the dust collected on the sampling filter. This provides the end user with a near-real time RCS content quantification.
Aims
The primary intent of the studies conducted were to understand whether the newly developed personal airborne dust sampling technology (Nanozen DustCount 9000), can provide sufficient accuracy and precision when employed to quantify full-shift worker respirable dust exposure mass concentrations. Additionally, to test the suitability of the new analytical technique developed by NIOSH in relation to a conventional analytical technique (X-Ray Diffraction).
Study Design
Areas of concern at 2 different mines in Africa were selected based on the nature of operations and historical exposure data to test this technology.
To meet the study intent, a sampling methodology was created whereby conventional sampling which consists of a standard flow pump fitted with a cyclone and filter cassette would be carried out alongside sampling using the DustCount 9000. Sampling occurred in a “side by side” fashion meaning a conventional sampling pump and a DustCount 9000 were fitted simultaneously to the same worker and sampling was carried out over a large proportion of the work shift whilst the worker being sampled was carrying out normal work duties. To validate the data, conventional sampling results were compared with historical sampling data collected over many years. Thereafter, sampling results i.e., the real-time sampling results and near real-time analytical results, were compared with conventional sampling results and conventional analytical technique results. NIOSH direct-on-filter portable FTIR and laboratory XRD analysis was performed on all filter samples collected.
Results
A strong correlation between the NIOSH direct on filter (DoF) FTIR and XRD measurements was found. Statistical analysis of these results indicated that NIOSH direct on filter (DoF) FTIR values were consistently higher when compared to XRD values. Both methods reported LOD (Limit of Detection) consistently. In other words, when the XRD analytical method reported results below the LOD the NIOSH direct on filter (DoF) FTIR method also reported results within its LOD range. In low exposure environments i.e., where respirable dust concentrations are expected to be well below respirable dust permissible exposure levels, the studies revealed poor parity between the mass concentration results delivered by the DustCount and the mass concentration results delivered by the conventional gravimetric sampling technique. This said, it must also be mentioned that both sampling techniques measured consistently low in this environment. Sampling carried out in higher respirable dust environments, revealed results between both methods being more comparable and on par with one another. At both high and low respirable dust exposure scenarios, the DustCount results exhibited less variation than those of the conventional gravimetric sampling method.
Conclusions
It can therefore be concluded that the DustCount sampling method is more precise than that of the conventional gravimetric sampling method. The conventional gravimetric sampling method is regarded as the current reference method for respirable dust sampling and therefore results delivered by this method were the standard aimed for. For this reason, at lower respirable dust concentration scenarios, the DustCount was less accurate and at higher respirable dust scenarios comparably accurate to the conventional gravimetric sampling method.
Considering all the study findings, the following can be concluded:
Introduction of the real-time and near real-time sampling techniques within any work environment needs to be done in such a manner that it taken cognisance of current technology implementation requirements and caters for these. Such requirements include developing site-specific reference standards to ensure accuracy and precision of results.