BOHS Exposure Magazine - Issue 1

Annals of Work Exposures and Health: 2017 Performance and Activity Trevor Ogden OBE Award Breathe Freely Updates

December 2014

Issue 1 2018

Warner Lecture at OH2018

Celebrating our Sapphire Anniversary

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EXPOSURE is the official magazine of BOHS BOHS Head Office 5/6 Melbourne Business Court, Millennium Way, Pride Park, Derby, DE24 8LZ, UK T: + 44 (0) 1332 298101 exposure@bohs.org | www.bohs.org

The views expressed in this issue are not necessarily those of BOHS Council

Dear Readers, A happy new year to all our readers! We hope you all had a lovely festive break.

Cover Story: Looking good at 65!

Head over to page 10 for more details

Contents 4 5 6 8 11 12 16 18 20 21 22 24 26 27 28

From the President From the CEO Obituary to John A. Pendergrass How to Write Effective Reports: A Guide for Occupational Hygiene Consultants Trevor Ogden OBE Award Whither the Role of Occupational Hygiene in Emergency Responses (Part 2) Breathe Freely Updates Annals of Work Exposures and Health: 2017 Performance and Activity Qualifications Updates Member Services Updates Communications and Marketing Updates Working Healthy Lungs Summit 2017 Meet the Member: Simon Festing HSE News Personal Development Courses at OH2018

In this issue, Simon Festing shares his thoughts in his first column for the magazine on p5. We also pay our respects to John A. Pendergrass (p6) who lived an illustrious life, chief among them was acting as Assistant Secretary of Labor from 1986 to 1989 for US President Ronald Reagan! John also served as President of AIHA and as Chair of the ABIH Board. On p8, Ian Kellie gives us handy pointers on how to write a comprehensive and effective occupational hygiene report—there’s a clear checklist to help you at the end of the article for understanding.

We congratulate Trevor Ogden for receiving a welldeserved OBE in the New Years Honours list on p11— congratulations, Trevor! Mike Slater shares updates on the Breathe Freely campaign on p16. Noah Seixas and Roz Phillips discuss the Annals’ performance for 2017 on p18—we are making progress with our new name and journal scope.

Last but not least and as you can tell, we are celebrating our Sapphire Anniversary this year. If you have a particular memory you would like to share, or a BOHS achievement/milestone you’d like to highlight, please don’t hesitate to email caroline.smith@bohs.org.

The Exposure Team: Caroline Smith, Claire Creed, Evi Karmou and Michelle Chan Editorial and advert deadline: 12 March

Read the latest from our scientific journal, Annals of Work Exposures and Health at: academic.oup.com/annweh/issue

Let’s keep in touch!

LinkedIn: BOHS - The Chartered Society for Worker Health Protection Twitter: @BOHSworld YouTube: BOHS Video Facebook: BOHSworld

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Head Office Round-Up From the President Karen Bufton

It’s been a busy couple of months again! Since my last column, our new BOHS CEO, Simon Festing started and was thrown straight in at the deep end on his second day by attending the November BOHS Council meeting. As usual, we had a packed agenda. Items included the recent FAAM launch and progress (47 new members at the time with 18 applications in progress), updating the Breathe Freely Strategy, our External Affairs focus going forward, approval of the 2018 budget and head office, qualifications, membership, communications and marketing updates. The regular columns in Exposure magazine will provide the latest news on most of these topics.

Following the council meeting, I flew to Canberra to attend the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygiene’s (AIOH) Annual Conference entitled ‘Connect to Prevent’. The conference lived up to its reputation of providing a great conference programme, generous Australian hospitality and a fun social programme.

There were some fascinating presentations! Matt Peacock, a veteran ABC (equivalent to the BBC in Australia) television journalist gave a key note speech about the recent reemergence of black lung in the mining industry in Queensland that has also been in the news. He challenged the occupational hygiene community about how they could act differently including learning how to engage and communicate better with the media and public. His presentation was controversial and ruffled quite a few feathers in the audience and it reminded me of how difficult it is to communicate what we do to others. He recommended learning the ‘language of the media’, your audience, and using understandable terms and examples to

get the message across whilst at the same time, raising awareness of occupational hygiene.

This, of course, is exactly what BOHS has done with the Breathe Freely Campaign and both Mike Slater and I presented on how the campaign was developed, its impact and what BOHS has learnt. Of course, key to the success of the campaign was engaging and collaborating with the construction industry and communicating simple messages and solutions that could be understood and implemented easily by the industry. There was a lot of interest after our presentations from regulators, the construction industry and occupational hygienists in Australia and other countries in South East Asia who wanted to learn more and potentially launch similar campaigns in their states or countries.

Many of the AIOH conference presentations can be found at www.aioh.org.au/aioh2017/presentations and include those from Annals’ Editorial Board Member John Cherrie ‘What's the point of the Occupational Exposure Limits?’, Annals’ Chief Editor Noah Sexias- ‘Evolving Definitions of Exposure: Understanding Precarity as a Work-related Risk in the New Economy’ and others regarding health and exposure of migrant workers, asbestos, dusts, chemicals, noise and thermal environment.

The social side of the conference deserves a mention as I had the opportunity to connect and make new connections on behalf of BOHS. I was incredibly well looked after by the AIOH and had great fun at the 3M Fancy Dress night. Thank you to Brian Eva (now President of the AIOH), Phil Hibbs (now Past-President) and the rest of the AIOH team for a tremendous conference.

Left: Keynote speakers, presidents and past presidents from various occupational hygiene societies around the world Right: ‘The Troggs’ who were the winners of the 3M Fancy dress night ‘Where the Wild Things Are’.

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Head Office Round-Up From the CEO Simon Festing

I am absolutely delighted to have recently joined BOHS as the new Chief Executive.

My previous role at the British Heart Foundation, likewise, involved work on health prevention measures and this has been a strong commitment of mine through much of my career. The work of occupational hygienists is fundamental to healthy workplaces and I relish the opportunity to work alongside you to continuously improve the impact of the profession.

It is such an honour to follow in the footsteps of the previous Chief Executive, Steve Perkins, who led the organisation with such commitment, energy and clarity of vision. There is so much going on at BOHS and I am very excited about this year’s opportunities. Plus, it’s great that BOHS can celebrate 65 years of growing success this year.

Many initiatives are coming through the pipeline as a result of BOHS’ five-year strategic plan. These include:  Faculty of Asbestos Assessment and Management: Launched in October 2017, FAAM offers asbestos professionals the opportunity to be part of a professional network and create best practice with industry peers.

FAAM’s aim is to become the home for asbestos professionals.

 Breathe Freely: The campaign has been going from strength to strength since its launch in April 2015. In May 2017, we moved to the second phase of the campaign with the launch of Breathe Freely in manufacturing. The campaign’s aim is not only to raise awareness about occupational lung disease in construction and manufacturing but to also provide tools and solutions. The campaign is now entering its fourth year with more activities planned.

As Chief Executive, I am responsible for making sure that the organisation has a clear strategic direction, a strong external profile and is well run. On that last front, there is a continual process of improvement and modernisation which has to go on at any Head Office.

I am pleased to say that the senior management team here have ambitious plans in that direction, even if they may take some time to come to fruition. Our first offering is to run the process for nominations and ballots to the Council and Faculty through a (mostly) digital process for the first time.

This is clearly the way the world works now and we need to demonstrate that we are a part of it!

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to pay compliments to Trevor Ogden, Past-President of BOHS and former editor of the Annals, for being awarded an OBE in the Queen’s Honours list (p11). Congratulations!

Top right: Mavis Nye speaking at the FAAM launch Bottom left : Damian Stear, registrar of FAAM Bottom right: Professor David Fishwick (HSL )speaking at the launch of Breathe Freely in manufacturing

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Society News Obituary to John A. Pendergrass David O’Malley

A very esteemed American colleague, John A. Pendergrass, died on 7 December 2017 at the grand age of 92. John was a real Southern gentleman from Alabama, and a fascinating person to talk to about what Americans call “industrial hygiene” [IH], and what we British call “occupational hygiene”. When I had the honour of meeting him in 2013, we were celebrating 60 years of BOHS. I found it incredible to meet a man whose first job as an industrial hygienist was in 1948, five years before BOHS even existed!

John had a very distinguished career, the highlight of which was his appointment by Ronald Reagan as Assistant Secretary of Labor from 1986 to 1989. For the benefit of those unfamiliar with the American way of doing things, this position is the head of OSHA [the US equivalent of HSE], so it would be the equivalent of being appointed as the Chair of HSE in the UK, the difference being that over there, it is a political appointment to draft someone in from outside the organisation rather than appointing a career civil servant as we do over here. I believe that John was the first industrial hygienist to achieve this exalted position. During his long career, John Pendergrass also served as President of AIHA over 40 years ago and as Chair of the ABIH Board around 30 years ago.

Over the last four decades, John collected antique cars, including a Model A Ford town sedan, three MGs, a replica of a 1927 Bugatti boat tail racer, and a 1937 Packard convertible. Pre-deceased by his wife of 59 years, Dolly, John is survived by three children, one sister, numerous nieces, nephews, grand nieces and nephews, and great-grand nieces and nephews.

“John served as President of AIHA over 40 years ago and as Chair of the ABIH Board around 30 years ago.”

“John had a very distinguished career, the highlight of which was his appointment by Ronald Reagan as Assistant Secretary of Labor from 1986 to 1989… the equivalent of being appointed as the Chair of HSE in the UK” John served in the US Navy during World War Two and Korea, and then in the US Naval Reserves. He received his Master in Public Health in 1956. His distinguished career included serving as a biologist, chemist and industrial hygienist at Tennessee Valley Authority (1948-1956), industrial hygienist for Boeing Corporation (1956-1957), corporation industrial hygienist for American Cyanamid (1957-1964), associate medical director department (19641979) and manager of Hazard Aware Production (1979-1986) for 3M Corporation. Following his role as head of OSHA, John ran a consultancy business called Pendergrass Associates.

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John A. Pendergrass

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Society News How to Write Effective Reports: A Guide for Occupational Hygiene Consultants Ian Kellie

Report writing is often seen as a tiresome, repetitive task that should be put off as long as possible! Unfortunately, it’s also an essential task. It’s the main end product of your work and the means by which you justify your fees to the client. If your report is seen to be deficient in some way – too brief, overly complicated, incomplete, poorly written or overly delayed – your reputation will suffer. That vital source of new business for a consultant – the word-of-mouth recommendation – will disappear.

This article gives a series of tips for consultants on how to write effective reports. It’s based on personal experience over a 30-year career as an occupational hygiene consultant, during which I’ve either written or critically reviewed several hundred reports. Report writing rarely comes naturally - the skills develop over the years and like any other repeated activity, the secret is to learn from your mistakes and aim for continuous improvement.

Gather_Your_Thoughts Before you launch into report writing, take the time to work out what story you’re going to tell. Sometimes it’s simple: your results are so low that there’s little foreseeable risk.

Other times, it’s less straightforward, either due to shortcomings in data or time constraints, and the picture is less clear. Or you’ve identified a serious potential health issue that has to be dealt with as a matter of priority. Each of these scenarios (and there are many others) require a different approach to report writing. Decide what sort of report you’re going to write before you start.

Arrange_Your_Data Results of monitoring are usually the nub of an occupational hygiene report. Set out your data and see if you can discern any patterns. As a consultant, you’re often constrained economically by the amount of data you can collect but that doesn’t mean you can’t draw conclusions from a few results.

Look at your field notes and pencil in possible reasons for outliers. Think about how you’re going to use the data to get a message across in the report. Be prepared to innovate in your presentation of data: will a simple table suffice or could you use graphics to clarify the message?

Identify_Your_Audience Who is going to read the report? You can probably assume the individual who commissioned it, for a start – but who else? Maybe the CEO of the client, employee representatives or third parties such as HSE or local authority inspectors. The trick is to create a report that will be understandable by all recipients. You may be asked to create separate reports for

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different recipients. Resist this – separate reports from the same investigation inevitably cause confusion and mistrust.

Set_Out_Your_Aims_and_Objectives This should be the basis for the Introduction section of your report. Describe why the investigation was commissioned and what the objectives were. It’s important to identify the reasons for the work being carried out – employee complaints or concerns, management’s desire to comply with legal requirements, basic data on a new process, changed circumstances since the last monitoring exercise and so forth. In turn, these usually dictate the objectives of the investigation. Keep this section brief and to the point.

Describe_the_Process_You_Investigated Although the process you are reporting on is probably familiar to the primary recipient of the report, it may not be to other interested parties. Therefore, it’s important to describe the process in everyday language, avoiding unnecessary acronyms or jargon. This section can be useful in refining the author’s understanding of the process, too. If there are chemicals involved in the investigation, this is the section of the report where they can be identified. Set out clearly and unequivocally the nature of chemicals involved in the process and what their role is. If it’s a noise report, identify the significant sources. Use photographs in this section if you can - a good photograph replaces several dozen words.

“Report writing rarely comes naturally - the skills develop over the years and like any other repeated activity, the secret is to learn from your mistakes and aim for continuous improvement.”

Identify_the_Existing_Control_Arrangements Before presenting data in the report, it’s important to spell out what was going on during your visit. If you’re as sure as you can be that what you monitored was typical of day-today operations, then say so. If it was a one-off task set up to generate ‘worst case’ data, or any other activity that doesn’t represent ‘typical’ exposures, it’s important to specify this in the report. Refer to the controls that were in place. Include everything in the control hierarchy that is relevant to the current investigation and comment on whether you think it

was working during your visit. For example, if the LEV system wasn’t controlling emissions effectively, or workers weren’t using PPE properly, mention it in this section but leave any recommendations for later in the report.

Describe_What_You_Did

“If your report is seen to be deficient in some way – too brief, overly complicated, incomplete, poorly written or overly delayed – your reputation will suffer.”

Set out as concisely as possible what measurements you took and what methods you used. Be specific about the measurement techniques you used - cite validated methods wherever possible. Identify the type of sampling you carried out i.e. personal and/or background. Indicate the duration of sampling i.e. whether short-term, part-shift or full shift and explain why you made that choice. Refer to what steps you took to ensure accuracy of measurement e.g. instrument calibration information, use of accredited laboratories and so forth.

Set_Out_Your_Results Present your results clearly and as simply as possible. For personal samples, identify the individuals and the activities that were carried out during monitoring. If you’re comparing results against exposure limits, calculate time-weighted average exposures. Indicate exposure limits where it’s appropriate. For background samples, identify the locations as precisely as you can (or better still, indicate positions on a plan or sketch of the work area). If you have a lot of data, consider supplementing tables with graphics.

Discuss_the_Significance_of_Your_Results This is the key section of the report, when you compare your results against a limit or standard, and gauge their significance. Identify the limits you use and their provenance i.e. whether set by UK, US, European or other authorities. If there is no ‘off-the-shelf’ limit, describe what steps you have taken to assess the significance of your data. Refer to regulatory requirements at this stage, if this is relevant to your assessment.

Explain the results collectively and individually. If you have a lot of data, use basic statistical analysis to improve their robustness. If you have obvious outliers, give possible explanations. Refer to sources of error outside your control, if relevant. If you can, compare results with those obtained previously in the same area, or from comparable work at a different location.

Draw conclusions on the adequacy of control but don’t rely entirely on your measurement data for this – after all, your survey report is effectively just a snapshot. Were engineering controls effective? Were there other exposure routes? Were workers aware of the hazard? Was PPE being used correctly?

Were there other work activities that might paint a different picture? If you can’t arrive at a firm conclusion, explain why

and suggest a remedy. Refer to best practice guidelines from HSE, professional and trade organisations if relevant.

Consider possible actions to reduce risk, and ensure that these are proportionate to the risk – in other words, sufficient but not excessive. Distinguish clearly between actions that should be taken immediately and those that can be introduced later. Use the hierarchy of control to prioritise actions. Refer to official guidance or other sources of information on best practice for reducing risks to health.

Indicate the pros and cons of alternative strategies for control, and justify your preference. If you can, give a basic cost/benefit consideration.

Summarise_Conclusions_and_Recommendations Summarise the conclusions you drew in the Discussion section of the report, and link these with appropriate risk reduction actions you recommended. Don’t introduce new considerations here, but if necessary, reinforce recommendations. Make sure that your conclusions and recommendations have met the aims and objectives of the investigation.

Summarise_the_Report Finally, prepare an Executive Summary. This is designed to give senior management an overview of your report. In essence, all it needs to address are two questions: do I have a problem, and if so, what can I do about it? Keep the summary as concise as possible – limit it to at most, two short paragraphs. Briefly describe what you did, why you did it, what you found, what conclusions you drew and what you recommend the client needs to do.

Do_a_Sense-check It’s the last step before the report is issued, and your last chance to correct any errors or omissions. Try to imagine yourself as the recipient: is what I’ve written understandable to a non-specialist? If you’ve cut-and-pasted sections from previous reports, double-check that they are entirely relevant to the current one. Read the report through, checking for grammar and spelling errors – remember, word processing spell-checkers are not infallible. If possible, get a colleague to review the report: often, a fresh pair of eyes will pick up an issue that you’ve missed. Once you’re happy with the report, send it out with an accompanying letter or email that invites the recipient to contact you if they need any clarification on what you’ve written.

So that’s it, a 12-point guide to writing effective reports, aimed primarily at occupational hygiene consultants. For more comprehensive information, I recommend referring to the 2011 BOHS publication Clear and Concise Report Writing: Guidance for Occupational Hygienists written by Adrian Hirst, Lynne Morgan and Sean Semple. I’ve adapted the checklist below from this guide which is found overleaf.

Ian Kellie is the Chief Examiner for BOHS.

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Section of report

Occupational Hygiene Report Checklist

Title Does the title describe the subject matter of the report?

Executive Summary Does it describe what you did and why?

Does it identify whether or not the client has a problem?

Does it summarise what the client has to do?

Introduction Does it set out the objectives of the survey/report?

Does it identify why the study was commissioned and by whom?

Process Description Have you described the process as accurately and clearly as you can?

Are the hazards identified?

Have you described existing control measures associated with the process?

Have you identified any shortcomings in the controls?

Methods Have you described the methodology you used?

Have you cited validated monitoring methods?

Have you identified who analysed samples?

Have you described measures you took to minimise errors?

Results Is your data comprehensive?

Is your data presented clearly?

Have you identified individuals who wore personal samplers?

Have you described the jobs they were doing whilst sampling was underway?

Have you included exposure limits for comparison with personal exposure data?

Have you identified locations of static samplers?

Discussion Have you compared your data against a valid limit?

Have you referred to legal requirements that the client must comply with?

Have you explained the results, including possible reasons for outliers?

Have you drawn conclusions on whether or not control is adequate?

Have you referred to best practice guidelines?

Have you recommended risk reduction actions that are proportionate?

Have you followed the hierarchy of control?

Have you prioritised corrective actions?

Summary of conclusions and recommendations Have you linked recommendations with your conclusions on risk?

Do your conclusions and recommendations meet the objectives of the investigation?

BOHS celebrates 65 years of worker health protection 2018 sees a landmark year for BOHS as we celebrate 65 years of the society.

The society has, inevitably, changed hugely since 1953, and there have been many developments and significant milestones along the way Over the coming months, look out for more publicity about our Sapphire Anniversary as we share reminders of BOHS’ key milestones and reflect on our achievements If you have a particular memory you would like to share, or a BOHS achievement/milestone you’d like to highlight, please email caroline.smith@bohs.org.

We look forward to hearing from you – help make a splash about our Sapphire Anniversary. Celebrate using our hashtag:!#BOHSSapphireAnniversary

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Society News OBE for BOHS Past-President Caroline Smith

We are delighted to announce that Trevor Ogden, Past-President of BOHS (1991) has been awarded an OBE in the 2018 New Year Honours list, for services to occupational hygiene and workplace air quality. This significant achievement coincides with a noteworthy year for BOHS, as we mark our 65th anniversary. Trevor has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in occupational hygiene, accomplishing numerous pre-eminent achievements. Below, Trevor shares the inside story of his very interesting career. Trevor is part of a small group of BOHS past presidents who have been honoured with an OBE: Michael Molyneux (president in 1979); Charles Veys (1989); and Bob Sithamparandarajah (Bob Rajan) (2012).

Trevor says that like many other people he “fell into” occupational hygiene by accident, hardly having heard of the field. After receiving a PhD in atmospheric physics from Durham University, he worked for three years in a government lab in Australia, with a group studying cloud physics with a view to increasing rainfall. This gave him experience of the problems of measuring airborne particles and in 1971, he moved to a job at the Institute of Occupational Medicine (IOM) in Edinburgh, with the aim of improving methods of measuring dust, especially in coalmines.

Trevor’s boss at the IOM was the late WH (Henry) Walton, OBE, who was a founder-member and Past-President of BOHS. Wind-tunnel work and IOM fieldwork on coke ovens and in mines was showing how sensitive many samplers were to external air movement; it was clear that the same thing would be true of the human head, and Henry suggested that this would be a logical guide to specifying the performance of dust samplers. At the fourth BOHS International Symposium on Inhaled Particles in 1975, Trevor presented the first data on the entry efficiencies of the head, and proposed that instruments and standards should conform to these. Later work by Jim Vincent (who also became a BOHS president) and others extended this, and in due course, the results became the basis of the inhalable particle conventions now used worldwide.

Also while at the IOM, Trevor developed a method of measuring the inhalation hazard of radon progeny in

flammable atmospheres, which became a standard method for these measurements in British coalmines. In 1977, he moved to HSE’s occupational hygiene laboratories at Cricklewood (now part of HSL). This was a period when the public was waking up to the risks of asbestos but the fibre-counting method had many problems. Trevor and others quantified the errors and developed the RICE quality assurance scheme and methods of internal quality control, which, 35 years later, are still used by the HSE publication HSG248 “The Analysts’ Guide”, and UKAS guidance for asbestos counting accreditation. In 1996, Trevor took early retirement from HSE and a year later, was asked by BOHS to become Chief Editor of Annals of Occupational Hygiene, now Annals of Work Exposures and Health. It could not have been foreseen, but the following years saw the explosive growth of online publishing. This, and the transfer to a new publisher, led to a tripling of the number of papers submitted, a six-fold increase in the number of institutions with access to the journal, a transformation in the journal’s finances, and consequently - a considerable increase in the scale of the editor’s job! In 2012, he was succeeded by Noah Seixas but continued as an assistant editor until 2015. His most recent activity has been as British delegate and BOHS nominee to the European Standards (CEN) committee which has revised EN 689, on measuring compliance with OELs. He is to present on this at OH2018 in Stratford-onAvon - 43 years after his first presentation at a BOHS conference.

“Trevor developed a method of measuring the inhalation hazard of radon progeny in flammable atmospheres, which became a standard method for these measurements in British coalmines.”

Commenting on being awarded an OBE, Trevor said: “When they get an award like this, most people say how much of what they have done is owed to other people. When it happens to you, you realise how true it is. Most of what I have done has been a team operation, not least my years as Annals Chief Editor, and I am embarrassed that the number of deserving people I have worked with have not been similarly honoured.”

Trevor now thinks he has really retired from occupational hygiene! He is trustee of a local church and also another charity which provides social outreach and support – and is looking forward to continuing fruitful work in these fields. BOHS is hugely grateful for all of Trevor’s contributions and support over the years, and wishes him all the very best in his ‘retirement’ – if, indeed, he is allowed to retire!

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Society News Whither the Role of Occupational Hygiene in Emergency Responses (Part 2) Alex Bianchi

Emergency response as a core occupational hygiene role Perhaps not unsurprisingly, there are major organisations that incorporate emergency response into the very core of the portfolio of the occupational hygienist. Good examples can commonly be found in major international organisations and global multi-organisations. These tend to be industries associated with specialist manufacturing and transportation of high hazard substances or processes (e.g. fine chemicals, petrochemicals, oil refining, radioactive materials handling and processing).

Typically, occupational hygienists tend to hold a focal role within corporate emergency response (ER) programmes and are required to participate routinely in emergency response training exercises. They’re also required to engage in new ER programme development and ER programme effectiveness audits. In addition, they’re expected to obtain experience working in emergency HQ control centres alongside senior managers as well as go into the field to conduct measurements and provide running reports from forward control centres. In some cases, they also work alongside corporate media and public affairs departments.

During actual emergencies and incidents, it isn’t unusual for employed occupational hygiene teams to be occasionally supplemented by specialist occupational hygiene consultants with experience in responding to major spills, fires, and releases on land and sea. This is especially seen in the USA, where hygiene consultants spend a good deal of their time supporting emergencies all over the globe. Such events can result in many days or weeks spent away from home, sometimes working on all aspects ranging from initial response all the way through to follow up and incident investigation through to reporting with the appropriate authorities, a process which can take months or even years.

The noteworthy aspect of this level of involvement is that ER programmes tend to be initiated and maintained by the corporate organisations themselves rather than by any specific expectation by the regulatory authorities. Indeed, the recognition of effective emergency response and the role of occupational hygiene within it is now regarded as a good business practice by a responsible organisation and has become a core part of business continuity planning and performance assessment.

Business managers in such companies tend to know and recognise the value of occupational hygiene to the organisation and promote it strongly. As such, demand is created for access to a competent pool of professionals and the system becomes self-sustaining to an extent. It partly

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explains why some large companies tend to employ small teams of occupational hygienists spread across the physical and geographical breadth of the organisation rather than one or two people in isolation.

Importantly, the role of occupational hygiene in many big international organisations isn’t limited to just physical and chemical hazards, it also takes in biological emergency responses such as legionella (i.e. legionnaires’ disease) outbreaks, food poisoning, waterborne diseases, insectborne diseases (e.g. malaria control), and supporting medical professionals with influenza outbreaks (e.g. avian flu), and more recently, Ebola outbreaks in Africa.

Often, where professional occupational hygienists are also trained as radiation protection specialists, they may be required to support local radiation emergencies. Perhaps as a sign of the times, it is also regarded as increasingly likely that occupational hygiene may have a role to play in responding to substance-based terrorist attacks. The scope is broadening and almost limitless.

In my experience, a very common phenomenon is for senior business and operations managers to not initially recognise occupational hygiene as a discipline or as a service provider in itself. At least, not until they have been a customer of its services. After that, they nearly always ask for more, at least as far as their budgets will allow them to. Many hygienists who run their own successful consultancies will recognise this situation in their clients and it often underpins their ongoing business success (e.g. guaranteed repeat business).

Where next?

During my time working as a Regional Manager for Europe, Africa and the Middle East, I was sometimes quite envious of my North American colleagues who are almost all active members of the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). Despite what we sometimes hear about issues within the USA related to the complexity of their regulatory structure and governing bodies, they’ve made tremendous progress in securing a high place for industrial hygiene within the consciousness and committees of government regulatory bodies, industry and trade bodies and industry organisations.

Industrial hygiene is now almost written into the operating code of many practices and regulations and there are few exposure-related activities that don’t require engagement.

Within the USA, almost any significant emergency involving common hazards will require or even mandate industrial hygiene presence. This includes active involvement and in many cases, authorisation and signoff. One might say that

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they have far more people specialising in the profession than the UK has. Whereas this is true, it should also be recognised that the USA is a world leader in this respect. It has influenced practices in many countries around the world and emergency response procedures for occupational hygiene are often “cut and pasted” into their own national and corporate practices.

Although the UK has made some good progress, one could still defend the argument that much remains to be done.

Although the UK is largely still non-litigious, a better informed public and a more educated and assertive legal profession could combine efforts to litigate on the basis of current and future health risk related to exposure following incidents. Paying more attention to the way we respond to emergency incidents and the various forms of health outcomes that arise must be addressed, and this ought to involve better engagement with the occupational hygiene community. To the best of my knowledge, this is and remains currently very limited.

Indeed, despite the irritation that the “ambulance chaser” phenomenon in the UK causes to both the public and the authorities, this could be but the tip of the iceberg if the legal profession were to wake up to the ‘exposure issue’ and respond in a more organised and scientific fashion. In this respect, the USA is well ahead. Had the Birling Gap Incident occurred on a Californian Beach, the local authorities and responders may well have been dealing with a class action lawsuit by now.

There will be some who argue that emergency response should remain off the agenda for occupational hygiene as a whole and that we should focus only on routine exposures and their effects - and there are other variants of the same argument. Nonetheless, there are many other voices which argue that we learn as much if not more about exposure during such events and how they affect humans. As a profession, should we not focus on a key area where so much exposure can occur with such significant consequences and yet, where our presence is often so limited?

In conclusion, and with many more questions yet to ask (and answer), it’s up to you to consider what could or should be done and whether or not the case for action genuinely exists, is sufficiently developed, and calls for further change.

Part 1 of this article can be read in 2017’s Exposure issue 6.

Alex Bianchi was the BOHS President from 2011-2012.

If you’re interested in writing for Exposure, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us! Contact the team with your suggestion at exposure@bohs.org

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Society News Breathe Freely Updates Mike Slater

Introduction It’s been almost three years since the Breathe Freely initiative was launched on 28 April 2015 (Workers’ Memorial Day) when over 100 people, the majority from the construction industry, gathered in the Merchant Taylors’ Hall in London. 2017 saw another milestone, with the launch of Breathe Freely in manufacturing in conjunction with EEF, HSE, TUC, TWI, JCB, BAE Systems and Toyota, with an initial emphasis on welding.

Four main roadshows, sponsored by RVT Group, took place throughout the UK, with over 230 attendees from organisations involved in the construction industry. The format of the roadshows was changed slightly to accommodate an interactive section, which allowed us to identify current challenges and new opportunities in terms of future focus and target audiences. It is intended to organise further meetings during this year, with additional emphasis being given on how to control and manage health risks.

Through the campaign, BOHS has provided employers with practical solutions to help them to implement effective exposure controls, including a range of free guidance materials, produced by BOHS members in collaboration with construction industry representatives. This information has been disseminated through a series of well-attended open events around the country, webinars and construction industry forums, and by accepting a large number of invitations to speak at various meetings and events.

More industry representatives have been brought on to the campaign steering group. The current committee includes: Tideway, Skanska, Landsec, Balfour Beatty, Mace and HSE. The campaign also welcomed the following new partners: Tideway and B&CE. The team is now focusing on revising existing materials to make sure the information on the website remains current.

In 2016 HSE launched their “Helping Great Britain Work Well” strategy with two of the six themes being “tackling ill health” and “acting together”. Breathe Freely fits well with these aims, especially now that occupational lung disease has been highlighted as one of their three health priorities.

We are in regular contact with HSE who are represented on both the construction and manufacturing steering committees, responsible for leading, organising and delivering the campaign.

Over the past two or three years, Breathe Freely has certainly made an impact and contributed to the increased understanding of health risks amongst major stakeholders in the construction industry. There is much more that we can do and the work in this sector will continue during 2018. It is early days for the manufacturing campaign but it is hoped that it will be able to have a similar impact.

Working with Partners An important contributor of the success of the campaign has been working with partners from industry such as the HSE and the Trade Union movement who have been involved in the organisation and delivery of the campaign. We have also worked with other organisations to take out our key messages, including two half-day meetings, covering both construction and manufacturing, held in Northern Ireland (NI) on 21 and 22 August with the NI Safety Groups.

Breathe Freely in Construction The campaign has continued to make progress during 2017.

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Originating from a stakeholder workshop organised by the campaign, the Certificate in Controlling Health Risks in Construction Course (CCHRC) was launched in April 2017 and has attracted a lot of interest in the industry. Currently, we have a number of approved training providers who are running the programme in the UK. A working group led by John Dobbie has been working on a guide on RPE management specifically for construction sites.

The document is due to launch early this year. In addition, a team led by Karen Bufton has continued working on the development of an audit scheme based on the HI Standard, aimed at allowing construction to obtain an independent assessment of how they manage occupational health, together with recommendations on what actions could be taken to improve performance.

Breathe Freely in Manufacturing The campaign was launched at a successful event on 25 May in London with high profile speakers – Martin Temple of HSE, Dame Judith Hackett of EEF and David Fishwick of HSE. So far, three roadshow meetings, sponsored by Plymovent and SKC, have taken place with two more planned for 2018 (one at Sellafield and an open meeting in South Wales).

Discussions are also taking place with a number of key stakeholders about holding meetings focusing on specific companies and their supply chain, similar to the meeting at Sellafield.

The website has been launched, populated with a range of materials highlighting the hazards from exposure to welding

fume and how it can be controlled together with advice on sampling. A team led by Marian Molloy is currently working on a web based “Control Selector Tool” for welding to help organisations decide on which control measure is likely to be most effective for their particular process. It is hoped that this will be ready to launch by OH2018.

Breathe Freely Champions The success of Breathe Freely has only been possible due to the efforts of BOHS members and our partners. Members’ involvement has ranged from contributing to the development of materials to presenting at BOHS and third party events. Without their invaluable support, we would not have been able to achieve the campaign objectives: raise awareness of the causes of respiratory disease and promote tools to control and prevent.

We are always looking forward to welcoming new members to take the campaign forward, offer their expertise to develop new tools and participate in key events via presenting, speaking on behalf or exhibiting with BOHS. For our ‘Breathe Freely Champions’ the campaign team will provide supporting tools, including background materials and a presenter’s pack, as well as organise webinars to share updates, feedback and ideas. We would be delighted to hear from members who want to become a ‘Breathe Freely Champion’. Just email the campaign team at breathefreely@bohs.org.

Mike Slater was the BOHS President from 2014-2015.

Below are photos from the Breathe Freely in manufacturing launch from 25 May 2017

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Society News Annals of Work Exposure and Health: 2017 Performance and Activity Noah Seixas and Roz Phillips

January 2017 marked the publication of the first issue of Annals of Work Exposures and Health (AWEH) – an important step for the journal and for BOHS. The change from The Annals of Occupational Hygiene was made in recognition of the vast changes occurring in the ways in which work is organized by most enterprises and the risks to health that accompany these changes, so we sought to broaden the types of exposures addressed by the journal, and the methods required to understand the nature of the new threats to health. In addition to the new name and scope, the journal was given new page and cover design, and by happy coincidence an entirely redesigned website as part of the new Oxford Academic web platform.

One year on, and AWEH seems to be comfortably settling into its new identity. While the changes will take some years to become fully realized, we are already making good progress.

Activity_and_Product In 2017, submissions have remained robust, with 263 submissions received, a slight increase on 2016. These include 220 original research articles, 9 reviews, 7 commentaries and 18 short communications. Among the 237 papers for which final publication decisions were made, 102 were accepted, giving us a rejection rate of 57%. In 2017 we published 85 research papers; 7 short communications; 3 review articles; and an additional 5 commentaries, 7 editorials, and 3 letters to the editor. The editorial team coordinated the collection of 516 peer reviews from 305 individuals – a notable increase on the previous year and an achievement for everyone involved.

An analysis of the content of the published research papers and short communications (Figure 1) shows that exposure assessment is still a strength of the Annals (38%, down from 43% in 2016). Consistent with our intent to focus on papers with direct consequence for worker health, there was a reduction in the number of papers addressing technical aspects of exposure measurement (10%, down from 20% in 2016). However, we carried fewer papers on management and training (1%, down from 14% in 2016). A larger fraction of our papers did address basic scientific aspects of exposure (23%, up from 6% in 2016). Consistent with our goals, papers classified as epidemiology or risk assessment were substantially more frequent than in past years. Papers on control methods and PPE evaluations were steady at 6% and 4%, respectively. In terms of agents addressed, the proportion of aerosols papers was considerably less than in 2016 (27%, down from 40%), with 25% tackling chemicals,

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20% multiple agents, 13% physical agents and 9% bioaerosols. More authors came from North America and Europe (excluding the UK and Scandinavia), 38 and 33%, respectively, than any other regions. In producing these data on published material, we recognize that many of the papers were submitted to the journal in 2016, prior to the shift in focus and name.

Notable papers published in 2017 included “Characterising the Exposure of Prison Staff to Second-Hand Tobacco Smoke” by Annals assistant editor Sean Semple and colleagues (https://doi.org/10.1093/annweh/wxx058). This paper detailed the results of the Tobacco in Prisons Study (TIPS) led by the University of Glasgow and the University of Aberdeen. The study represents the most comprehensive study in the world of prison workers’ exposure to secondhand smoke, and played an important part in the Scottish Prisons Service’s decision to announce its intention for all prisons in Scotland to be smoke free by the end of 2018. The announcement in July generated considerable media interest linking to the research, bringing wider attention to the journal and to BOHS. The Annals journal impact factor (JIF) for 2016 was 1.71, a decrease on the 2015 level of 1.74. Our recent changes for the journal are intended to turn this trend around in subsequent years. Our JIF ranking among other journals classified as ‘Public, Environmental and Occupational Health’ is currently 97 among 176 journals, and 71 out of 92 journals classified as ‘Toxicology’.

1,712 members of BOHS received the journal in hard copy or online last year as part of their membership benefits. The average number of full-text downloads per month was 31,213 (based on January to November data), reflecting increasing digital demand for Annals papers. At the time of writing institutional access data has yet to be confirmed.

However the publisher Oxford University Press (OUP) has recently advised that it has expanded its developing countries initiative. It now offers its entire journal collection to participating institutions, meaning that the Annals can now reach more than 5,500 sites in over 100 countries.

Staff_and_Management Volume 61 was the fifth year under the leadership of Chief Editor, Noah Seixas, from the University of Washington, USA. Over the course of the year Dr. Seixas was supported by 18 editorial board members, a third of whom were based in the UK. Three assistant editors moved on to new endeavours.

We thank Lee Kenny, Thomas Küpper and Renee Anthony for their valued contribution over past years. Two new assistant

editors brought their editorial expertise to the Board.

Professor Vivi SchlĂźnssen, a physician-epidemiologist from the Department of Public Health at Aarhus University in Denmark, specialises in respiratory health effects in response to exposures to aerosols and allergens. Professor Gurumurthy Ramachandran, from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, USA, the author of a comprehensive textbook on occupational hygiene, brings expertise on aerosol measurement, epidemiologic exposure assessment and statistical methods, including Bayesian statistics.

Kidd, who is supported by assistant production editor (Zeljka Letica Finnerty), and marketing (Emma Horton) staff. While the new Oxford Academic web platform inevitably experienced some teething problems in 2017, it proved to be easier to use than the old platform with enhanced navigation and easy archive access.

In reflecting on this first year of AWEH, I see a gradual shift in emphasis of the papers submitted and published. While we continue to publish high quality research on the means of assessing traditional work exposures, such as chemical, physical and biological agents, there is a growing incorporation of psychosocial hazards, risk assessments, and exposures to working populations outside of standard industrial employment.

In the BOHS office in Derby, Michelle Chan continued to provide editorial support with an increased focus on marketing from a BOHS perspective. Roz Phillips remained as editorial manager.

We hope you have enjoyed reading AWEH over the past year, and look forward to continuing to publish high-quality science dedicated to the assessment and control of risks to health and well-being at work.

OUP provides a range of services in support of the journal including peer review system software, typesetting and copyediting, printing and distribution, and website maintenance and marketing. The editor responsible for the Annals is Paul

Psychosocial 2% Physical 13%

Aerosols 27%

Multiple 20%

Ergonomic 4%

PPE Evaluation 4%

Bioaerosols 9%

Chemical 25%

Risk Assessment 8%

Measurement 10%

Toxicology 1%

Basic Science 23%

Management/ Training 1%

Control 6% Exposure Assessment 38%

Epidemiology 9%

The first pie chart shows exposure assessment is still a strength of the Annals. The second pie chart illustrates that papers concentrating on aerosols and chemicals were more frequent in 2017.

Above are two virtual issues that were published: a special edition focussing on the World Day for Safety and Health at Work in April and an exclusive issue on the launch of Breathe Freely in manufacturing in May. These are still available at: https://academic.oup.com/annweh/

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Society News Qualifications Updates Natalie Horton

Here’s wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2018! As we look forward to the new and exciting opportunities this year holds, I’ll look back at a couple of important qualification changes we made towards the end of last year.

We started off the new year by officially releasing the revised versions of BOHS’ LEV Proficiency qualifications. The revisions we made included updates to the teaching syllabi, published qualification specifications for each module, improvements to assessments and legislation updates.

Significantly, the entry requirements for two of the LEV qualifications has changed: P601 candidates are now required to demonstrate basic mathematical knowledge before they can attend the course (the P600 Foundation course fulfils this requirement), and P604 candidates are required to hold the P601 qualification before sitting P604 (or as a minimum have passed the P601 examinations and formative practical assessment). A summary of the qualification changes can be found on the BOHS website at www.bohs.org/qualifications-training/bohs-qualifications/ lev-qualifications.

We have also made changes to the Advanced Proficiency qualification P407 - Managing Asbestos in Premises - The Duty Holder Requirements. The review was triggered by a consultation day held with our asbestos training providers in 2016, to address the issues that candidates were having with the workplace report assignment. To complete the P407 qualification, candidates are required to submit either an asbestos management plan or an asbestos incident report for a work premises. These are challenging technical documents to write, particularly for building managers who may not be involved with asbestos management as their dayto-day role. We made a number of key changes to P407, in order to address this issue and improve the qualification standards. The revisions include:  New updated report writing guidance document for candidates including a list of common errors made in report submissions. This is available for download on the BOHS website  Additional support available from training providers: training providers can offer additional support options to candidates, such as extended teaching time, a one day report writing course or a P405 Refresher course to refresh the candidate’s knowledge on managing asbestos in premises. Tutors are also available to help candidates

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throughout the report submission process, to give advice and support where required  Higher entry requirements: before booking a P407 course, candidates must now demonstrate that they have recently passed P405, have been working in an asbestos management role for at least three years and have a good level of literacy and advanced report writing skills. This ensures that candidates have the necessary skills required to write the report assignment  Improved examination question standards: From 1 January, exam question content will be raised from NQS Level 4 to Level 5, which are more suitable for an Advanced Proficiency qualification. The questions will test candidates at a higher level of learning, to ensure that they are suitably prepared for writing the report submission afterwards More background information on the P407 qualification can be found in the newly published qualification specification document on the BOHS website.

“We are continuing to develop the P408 – Identification and Quantification of Asbestos in Soils ...the first available ‘asbestos in soils’ analysis qualification.”

Looking forwards, we are continuing to develop the P408 – Identification and Quantification of Asbestos in Soils using PLM and PCM qualification, and are preparing to pilot the qualification with two of our training providers in early 2018.

The pilots will help to ensure that the qualification meets industry standards, and is also an opportunity to identify any issues or corrections required before the qualification goes live.

It will be an exciting opportunity within the asbestos industry as the first available ‘asbestos in soils’ analysis qualification – spaces will be limited, so we recommend that candidates book quickly once the qualification has launched. Once we have reviewed the findings of the pilot courses, we’re aiming for a launch in Spring 2018, – more to follow in the next issue of Exposure!

Head Office Round-Up Member Services Updates Shani Jackson

The big news of last year was the launch of our new faculty – FAAM (Faculty of Asbestos Assessment and Management).

The launch in October was a proud moment for many members and staff who have been involved in the vision and the implementation over several years. As I write today in the first few weeks of 2018, FAAM has 90 subscribed members and is growing by the day; the membership team receive emails and calls daily from individuals wanting to know more and to apply. FAAM is an important strategic project for BOHS as it allows us to expand our reach and influence into specialisms, all contributing to our vision of a healthy working environment for everyone.

Society so that we can utilise membership funds for developing the Society and supporting members.

With the addition of our new members of FAAM, the Society now has a total of 1,726 members in 61 countries. Thank you for being part of our growing community and for your support in expanding the influence of The Society.

The regional organisers (members that kindly volunteer their time to organise meetings locally in each of our regions) have been working hard to establish interesting topics and talks for 2018. Regional meetings are held on a range of topics and are free to attend, so if you haven’t yet made it along to one, why not make it one of your resolutions for this year.

Attendance counts towards your CPD and there are great networking opportunities, too. You can see the list of upcoming events on our website where you can also book a place. There’s also an opportunity for sponsorship; if you think you’d like to sponsor a meeting to raise the profile of your business and support The Society (or know someone else that might), please get in touch with Head Office and we can work with you to find the right opportunity.

A further thank you to those of you that have renewed your membership. If you haven’t had chance to do this yet, then please take a few minutes to log into your BOHS account and update your subscription so that your membership continues throughout 2018. The easiest way to ensure that your membership subscription is dealt with each year is to set up a direct debit; we use a paper form (at the moment… watch this space!) so if you like to do this for next year then please drop a quick email to membership@bohs.org and we’ll post out the form and reply envelope to you. By setting up a direct debit, you can help to reduce the running costs for the

Our latest Annals issue is out now!

The front cover is relating to the Editor’s Choice called “Sarin Exposures in A Cohort of British Military Participants in Human Experimental Research at Porton Down 1945–1987” by Th omas J. Keegan, Lucy M. Carpenter, Claire Brooks, Toby Langdon and Katherine M. Venables.

You can now read the latest issue of the Annals here: https://academic.oup.com/annweh/issue/62/1

As well as administering the renewals process for members, the team here in Derby are also in full flight planning for the annual conference: OH2018 (it seems to come around so quickly!). This year, the conference will be held in Stratfordupon-Avon. The conference committee have put together a full and diverse programme from a bumper number of abstract submissions and we can promise some Shakespeare -themed treats at the gala dinner! Members are offered a discounted rate for bookings for this event.

As always, if you need support with your membership of The Society, then don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.

I AM/OH Contest AIHA invites all IOHA affiliate organisation members to participate in a worldwide call for I AM IH/OH (industrial hygienist and occupational hygienist) selfie photos and videos that may be chosen for inclusion in a special montage for an upcoming 2018 episode of their awardwinning documentary “I AM IH” which will debut at IOHA 2 0 1 8 i n W a s h i n g t o n , D C .

Submissions will be accepted between 1 January and 30 April 2018. Learn more at http://bit.ly/2ENMVnt

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Head Office Round-Up Communications and Marketing Updates Evi Karmou

What a year!

2017 has been an exceptional year for BOHS. In May, the second phase of the Breathe Freely campaign launched, which targets the manufacturing sector with a special focus on welding. In October, the Faculty of Asbestos Assessment and Management launched in London, the association for professionals in the asbestos industry which aims to pursue excellence, establish, develop and maintain standards of competence, and act as the guardian of professional standards and ethics.

Thanks_to_Our_Members BOHS members and staff worked together to develop standards, build tools, and, ultimately, launch the new projects. The success of these projects and their impeccable quality is a direct product of our members’ knowledge, efforts and spirit. Without our members, these projects would have remained a great idea waiting to be implemented by another organisation.

When I joined BOHS, I was very surprised by the enthusiastic approach and involvement of our members. Coming from a different industry, I was taken aback by our members’ passion and spirit. Knowing very little about occupational hygiene myself, what surprised me the most and also gave me great respect was the absolute dedication of our

occupational hygienists to their profession and the organisation. BOHS only exists thanks to you!

How_Can_You_Get_Involved?

We are always looking forward to working together with our members to raise awareness about occupational hygiene and BOHS. We have a number of opportunities where you can offer your knowledge and expertise and leave your mark.

Some ways to contribute include: represent and speak on behalf of BOHS at key industry events, join and/or lead key campaign groups and contribute to BOHS’ strategy, participate in working groups for the development of new tools and projects, identify new opportunities to raise the profile of the profession and even writing for Exposure!

Why_Should_You_Get_Involved As mentioned above, BOHS does really exist because of you.

Being actively involved in our activities has great benefits, not only for the organisation but yourself as well. By being an active participant you can develop new competencies such as soft skills and leadership skills, increase your network of contacts, raise your personal profile, plus, share knowledge and gain expertise.

We would love to hear from you - just email us at marketing@bohs.org!

Left image: In September, Mike Slater, Claire Walsh and Gordon Smith spoke at the Breathe Freely in manufacturing roadshow in Glasgow Right image: In July, Jennie Armstrong presented at the Breathe Freely in construction roadshow in Birmingham 22 | www.bohs.org | Issue 1

Legionella An Update on the Requirements for Effective Water System Management

The Studio Manchester, 51 Lever St, Manchester, M1 1FN

14 March 2018 BOHS is holding a ONE-day conference event entitled “Legionella - an update on the requirements for effective Water System Management”.

The conference will bring together those who are passionate about the control of legionella bacteria in water systems. The aim is to provide an update on legionella monitoring and control strategies and to discuss the issues that affect the management of water quality in industrial, health care, leisure and domestic water systems and the legal responsibilities placed on duty holders and their appointed service providers. Case studies will include discussion of the types of problems that resulted in a failure to manage water systems properly and caused Legionnaires’ disease and the negative impacts that such events had on the organisation(s) concerned.

Topics covered in this one day legionella event will include:  Legionella Risk Assessment – the meaning of “competent assessor” and “suitable and sufficient”  Competency “standards” and who should assess competency of individuals and service providers  HSE’s experience on how effective the current regulatory guidance is in practice  The value of effective intervention programs – HSE’s experience  The latest developments in microbiological analysis of legionella bacteria in water systems and for

the investigation of Legionnaires’ disease  The causal chain and the management of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks  Health care facilities and the unique challenges they present with regards to legionella control  The true risk posed by cooling tower water systems  Case studies of Legionnaires’ disease outbreaks and experiences with service providers, what goes

wrong and the impact on people and the organisations involved

Registration Member Rate: £130 + VAT Non-Member Rate: £170 + VAT

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Society News Healthy Lungs Summit 2017 Caroline Smith

On 22 November 2017, HSE’s Workplace Healthy Lungs Summit took place in London. Workplace lung disease is one of the key topics in HSE’s Health and Work Strategy, and the summit aimed to advise attendees what they could do about the problem of workplace lung disease, what HSE is doing about it and what evidence and science reveal about it – and how to gain a better understanding of how to achieve effective control of exposure.

In the introductory address, Martin Temple, Chair of HSE emphasised the importance of reducing cases of occupational lung disease and stressed the need for collaborative working, citing campaigns such as IOSH’s No Time to Lose and BOHS’ Breathe Freely as examples of what can be achieved via common goals and teamwork.

Other highlights from the morning sessions included the following presentations: Keynote: “Why lung disease is still a problem and the wider health_landscape” This presentation was delivered by Dr. Alison Cook, Director of Policy and Communications at the British Lung Foundation. Dr. Cook’s main points included the following facts, which illustrated the extent of the issues:  The UK has the fourth worst mortality rate for lung disease in Europe

 20% of UK deaths, and 10% of all UK hospital bed days are due to lung disease  63% of lung disease deaths are unrelated to smoking  The HSE estimates that currently, 1.5 million workers are potentially being exposed to asbestos Tackling occupational lung disease: HSE’s contribution HSE’s Head of Health and Work Programme, Peter Brown, spoke about the organisation’s strategy for helping tackle occupational lung disease - it also constitutes one of the three priorities of their Health and Work Strategy. He reminded the audience of the statistics for occupational lung disease, which each year accounts for 12,000 deaths and 18,000 new cases – and around 400,000 lost working days.

Peter spoke about the importance of stakeholder engagement and how HSE is addressing this by developing an action plan via the Healthy Lungs Partnership campaign.

Gaining better insight will aid understanding of the key audiences (for example construction, manufacturing, welding, agriculture, and quarrying), thereby assisting in the mapping of controls and behaviour studies.

Further activities will include:  The ongoing #GoHomeHealthy social media campaign, which aims to spread the word and encourage engagement

Left: Martin Temple (Chair of HSE) presenting at the event Right: Attendees at the summit 24 | www.bohs.org | Issue 1

Keynote speaker, Dr Alison Cook, Director of Policy and Communications (British Lung Foundation) presenting All images © HSE AIS  Field activity: there will be inspection campaigns in targeted sectors  Research activity: to understand current lung disease issues, emerging issues such as nanotubes and control systems Martin Friar, HSE’s Deputy Director (Insight and Design Service), updated on how the HSE is using consultants to undertake various activities to review levels of awareness and understanding amongst employers and employees, and to better understand how attitudes and behaviours develop, so that better interventions can be designed. Unsurprisingly, results have shown considerable variations across sectors, in terms of attitudes, awareness, practices and norms, which of course lead to differing perceptions of risk.

Leading the way – industry and trade union examples of tackling_workplace_lung_disease This was the title of the late morning sessions, which comprised presentations from a number of companies, including:  Joanne Shepherd, Health and Safety Manager at Blackpool and the Fylde College, spoke about the LOcHER Project - Learning Occupational Health by Experiencing Risk. LOcHER has been designed to deliver risk control experience throughout the curriculum; it is an approach for students and apprentices to identify health and safety risks in their area of study, to learn about them and showcase how they can protect their health and safety, in order to take that experience into the world of work.  Danny Martland, BAE Systems’ Director of SHE, emphasised the importance of occupational hygiene, and highlighted how BAE has recognised this by working with BOHS and occupational hygienists in order to develop more expertise for their safety advisers. He shared the BAE Board’s goal, which is to “aspire to create a workplace where people have no exposures to carcinogens, mutagens, reprotoxins and sensitisers”. He also advised that their health risk management strategy includes running a BOHS certificate in-house to enhance core skills with 14 new occupational hygienists and moving towards hygienists becoming the strategists and specialist advisors rather than just measurers.  Bud Hudspith, National Health and Safety Advisor, Unite the Union, spoke about the strong emphasis on working with the many union health and safety representatives across all sectors, and the work on asbestos, diesel exhaust, and respirable crystalline silica (RCS). He advised that the union has asbestos and diesel registers of work for their members, should they fall ill in the future and need to reference previous employment for potential exposure history.  Dr Nick Warren, HSE’s Head of Health Research, held a parallel session on RCS. He talked about the strong epidemiological evidence base and the three main diseases resulting from RCS exposure: silicosis, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is an umbrella term covering a number of lung diseases. Over the next 25 years, it is estimated there will be an extra 74,000 cases of COPD – cases that could be prevented if Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) were complied with.

Unfortunately, there is currently no recognisable downward trend in statistics for silica-related diseases.

To summarise, the event communicated important messages via industry and professional experts and learning about workplace lung disease, and facilitated some valuable discussions. These helped to reinforce the need to continue building on these outputs in order to reduce - and ultimately eradicate - this serious health risk.

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Society News Meet the Member: Simon Festing

Current job title and organisation for which you work?

Chief Executive at the British Occupational Hygiene Society What first degree did you take?

My childhood was spent looking down a microscope at the secret world of stagnant water: Paramecia and Spirogyra. So, it was probably inevitable that I ended up in the biological sciences, and qualified as a medical doctor from the London Hospital Medical College in 1987.

What was the first job you got when you finished your fulltime education?

Whilst I immensely enjoyed my early years as a hospital doctor, I already had thought I could make a bigger difference working in areas of public health, prevention and policy. At that time, health and environment issues were high-profile, such as the hole in the ozone layer, and the health effects of air pollution. So, after a MSc in Environmental Technology at Imperial College, I spent a decade in the environmental movement, campaigning to influence government policy and business practice.

After that, I came into the bioscience arena, working on a range of controversial issues, from the MMR vaccine, to biotechnology and the use of animals in research. Over this time, I gained management experience in both learned societies and professional bodies.

When and why did you join BOHS? Arriving at the end of November 2017, I was fortunate to enjoy the Christmas spirit in the Head Office. BOHS has an ambitious strategy, and I intend to play my part in driving it forward.

Describe a typical day in your work I see my job as ensuring that BOHS is a well-run organisation with a vibrant membership and strong collaboration. The

Society belongs to its members, and can give back to the cause of occupational hygiene as a result of the contribution of the membership. The day-to-day job is varied, balancing the need to manage the staff and operations internally at the Headquarters, with the need for outward-facing collaborations with our major stakeholders.

How did you get your current job?

For many years, my dream has been to run a professional body in health prevention. I love the diversity of interactions with members. For those of you early in your career in occupational hygiene or related disciplines, please remember that coming onto committees of a membership organisation like the BOHS is a great way to gain professional development and meet new contacts.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not working?

Eating chocolate, which is the same answer as Evi Karmou, our Head of Marketing and Communications gave a few editions back. The rest of the time, I’m burning it back off with swimming and cycling. No doubt, I’ll be doing a little more hiking now that I’ve reached the foothills of the Peak District (in moving to Derby for this job)!

Where did you last go on holiday?

My childhood holidays were spent on the mud flats and sand dunes of the North Norfolk coastline – still my favourite place to relax and unwind in solitude! For a little more excitement, I will take my teenage boys for body-boarding in Cornwall.

Cat or dog?

I have what I believe is the friendliest cat in the world; his relentless purring could power half the street lighting in our road!

Favourite film?

Nottingham Hill - I can relate to the reminder of facing many obstacles in life, only to make reaching the final destination all the sweeter.

What was the last music album your bought?

Signs of Change by After the Fire - it’s a cult rock classic from my childhood. With my teenage sons dragging me recently into the modern era of streaming music, I can suddenly find the old albums again – oh joy!

Rowing - one of Simon’s hobbies!

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Favourite Book?

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - a business classic, with a straightforward philosophy on life and effectiveness.

Society News HSE News

HSE Food Manufacturing Inspections Target the Causes of Workplace_Ill-health Companies and people working in food manufacturing are being told they must pay closer attention to how they manage workplace health risks or face serious penalties.

The Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) programme of proactive inspections will review health and safety standards in food manufacturing businesses across the country, and the sector is being warned that a programme of unannounced inspections will commence.

The inspections will focus on two of the main causes of illhealth in the sector which are currently occupational asthma from exposure to flour dust in bakeries, cake and biscuit manufacturers and grain mills and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) – predominantly lower back pain and upper limb disorders from manual handling activities and repetitive tasks across the sector. HSE’s head of the manufacturing sector, John Rowe, said: “The food manufacturing sector is made up of over 300,000 workers and its health and safety record needs to improve. This inspection initiative will look to ensure effective management and control of targeted health risks.”

“The food manufacturing sector is made up of over 300,000 workers and its health and safety record needs to improve.”

Two Companies Fined After Workers and Public Put at Risk Two Yorkshire-based companies were fined after putting both their workers, and members of the public, at risk through asbestos exposure.

The now-liquidated Hallmark Design and Shopfitting began refurbishment works for Berry’s jewellery outlet owned by Berens and Company Ltd when it disturbed materials containing asbestos. Once Hallmark Design and Shopfitting realised it had disturbed asbestos, they arranged for a licensed asbestos contractor to remove it under controlled conditions. The plan of work for the notifiable asbestos removal works was not suitable. This was because it was evident that more would need to be removed than what was originally planned, therefore the licensed contractors agreed to stop work.

Hallmark Design and Shopfitting pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 5 of The Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and has since been liquidated leading to a fine of £1. Berens and Company Ltd of Albion Street, Leeds pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 and was fined £120,000_and_ordered_to_pay_£20,000_in_costs.

Principal Contractor Fined After Workers Exposed to Silica Dust A London based building contractor, MY Construction & Carpentry Limited (MY Construction), has been fined after failing to plan, manage and monitor work under its control, leading to gross exposure of workers to respirable crystalline silica (RCS).

MY Construction was undertaking a project that included the refurbishment of a building at Netherall Gardens, London. A proactive site inspection on 5 July 2016 found workers in a basement had been dry cutting approximately 250 bricks to shape them for use in bay windows. Workers were not informed of the dangers of inhaling the dust, they were not made aware of the correct controls, and the work was not supervised by a competent person.

MY Construction & Carpentry Limited pleaded guilty to breaching Regulation 13(1) of the Construction (Design and Management) Regulations 2015. The company has been fined £40,000 and ordered to pay costs of £2313.10.

Company Fined After Exposing Workers to Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome_(HAVS) Cwmbran Magistrates’ Court heard how Charter Housing Association Ltd. reported six cases of HAVS following a health surveillance programme launched in June 2015. The affected employees were all part of the maintenance team. It was found that the six workers’ conditions were likely to have been caused or worsened by the use of vibratory power tools while in Charter Housing’s employment. It was also found that staff in the maintenance and refurbishment departments at Charter Housing experienced significant exposure to hand arm vibration in their daily work which put them at risk of developing or exacerbating existing HAVS. The company neither adequately planned its working methods nor trained or informed employees on the risks to their health.

Furthermore, Charter Housing did not limit the duration and magnitude of exposure to vibration and failed to put in place suitable health surveillance to identify problems at an early stage.

Charter Housing Association Ltd (now part of Pobl Group Ltd) pleaded guilty to breaching Regulations 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005. The company was fined £100,000 and was ordered to pay costs of £9,896.88.

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Professional Development Courses (PDCs) 16 April 2018 @ OH2018

Professional Development Courses are a great way to develop valuable skills and earn the CPD points needed for professional membership OH2018 offers four PDCs on the Monday prior to the conference These valuable courses will aid your development in a vast range of topic areas

Cost: £200+VAT

Asbestos Risk Assessment for Occupational and Environmental Health Applications Andrey Korchevskiy, Chemical & Industrial, Inc. Asbestos remainS a serious occupational and environmental hazard worldwide for decades. However, currently this problem seems to attract wide-spread attention again. First of all, new “asbestos-like” fibers like erionite or asbestiform amphiboles became a serious emerging problem in many industries and for the communities. Second, asbestos lessons are very important for other toxic substances, such as nanoparticles.

This PDC, which was earlier delivered with great interest at the AIHA conferences in Montreal, San Antonio, Salt Lake City and Orlando, as well as at the BOHS conference in 2016, will review knowledge, approaches and methods needed for the effective risk assessment of fibrous minerals in occupational and environmental settings.

An international group of lecturers from the UK, US and Canada will present material covering the history of asbestos risk assessment, new findings in exposure estimations and dose-response studies, as well as implications for non-regulated amphiboles and other fibrous minerals, e.g. erionite. Approaches for the risk assessment of nanoparticles will be outlined.

The course will be of interest to environmental, occupational health and safety professionals in different industries, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and representatives of regulatory agencies.

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Leadership Skills Development Workshop Len Morris, Chief Examiner, BOHS This workshop aims to help participants explore their own strengths and encourage further development of leadership competencies. The workshop will be presented in collaboration with a representative of the American Industrial Hygiene Association's Future Leaders Institute (FLI) advisory team and will apply proven approaches from this scheme as well as other tools tailored to an occupational hygiene context.

The workshop will encourage the development of self awareness, interpersonal and communication skills and an understanding of change management. An important feature is drafting a Personal Action Plan for further development.

Diploma of Professional Competence in Occupational Hygiene (One Day Taster) Mike Slater, Diamond Environmental Ltd The seminar is aimed at Licentiate Members of the Faculty who are preparing to obtain the BOHS Diploma.

The principal objectives of the day are to:  Provide an introduction to the Diploma PEP and Research Essay  Provide an introduction to the format of the oral examination i.e. the makeup of the panel, exam duration, how questions are asked, topics covered  Discuss example questions and approaches to answering them

Testing the Performance of LEV Systems to Achieve Adequate Control of Employees Exposures Adrian Sims, Vent-Tech Ltd This professional development course will focus on:  Discussing the various types of the most critical part of any LEV system, the extraction hood  Helping course participants to decide on the minimum performance that the main types of extraction hood would need in order to adequately control employee exposures  Outlining appropriate performance requirements for the other elements of LEV systems  Outlining the methods and the testing equipment that is needed in order to test the actual performance of an LEV system  Discussing a number of real-life case studies to aid in the interpretation of test data from actual LEV systems

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