In the Summer 2025 Edition of OHAO Forum:
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Greetings Everyone,
It is my pleasure to welcome Wagish Yajaman as our new President. I am looking forward to the work he and our Board of Directors will do this year to make OHAO proud.
In this issue of The Forum we explore the topics of microbes in space (Dr. Ernest Sullivan), part 1 in a series of articles about occupational hygiene in the healthcare sector (Jeff Mallany and Seema Sharma), 5 Facts About Wildland Fires and Air Quality (Christine Sidhom), and some interesting articles from our friends at WSPS (How to Protect Employees from Wildfire Smoke, Free Resource Toolkit: WHMIS and Exposure to Chemical Agents, and Sun Safety: Protect Your Eyes On the Job).
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“It was the best of
times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of
foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity…”
These were the words of Charles Dickens from his novel, A Tale of Two Cities
written in 1859.
It sometimes feels that way now, in 2025, when you look at
geopolitical and economic forces and the impacts on our profession of
Occupational Hygiene and Health and Safety, and our society in North America.
My predecessors James Crichton, Craig Maunder, and others
have proactively helped set a course for our profession; one that I will
continue to grow. There are exciting alliances and the building of community
for professionals in Occupational Hygiene and the allied fields of Health and
Safety, that will help move us all as Canadians.
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This article was originally published in the March 2025 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.
In March 2023, my Women in IH colleague, Diana Peroni, and I coauthored an article highlighting some current challenges in equitable personal protective equipment solutions for women. We shared how the concept of “shrink it and pink it” is inequitable for PPE solutions, specifically considering anthropometric fit, a woman’s body shape and size, and the need for unique personal protective clothing. We also highlighted elements to consider for enhancing current PPE programs. You can refresh your memory at: aiha.info/syn2303ppewomen. Now that two years have passed since publication of that article, it’s time to move beyond simply identifying the challenges and focus on one of the next steps in an effective PPE program: vendor selection.
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SPACECRAFT AND SPACE HABITATS supporting human exploration contain terrestrial microorganisms from the human microbiome and extremophile residuals from cleanroom assembly of spacecraft/cargo components. Pre-launch sterilization minimizes the ‘normal’ microbial diversity aboard spacecraft, potentially affecting astronaut health. Space habitats such as the former Russian Mir (1986-2001), and the current Chinese Tiangong (TSS: 2021-) and International Space Stations (ISS: 1998-) are hermetically sealed systems, subjected to microgravity, radiation, elevated carbon dioxide levels, and HEPA-filtered recirculated air.1 Conditions supporting human habitation also support microbial growth.
Bacterial and fungal isolates from surface samples collected across the ISS in 2015/16 were identified by DNA sequencing. Enterobacteriaceae dominated the bacterial population, together with Methylobacteriaceae and Staphylococcaceae; the fungal population was dominated by Rhodotorula mucilaginosa, with Penicillium chrysogenum and Aspergillus versicolor.1
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Part 1 Introduction and Overview
The Ontario Health Care sector, like health care sectors across the country, must balance worker safety with patient care. Health care workers who have been trained as care providers are notorious for neglecting their own health and safety for the needs of the patients.
The Ontario Health Care sector (formally the Health and Social Assistance sector) accounts for a significant, and by some measures, growing, number of occupational injuries and illnesses. In 2023, the most recent year for which data was available, the Ontario health care sector, which includes hospitals, ambulatory care, nursing homes, and social assistance, had a workforce of 985,600. In 2023, this sector recorded 14,650 lost-time injuries, nearly double the pre-COVID total of 8,409 in 2019. This reflects a lost-time injury (LTI) frequency rate of 2.46 for the sector as a whole. Within the sector, there were notable differences across sub-sectors. Hospitals (D3) had an LTI frequency of 1.61, while ambulatory health care services (N1) reported a lower rate of 1.22. In contrast, nursing and residential facilities (N2) experienced a significantly higher LTI frequency of 3.88, the highest among the sub-sectors. Social assistance services (N3) had an LTI frequency of 1.56. These figures illustrate that while the overall sector saw a substantial rise in injuries, nursing and residential facilities were particularly affected.
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Wildland fires are more current,
and it is predicted that they will be more frequent, last longer, and will burn
more areas in Canada due to various factors including, but not limited to, climate
change. Wildland fires are fires that
consume natural fuel; forest fires, and grassland fires are all considered wildland
fires. They can be ignited naturally or because of human activity. Not all wildland fires need to be controlled
as they burn themselves out. While wildland
fires are necessary in shaping forests and support forest health and biological
diversity, they are of concern because they are a major source of air pollution
that can cause harm to health and resources.
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Wildfire season has begun. In recent years, these unfortunate events have increased in intensity, severity, size and duration, a trend most likely to continue due to climate change.
Wildfire smoke is a nasty and complex brew of chemicals, gases and fine particles. It can travel great distances, reduce air quality significantly, and cause alarming health effects when inhaled. Both outdoor and indoor workers can be impacted.
Learn the dangers and what employers can do to protect workers from wildfire smoke. |
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OHAO Member and Salary Survey Coming SoonWithin the next month you will be receiving the latest version of the OHAO member and salary survey. This year we have engaged the services of Bramm Research, a professional survey and research company, to revamp the survey and provide more detailed analysis for our members. One thing to note, the salary and benefits portion of the survey has been greatly expanded to try and provide more useful information to our members. If you do have a benefits program through your employer it would be great if you could have the details of your benefits handy before you start the survey. There will be incentives for participation in the survey and we are hoping to see record uptake from members on this survey. The more members that participate the more valuable information we can provide to you and use to guide our planning for the future. |
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Cap-turing OHAO Members - Send in your Photos for a Chance to Win!
Last year for OHAO's 60th Anniversary we commissioned baseball caps for our members. At the time, OHAO member Kelly Fernandes, M.Sc., CIH had the great idea of asking OHAO members to share photos of them at work or on vacation wearing their OHAO cap. Kelly and Rob Fernandes were the first people to submit a photo last year and they were the first photo posted on our Cap-turing OHAO Members campaign on our LinkedIn page. Over the next several weeks we will be posting some more photos from members and we encourage all members to send in a photo to office@ohao.org of you wearing your hat. We will be doing a draw in September for a registration to the OHAO Fall 2025 Conference from the names of the people that submit! We hope to see lots of our members sharing their hat photos! |
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Dalla Lana School of Public Health Occupational Hygienist Survey Request
OHAO is pleased to support a survey being conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto.
The research team, led by Dr. Victoria Arrandale, is inviting Occupational Hygienists working in Canada to complete a survey that seeks to better understand their experience, needs and interests with respect to continuing professional education. The survey should take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
If you have received this survey through another avenue, please only complete it once.
If you interested in taking part in the survey, please follow this link:
https://redcap.utoronto.ca/surveys/?s=JCDKP393T9HNPENT |
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Save the Dates OHAO Fall PDC 2025
October 22 - Format TBC
OHAO Fall Conference 2025
October 23 - Hybrid
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Volunteers Needed for Membership, Communications, Education, Mentorship Commitees Contact office@ohao.org
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OHAO Member and Salary Survey Coming Soon! Watch your inbox for the survey link.
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Don't forget to follow us and share OHAO posts on LinkedIn |
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