Issue 10 | December 2016

Member updates | HASANZ Register | Professional Development

This issue

Message from President OHAG Corner South Island Column Members News Noise Course Feedback HASANZ Register Update Professional Development Items of Interest

Presidents Pen

The holiday season is bearing down on us once again, it seems to come around every year. However, as always this is a great opportunity for occupational hygienists to put into practice all that knowledge they carry around in their heads. We know the toxicology of substances hazardous to health, we know about exposure to excessive noise and fatigue plus we are beginning to understand about exposomics. Put together it means we understand why we enjoy the alcohol, food, socialising and gathering of the clans and why we suffer the next day. It doesn’t stop us doing it, but at least we can appreciate it from a scientific point of view.

For those of you having a break this year, enjoy it, relax and chill; for those working, remember to take some timeout for family, friends and yourselves.

Have a “Cantie Yule and A Guid New Year”.

Derek Miller, President Issue 10 | December 2016 OHAG Corner

Occupational Health Advisory Group (OHAG) is a group of the country’s lead- ing experts on occupational health assembled to advise WorkSafe NZ about how to help protect people from work-related illness and disease. Suzanne is one of the members of the OHAG group and here is her final OHAG update for 2016:

“The last 18 months have seen a lot of progress in occupational health - some of the initiatives from OHAG coming to fruition - including additional resources, guidance and strategic planning to implement increased occupational health enforcement within WorkSafe. OHAG has some concerns regarding the full implementation and continuation of these initiatives, and 2017 will be a busy year. The OHAG will also undergo some changes in the 2017 - probably with a separation of strategi- cal (Board) vs operational (WorkSafe Management) advisory roles. Have a great break over the summer period - do what you enjoy most!” By Suzanne Broadbent (HaS Expertise Ltd) South Island Another series of earthquakes in the middle of the country high- Column light how tenuous our great plans and schemes can be. With the Alpine fault due to move on its 300 year cycle it may not all be over but one person’s misfortune is another’s opportunity. The 34th AIOH conference has just finished and as always there are takeaways that stick in the brain. Here are three that I thought significant/interesting:

1) Case of Acute silicosis

I heard from two reliable sources of a worker in his thirties being diagnosed with silicosis. The exposure is thought to come from the dry cutting of cement board. I understand the board has a high quartz content and is used to mimic marble in kitchen finishes. Hopefully the case will shortly be documented in the literature.

2) Gersh Major eats crocidolite in lectures to Occupational Physicians

Dr Ian Gardiner recounted in his presentation how Gersh Major (one of the founding members of the AIOH) would eat a mouthful of crocidolite (with a peg on his nose) to emphasis that the harmful route of asbestos exposure was via inhalation. Gersh died at the age of 92.

3) Worksafe “post incident” compelled interviews Harold Downes (Lawyer) and associates presented an excellent session on how (IN AUSTRAL- IA) for persons involved in an incident there is an advantage to being interviewed first as any information given during the compelled interview could not be used against you in future pros- ecutions. The presentation involved a role play based on a iron dust explosion at the Hoe- ganaes Plant in Gallatin, Tennessee.

For Company occupational hygienists this is likely to be an immediate consideration. For Con- sultants the issue maybe later during subsequent root cause investigations. We will need to clarify with Worksafe NZ how our new legislation will affect our position during compelled interviews. By Peter Simmonds (SimOcc Consulting Ltd) Issue 10 | December 2016

Members News

NZOHS Council Secretary announced:

We are pleased to announce that Jim Napier has accept- ed the position of Council Ordinary Member. New Members: We would like to thank the other nominees and we will We are pleased to welcome be looking for more volunteers soon to be part of the the following new members Sub-committees. So keep tuned in. and congratulate those moving up in the member- We have now a full Council and we are looking forward ship levels as below: to work together in 2017.

The Council constitution is now as follows: New Associate Members: President: Derek Miller Lynn Watson – Associate

Ian Bensemann – Associate Vice-President: Suzanne Broadbent Secretary: Bridgette Jennings New Technical Members: Treasurer: Carol McSweeney Ian Little – Technical

Ordinary members: Gaining Full Membership: Peter Simmonds

None Jim Napier

Lucre Pfefferman

A HUGE THANKS to Laura Sands (former Secretary):

Laura has been a big support to the society and she will be missed. Derek and the other council members want to extend our thanks to Laura for her contributions.

AIOH Conference Award:

Rob Murray (Air Matters) won the AIOH conference scholarship. As competition was fierce we decided to have a runner-up prize of the cost of attending the CES’s. Kerry Cheung (SGS) won this prize.

NZOHS new Website: NZOHS new website is close to completion. It should be up and running early in the New Year. Issue 10 | December 2016

Noise Course feedback:

From Kreepa Shrestha Rai (Air Matters)

NZOHS Noise Course

”NZOHS had organised a week long intensive noise course in October 2016 which I was fortunate enough to attend.

I enjoyed the course a lot, and found it very valuable. I gained a solid base knowledge to implement in noise sur- veys going forward. I also found that the course had a great practical element, and we were able to gain exposure to a range of brands and models of instruments beyond what I have used in the past.

I met a lot of very interesting people on the course from a range of different back- grounds and skills – it was a great networking and friend-making opportunity!

We had access to a great set of instructors with noise expertise and insight who en- couraged us to ask questions and engage in lively discussions.

It was quite an intense and time-hungry five-day course with an exam at the end but it was great to be able to upskill locally in New Zealand!”.

Noise Course 2016

Annual Conference and Exhibition Australia Institute of Occupational Hygiene AIOH

The 2016 AIOH Annual Conference and Exhibition was held at the RACV Royal Pines Re- sort on the beautiful Gold Coast from 3rd - 7th December. More on the Conference in the next issue . . . Issue 10 | December 2016

HASANZ update

GETTING READY FOR THE HASANZ REGISTER

CHECKLIST FOR WORKPLACE HEALTH AND SAFETY PROFESSIONALS

What do I need to do?

There are a number of things individual workplace health and safety professionals can do to get ready to list on the HASANZ Register.

 Join a HASANZ member association. Applications to be on the HASANZ Register must be made through one of HASANZ’s ten member associations. If you’re not al- ready a member, check them out on the HASANZ website and decide which one is right for you.  Check the registration standard for your professional association. Each HA- SANZ member association is developing competency standards required by its mem- bers to be listed on the HASANZ Register. Contact your professional association to find out what these are.  Upgrade your skills to meet required competency standards. If you don’t meet the registration standard required by your HASANZ member association, work with them to put a plan in place to get there. You may need to do further training or pro- fessional development to meet the criteria. The HASANZ Register is all about busi- nesses having confidence in the competence of the health and safety advisers.  If you think you meet the required registration standard, apply for assess- ment.  Your professional competence needs to be formally recognised by a HASANZ member association. Contact your professional association and find out the process for apply- ing for the appropriate membership level and associated competency assessment.  Gather together the supporting material for your registration application. Your HASANZ member association will need to check and approve the information you provide for your HASANZ Register profile. This includes the health and safety areas you work in and the specific services you offer. Check with your association what evi- dence of your capability and experience they need to approve your application, and start compiling it now.

If you have any questions about these requirements, these members of the HASANZ Reg- ister Working Group can help you:

Karen Chaney – [email protected]

Derek Miller – [email protected]

Greg Dearsly – [email protected] Issue 10 | December 2016

Professional Development

Conferences and continuing education

- IOHA 2018 October 2018 - Washington, DC, USA

https://www.aiha.org/events/IOHA2018/Pages/default.aspx

- Safety 360 21-22 March 2017 - Ellerslie Events Center, New Zealand

Join 400+ health & safety professionals gaining latest updates

Safety 360 will return in March 2017 to give the latest updates in health and safety legisla- tion, translating the legislative jargon into practical steps, giving informative insights into industry issues, key case studies and inspirational stories on implementing safety culture.

The four summits - Safety Leaders, Hazardous Substances Management, Occupa- tional Health and Health & Wellbeing are back to offer the insight NZ industry needs to not just comply, but to go above and beyond in health and safety.

This cross-industry summit features speakers from a variety of sectors sharing insights into health and safety culture and compliance. Some highlights include: Landcorp Farming, Mars New Zealand, NZ Occupational Hygiene Society, Responsible Care NZ, Site Safe NZ, Fonter- ra and Synergy Health.

New to Safety 360 this year is a practical one day workshop specifically for health and safety representatives, offering the opportunity to upskill with hands-on training and guidance regarding the practical aspects surrounding their role.

Last year saw over 400 health and safety professionals come to hear about the latest health and safety updates, receiving feedback such as: “Very high calibre of speakers” “Thank you for bringing the HS community together in such a professional setting”

To view the complete programme, see www.conferenz.co.nz/safety360

BOHS courses update There has been a lot happening in the tertiary education and training sector. Derek has been talking to the BOHS regarding an international proficiency module for asbestos asses- sors (IP404). You can check BOHS qualifications guide by clicking on the link below:

http://www.bohs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/BOHS-Qualifications-brochure- pdf.pdf Note: P refers to UK Proficiency Modules (P) and IP refers to International Modules (IP) Issue 10 | December 2016

Competent Occupational Hygienists - Reporting

Presented at the NZOHS meeting November 2016 by Suzanne Broadbent - COH, MNZOHS

Reports represent your competency and must: Common Problem Areas

 Be accurate  Planning and Methodology

 Comprehensive  Interpretation—Exposure Standards and Health Risks  Ethical, including uncertainty  Variability and Uncertainty  Enable understanding of health risks and con- trols Improvements: look at the BOHS report Planning and negotiation is essential to ensure writing guide (link below) adequate assessment/samples to enable useful http://www.bohs.org/wp-content/ interpretation uploads/2016/09/BOHS-Guide-to-Report-Writing -Final-Version-18-December-2011.pdf NZOHS coming up events:

NZOHS members meetings:

- Tuesday 7th Feb 2017

- Tuesday 11th April 2017

Time: 5 pm

Auckland Venue: Dowdells & Associates - 4 Cain Rd, Penrose, Auckland

Zoom Meeting: you can now join the meeting through “Zoom”. Closer to the meeting, you will receive a Zoom meeting invitation. You have to join using the link that will be in the invite.

Items of Interest

WorkSafe NZ Updates:

The Health and Safety at Work (Hazardous Substances) Regulations will be coming into force on 1 December 2017. http://www.mbie.govt.nz/info-services/employment-skills/ workplace-health-and-safety-reform/development-of-regulations-to-support-the-new-health -and-safety-at-work-act

BBC News: Do smoke-free stoves really save lives? By Victoria Gill Science reporter

A big clinical trial in Malawi was expected to show chil- dren are less likely to die of pneumonia if they live in a home where food is cooked on a smoke-free stove ra- ther than an open fire. Instead it suggests the stove makes no difference. Where does this leave a huge UN- backed project to get 100 million clean cookstoves into homes in the developing world by 2020?

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-38160671 Issue 10 | December 2016 Items of Interest - Cont.

IOHA board meeting - November 2016

By Pip Gibson (WorkSafe New Zealand)

Progress on strategic goals (2016-2020)

SG 1 - Promote Occ Hygiene

Next IOHA conference in Washington DC in October 2018.

IOHA also having IOHA themed sessions at conferences e.g. at AIOH 2016, AIHce 2017, and we had one at IRSP 2016. SG 2 – Exchange of information on Occ Hygiene

IOHA Newsletter – you can sign up to get it sent to you http://ioha.net/newsletter/ SG 3 – Increase quality and quantity of Occ Hygiene education

IOHA still working on its strategic plan for collaboration with OHTA.

Re OHTA – note there is an ‘exposure science’ module being developed for OHTA. There are also occ hygiene modules in development for ‘Oil and Gas’ and ‘Pharma’ SG4 – Improve the professional practice through accreditation programmes

This is done through the NAR committee which is operating well and gradually more countries get- ting accreditation (now up to 15 countries). SG 5 - Collaborate and cooperate with other international societies and national and international NGOs

WHO – IOHA is a recognised NGO by WHO and ILO. Important to note that 1) lots of change hap- pening in WHO and some projects IOHA/WHO working on together have been dropped by WHO as WHO are moving away from their previous focus on (among other things) occupational hygiene into a more broad termed ‘work related health’ with a focus on access to medical care rather than occ health as we know it. As such it’s harder for IOHA to directly engage in projects with WHO on occ hygiene. There is a view that IOHA is now more aligned with ICOH (International Commission on Oc- cupational Health) so the board are considering closer alignment with ICOH rather than WHO. In the interim we are continuing our collaboration with WHO and David Zalk from AIHA (our WHO envoy and the control banding guru) has developed a proposed work plan for WHO/IOHA for the next few years (yet to be ratified). This includes continuing providing OHTA courses e.g. asbestos via WHO regional offices in developing countries – provided in collaboration with Workplace Health without Borders http://www.whwb.org/ and preparation for crisis management (from an occ hyg point of view) done in collaboration with NIOSH.

ILO – ILO ‘flagship programme’ – IOHA writing a proposal to ILO to collaborate on their flagship pro- gramme on the Global Action for Prevention in OSH. IOHA governance

Some of the IOHA committees aren’t working very well, others going great. We rejigged the struc- ture of the committees as there were some overlaps. Note people outside the Board can join com- mittees so if you are prepared for doing some work and joining teleconferences at unseemly hours then please let me know and I can hook you up. The committees are: stakeholder relations (formerly promotions and communications), Education and Training, Governance, and National Accreditation Recognition (certification committee).