Greetings Everyone,

Happy new year and welcome to our first Forum issue of the year. I hope the holidays have invigorated you all in our mutual quest to make the world a
safer place.

But what is considered safe? Safe is subjective. What seems safe to one,
may not seem so to another. Case in point: on January 15th, 2025, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of Red Dye 3 in food, beverages and ingested drugs. Also known as erythrosine, Red Dye 3 is
linked to cancer in male rats. Studies have shown that high exposure to Red Dye 3 caused cancer in these rats, due to a rat-specific hormonal mechanism. Under FDA’s Delaney Clause, any food additive shown to cause cancer in humans or animals must be banned. 
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Dear Members,

I trust you all had a relaxing holiday break and are returning reinvigorated for the new year. As we embark on 2025, I am filled with optimism and excitement for the future of our organization.

OHAO Needs Mentors and Volunteers

Volunteering on a committee is one of the best ways to get maximum value from your OHAO membership.  And what better time to start volunteering than the beginning of the year!  Currently we are looking for several new mentors for the OHAO Mentorship program.  This is a rewarding experience that can also count towards your professional certification maintenance points for at minimum the CIH and ROH.  For the details click here.  As well, we are always looking for new volunteers for the Membership Committee, the Education Committee, the Communications Committee and more. For more details on joining a committee click here. If you have any questions about what's involved in volunteering, please contact office@ohao.org. (Most people find it's a smaller commitment than they were expecting). We hope to see some of you on a committee in 2025!

Occupational Hygiene 101 Video

I would like to extend my sincere thanks to our dedicated board members, Jessica Barua and Wagish Yajaman, for their outstanding contribution as stars of OHAO’s new and very polished video highlighting what we do as hygienists. That video, which many of you were first introduced to at the OHAO Fall Conference, is now available on the OHAO home page.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL MESSAGE

This article was originally published in the November 2024 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.

Imagine you’re attending a webinar, but you can’t hear what the speaker is saying. Turning up the volume on your computer still doesn’t allow you to fully participate, and the organizer didn’t offer closed captions. You’re irritated because you can’t access the information you paid the organizer to receive. 

Now imagine you’re experiencing a miscommunication with your colleagues. No one’s at fault, but everyone is talking past each other. Your colleagues frequently use language that you have difficulty understanding, but when
you ask for clarification, they respond with hostility. You’re anxious that this misunderstanding will hurt your workplace relationships. 

You likely don’t have to imagine being a hardworking occupational and environmental health and safety professional who sometimes puts their
own health and safety on the line when protecting workers from illnesses and injuries. But this time, imagine you’re the one who becomes ill or
injured. Your health condition requires treatment or medication and limits your ability to move, travel, and otherwise be physically present in the work environment. When you realize you must disclose your circumstances to
your employer, you wonder if they’ll work with you to develop reasonable policies and practices that will help you remain a productive employee—or
if you’ll be let go. 
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Mould contamination, assessment and remediation of residential and commercial buildings have long been of interest to public and occupational health, concern stemming from apprehension regarding Stachybotrys in the1990s. Health professionals produced initial guidelines for the assessment and remediation of mould.1,2 Guidelines subsequently proliferated, and occupational hygienists (OHs) enthusiastically applied their expertise accumulated during the era of lead and asbestos regulation and abatement. Mould remediation guidelines, however, reflect a diversity of OH opinion, even between knowledgeable and objective practitioners;3 consequently, there is:

‘no consensus on clearance or validation procedures to ensure that a remediation has been successfully completed’.4a

The advent of illegal marijuana grow operations (MGOs) – and associated mould – eventually attracted legislation,5 driven by nation-wide health, safety and property concerns from homeowners, municipal police and fire departments, the realty and insurance industries, public health and electrical utilities. During the 2000s, inconsistent conclusions3 inherent in divided OH professional opinion, seemingly led Public Health to develop ad hoc guidelines defining habitable conditions in remediated MGOs.6 In Ontario, public health subsequently adopted this administratively simplistic model, to which municipal property standards departments and the Electrical Safety Authority (ESA) deferred; prescriptive and quantitative mould-focused requirements avoided OH consultants’ interpretative expertise, and placed a considerable financial burden on property owners. 
CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

OHS 101: How to Read a WHMIS Safety Data Sheet

Having and maintaining Safety Data Sheets (SDS) for hazardous products
in the workplace is a core component of WHMIS legislation, as is training staff on how to use them.

Although this may be common knowledge to many, knowing how to effectively read an SDS may not be a universal skill.

This free guide can assist workplaces in explaining the purpose of SDSs
and the roles/responsibilities associated with their use, as well as provide clear examples of how to read them so that they can extract critical life-saving information. To download, click HERE.

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Refrigerant Leaks Can be Fatal. Take Action to Protect Workers

A maintenance worker arrives at a local arena early in the morning before anyone else. He goes into the mechanical room, which houses a compressor, to check on things. An hour later when others begin to arrive, they find the maintenance worker unconscious on the floor.

Any place where you need to keep things cold—whether it’s a meat packing plant, a grocery store, a restaurant, or an ice rink—you will have a
refrigerant chemical passing through a compressor and running through
the pipes. The compressor converts the substance from a gas to a liquid
and then pumps it through the pipes to cool.

Various refrigerant chemicals may be used depending on the age and type
of equipment. “These substances are selected because of their specific properties even though they may be toxic to humans. Ammonia is a
common one, but a wide variety of these chemicals are in use,” says Gordon.

Learn how employers can protect their staff by clicking HERE.

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FREE Webinar: How to Implement a Sustainable OHS Program (March 24, 2025)

Join us and learn how to help your customers lay the foundation for a successful OHS program. Using an incident investigation case study, we
will equip you with practical tools and knowledge to navigate the implementation process with a Plan-Do-Check-Act approach.

Click HERE to register.

Save the Dates

OHAO Spring PDC - Virtual: March 26

OHAO Spring Conference and AGM (Virtual) - March 27, 2025

More details and registration coming soon!

OHAO is Looking for Volunteers!

Volunteering is a great way to give back to your community and grow. All OHAO  committees are always looking for new volunteers.

Click here for details.

Nominations Deadline is January 31

Nominations for the 2025/26 OHAO Board of Directors close on January 31! This is a great opportunity to serve your community and grow personally and professionally. Click here for details.

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