Greetings all,

Welcome to the spring issue of the OHAO Forum! With longer days and fresh momentum in the air, we’re excited to bring you timely updates, professional insights, and spotlight topics of interest in occupational health and safety. Dive in, share with a colleague, and let’s keep the conversation going all season long.

Thank you to everyone who provided submissions for this issue.  We are always looking for new topics, fresh perspectives, and leading-edge ideas in occupational health and safety/hygiene.
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Technology and AI advancements – friend or foe?

Lately, I have noticed some trends in written reports that you too may have observed and wondered where the guidance is on how technology is being used and its impact on our profession.

One technological advancement is the use of artificial intelligence (AI). In this article, I use the term AI as opposed to generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) or large language model (LLM) for synthesizing an occupational hygiene report, or health and safety policy or procedure. A report that I read recently was provided by a company that hired another company to conduct air sampling and generate a report with recommendations. The report formatting looked simple and clean at first glance; it was only when I started to read the report that I realized that the sections of the report didn’t flow well or didn’t seem consistent in the terminology being used. I skipped to the back of the report to see who had signed the report. It wasn’t a hygienist, or an engineer, it was a person with no credentials. The report was provided to me as secondary information on what the company had done to be proactive.
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Critical Minerals (CMs) and Strategic Raw Materials are substances of significant global utility and geopolitical importance. They are:

  • Essential to economic or national security
  • Serve a vital role in the manufacture of products, and their absence would have significant consequences for economic or national security
  • Have supply chains that are vulnerable to disruption due to foreign political risk, military conflict, violent unrest, or anti-competitive and protectionist behaviors.1

Global Listings of Critical Minerals

Table 1 presents a composite list of CMs from the European Union,2 and for the U.S. Departments of the Interior, Energy,and Defense based on a Notice from the U.S. Geological Survey.3
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Since the 1970’s, we have been aware that healthcare workers are at risk of experiencing adverse health effects associated with exposure to hazardous drugs.(1) Hazardous drugs are those classified as cytotoxic (cell-killing) or antineoplastic (anti-cancer) agents and are used to treat a variety of diseases including cancer. These drugs act non-selectively meaning that they target healthy cells as well as tumour cells. Occupational exposure to hazardous drugs can lead to both acute as well as chronic health effects. For the latter, the health effects of most concern are reproductive toxicities, genetic damage and an increased risk of cancer development.(2,3)  

According to CAREX Canada, approximately 79,000 Canadians are occupationally exposed to hazardous drugs.(4) It is projected that the number of new cancer cases in Canada will steadily increase as the population ages.(5) In turn, hazardous drugs will continue to be used to treat these new diagnoses. As such, it is important to reduce healthcare workers’ exposure to hazardous drugs—particularly because occupational exposure limits have not been established for these agents.

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    Every year, the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) designates the first full week of May as Mental Health Week. This year, the theme for the week is Come Together, Canada, where CMHA challenges Canadians to come together by strengthening mental health through everyday connection and shared responsibility.[1]

    Initiatives like May Mental Health Week mark an important opportunity for workplaces to reflect on how mental health is supported amongst their workers. As health, hygiene, and safety professionals, many of us have built a strong skillset in identifying, assessing, and controlling physical hazards (chemical hazards, noise, ergonomics, etc.). However, psychosocial hazards remain less visible, even though their impact can be just as serious. In fact, a NIOSH Science Bulletin notes that work-related psychosocial hazards are becoming a leading contributor to worker illness, injury, disability, and associated costs, and identifies psychosocial hazards as being linked to physical health outcomes, such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, and sleep impairments.[2] The association between cardiovascular health outcomes and psychosocial workplace stressors such as job strain, prolonged working hours, and shift work is strongly documented in occupational health psychology and cardiology research.[3][4]
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    This article originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of The Synergist®, the magazine of AIHA®.

    As part of the OHAO/AIHA Memorandum of Understanding, AIHA will
    be sharing one article from a recent issue of The Synergist in each issue of the OHAO Forum. Thank you to AIHA for sharing this information with our members. 

    Providing estimates of exposure risks to facilitate risk management decisions is the primary goal of occupational hygiene. Achieving this goal requires knowledge, skill, discipline, and commitment. The real-world issues that practitioners address require such a broad range of skills that it typically takes years to become fully competent. Workplace issues are so complex that extensive experience in workplace contexts is required—in addition to education, training, and certification— to accurately estimate exposure risks and propose the right interventions.

    Decades of research and experience have shaped the evolution of OH, resulting in a shared body of knowledge that practitioners can use to demonstrate an appropriate standard of care, meet ethical requirements, and improve workflows and work products. In practical terms, the science-based approaches, methods, and tools of OH constitute “good practice,” which provides for transparency, consistency, and assurance that exposure assessments and other activities are conducted in a professional manner and in consideration of the employer’s and client’s expectations and requirements.
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    MLITSD aims to prevent noise-induced hearing loss

    From April 1, 2026, to March 31, 2027, the Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development (MLITSD) will be conducting a province-wide compliance campaign focused on noise.

    Inspections will focus on noise-related hazards where exposure may pose a risk to workers. The goal: to help prevent noise-induced hearing loss – a permanent disability – by ensuring appropriate controls are in place.

    Save the Date!

    OHAO Fall PDC

    In Person Only

    October 21, 2026

    Humber North Campus

    If you would like
    to contribute an article for the next OHAO Forum contact office@ohao.org

    Save the Date!

    OHAO Fall Conference

    Hybrid

    October 22, 2026

    In-Person at Humber North Campus

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