How do OHS professional prevent injury and illnesses?

So, as occupational health and safety professionals, how to we do injury and illness?  Occupational, health and safety is a cross-discipline field, and may involve professionals in the following disciplines:

• Industrial hygiene;
• Occupational medicine;
• Occupational toxicology;
• Safety engineering;
• Regulatory compliance law;
• Health physics; and
• Public safety

Depending upon your specific background, your approach may be different. If you’re an industrial hygienist, you’re likely to follow the classic anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of hazards in the workplace; if you’re a certified safety professional, you may take a slightly different approach.  While each approach to occupational health and safety may be slightly different, there are some common themes.  These themes are as follows:

• First, like any business endeavor, obtaining management commitment and involvement is key. Without management commitment, it will be very difficult to be successful.  This is often the area where many occupational health and safety professionals struggle.  Obtaining management commitment demands solid leadership and negotiation skills.  If your background is purely technical, it may take some time to learn these skills.
• Second, employee participation is also critical. You have to have employees engaged.  One way to do this is through the use of employee health and safety committees.  If carefully planned and executed, you can get the employee motivated to proactively identify potential hazards and perform corrective actions to eliminate and prevent future hazards.  At Affygility Solutions, many of our clients use our corrective action software to facilitate this part of the process.
• The third theme is employee training.  This is also key.  Employees must have the knowledge to understand risks and how to protect themselves from these risks.  Fortunately for today’s occupational health and safety professionals, conducting training today has become much easier than 15 years ago.  There are many great environmental, health and safety webinars, seminars, and other online EH&S training available.  This makes training timely and cost-effective.
• Finally, the last theme is regulatory compliance.  Compliance with regulations established by OSHA, EPA, DOT, and many other agencies is complex. While regulatory compliance alone does not guarantee a safe workplace, it should be considered the threshold of a program.  Again, fortunately, with technology the way it is today, there are great EHS software programs that can make regulatory compliance much easier.

“What is Occupational Health and Safety About to You?”

I would enjoy hearing your answer.  Please submit your comments.  Also, please visit my Google+ profile below, and add me to your Circles.

Violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Standard (29 CFR 1910.1052) on methylene chloride can be very costly.  In recent years, OSHA has cited companies of all sizes over $500,000 in proposed penalties related to its methylene chloride standard. Please note, that in many of these cases other violations of OSHA standards were discovered as a result of regulatory inspection that were initiated by suspected violations of this standard.  As is typical in a regulatory inspection process, inspectors are required to cite all observed violations.

Compliance with the Methylene Chloride Safety Standard can be Complex

• Industrial hygiene (exposure monitoring) involving the collection of employee breathing zone air samples.  This monitoring must be performed initially, and, depending upon the initial results, periodically;
• Establishment of regulated areas;
• Implementation of engineering and work practice controls;
• Proper use of respiratory protection. Note: The methylene chloride standard prohibits the use of air-purifying respirators, therefore, air-supplying respirators must be used where airborne concentrations of methylene chloride warrant the use of respiratory protection.
• Medical evaluation and surveillance;
• Employee information and training; and
• Recordkeeping.

Because these compliance requirements can be so complicated, Affygility Solutions has developed a series of methylene chloride compliance tasks.  These easy to understand tasks are available to subscribers of the Affytrac EHS software system.  In addition to our EHS software, Affygility Solutions offers a 1-hour Methylene Chloride Safety webinar.  This webinar is taught by EHS and toxicology professionals with decades of experience. To learn more about this webinar, or how to develop and implement a methylene chloride safety program, click on the above link.

Methylene Chloride Safety Webinar – $25 off today only! Use coupon code c4d8f lnkd.in/ffh3vP

— Dean Calhoun (@Affygility) January 12, 2012

Have a beer on Affygility Solutions, and let’s discuss the latest in environmental, health and safety software, potent compound safety, occupational toxicology and more.  Also, come pick up a free potent compound safety poster (while they last).

Look for Dean Calhoun in the grey Affygility Solutions shirt.  RSVPs are preferred.  For more information call 303-884-3028.

In this white paper, Dean Calhoun, CIH, President and CEO of Affygility Solutions discusses 10 environmental, health and safety trends in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industry for 2012.  These trends include:

1. The Global Harmonization System (GHS) in the United States will become a reality.
2. Criminal enforcement of occupational, health and safety regulations will be on the rise.
3. The International Society of Pharmaceutical Engineers (ISPE) will issue its revised Good Practice Guide on Assessing the Particle Containment Performance of Pharmaceutical Equipment.
4. Skilled Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) professionals will be increasingly difficult to find.
5. OSHA and other regulatory agencies become more social.
6. Google+ Hangouts will see increased application in the environmental, health and safety profession.
7. The merging of occupational health and wellness programs.
8. Growth of continuous biosensing for occupational health.
9. Remote EHS training and webinars will see continued growth.
10. Nanotechnology will see continued interest.

To download a copy of the report, click on the following link.

Ten Environmental, Health and Safety Trends in the Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, and Medical Device Industry

These are the show notes for episode no. 17. For the details, listen to the entire podcast by clicking on the link below:

Introduction.

Review topics.

Cover what we talked about last time in episode number 16

In this episode of the Biopharma EHS podcast, Dean M. Calhoun, CIH, President and CEO of Affygility Solutions discusses the following topics:

• A review of Episode no. 16 of the Biopharma EHS podcast.  In that episode, Dean M. Calhoun, and Dr. Joe Nieusma, Sr. Occupational Toxicologist with Affygility Solutions discuss Category 4 and 5 potent compounds.
• An interview with Matt Meiners, Division Manager, Laboratory Services for the Bureau Veritas, Lake Zurich, Industrial Hygiene Laboratory.  In this interview, Dean and Matt discuss containment validation and surrogate monitoring.  Matt provides insight into why containment validation is necessary, the advantages and disadvantages of different surrogate compounds, the sensitivity of their industrial hygiene laboratory methods for surrogate compounds, the advantages and disadvantages of the total dust versus the Institute of Occupational Medicine method of sampling.

Discuss upcoming events.

In January, Affygility Solutions has several webinars starting and you should look at our schedule at Affygility.com.  These webinars have been extremely popular and we have received a lot of positive feedback on them.  In addition to our very popular webinar on Advanced Topics in Potent Compound Safety, we also have a webinar on Dermal Exposure to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients, and our every popular isoflurane safety webinar.

The next event that I would like to mention is the annual Society of Toxicology conference to be held on March 11^th through 15^th in San Francisco.  If you would like more information on this conference go to the Society of Toxicology’s website at toxicology.org

Then at the end of March, the Society of Chemical Hazard Communication will be having it’s Spring Meeting in Nashville, TN.  We haven’t decided if we will attend this meeting or not, but in any case, these are usually very informative event and with the Global Harmonization System (GHS) due to be finalize in the United States in early 2012 I’m sure there will be great sessions. You should go to their website for more information.  The URL for their website will be in the show notes.

O.k.  That does it for this week’s show.  Remember to submit your questions to our podcast email at podcast at Affygility.com.  You can also follow us on twitter at twitter.com/Affygility, on Facebook at facebook.com/affygilitysolutions and giving us a “Like”, and finally on LinkedIn by searching for Affygility Solutions.

Close.

Potent compound safety

• The definition of a potent compound;
• Hear numerous case histories where occupational exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients has caused unintended health effects in employees;
• Describe the basic elements of a potent compound safety program;
• Understand basic and advance occupational toxicology, as it relates to occupational exposure to active pharmaceutical ingredients;
• Be able to perform basic risk assessments for active pharmaceutical ingredients;
• Learn how occupational exposure limits to potent compounds are calculated, the limitations of OELs, and the importance of understanding uncertainty and modifying factors;
• Understand basic industrial hygiene monitoring strategies as they relate to the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries;
• Describe various engineering, administrative, and personal protective equipment controls used within the biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical device industry; and
• Learn Untold Secrets of Containment Validation and Surrogate Monitoring.

Register Today for the Advanced Topics in Potent Compound Safety Series and Save!

If you register before January 1st, 2012, you will save $50 off each module.  Just use coupon code k6qy5 when you register online.

Taught By Industry Experts

All of our webinars are taught by industry experts with decades of experience.  In addition, our instructors have significant experience at teaching webinars and know how to keep attendees engaged.

Register and receive a Potent Compound Safety Infographic Wall Poster

After completion of the 5-modules, each attendee will be mailed a free copy of the Potent Compound Safety Infographic Wall Poster.

Avoid the hassle and expense of traveling to traditional, location-based training seminars.

Since 2007, Affygility Solutions has been presenting its webinars to environmental, health and safety professionals in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical devices industries.  Our webinars have been attended, and well-received, by hundreds of environmental, health, and safety professionals in the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and medical device industry.  In addition, because of the convenience of webinars, we have had companies throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe attend.

Group Discounts are Available

If you have multiple attendees from one facility that would like to attend, please contact Affygility Solutions to learn about our group discounts.

As always, the potent compound safety experts at Affygility Solutions are leading the way with the release of our innovative and creative potent compound safety program infographic.  As shown in this infographic, establishing and implementing a effective program requires that all elements work together.  These elements include:

• Determination of pipeline and marketed compounds that meet the definition of a potent compound;
• Establishment and implementation of your company-specific control banding strategy;
• Placement of compounds into the appropriate control band;
• Determination of occupational exposure limits for late-stage compounds;
• Training of employees in potent compound safety;
• Certification of engineering controls;
• Conducting industrial hygiene monitoring for active pharmaceutical ingredients; and
• Performing routine program audits.

While at first this may seem overwhelming , this poster boils it all the down to the key points that you need to know in order to efficiently implement your program.  In addition, this infographic presents occupational exposure limits a few example compounds, such a dihydroxyvitamin D3 and fentanyl citrate.

Request your Free Infographic Poster Today!

If you’re an environmental, health and safety (EH&S) professional in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device industry then you need to have this poster hanging up in your office or cubicle.  Want the full 18′ X 24″ version to dress out your office? Complete the form and we will send you one!  Supplies are limited, so hurry up and order yours today!  Tell your friends in the life science industry, and we will also send them a poster.

If you have more specific questions contact us today by completing our simple online form.

New York high schools and middle schools were evacuated just after 12 p.m. on Thursday the New York State Police Bomb Disposal Unit out of Albany was called in to assess and dispose of some potentially hazardous chemicals.

“We are concerned about one of the chemicals that is possibly dangerous and could call an explosion,” says Gary Lonczak, superintendent of schools.

Picric Acid can become Explosive

The main issue is a bottle of picric acid which is over 25-years old.

When in liquid form, the chemical is safe to use. However, the compound has solidified over the years, which means it could be potentially explosive if not removed properly.

“We acted as quickly as we could and we followed protocol and we got good advice from the State Police and hazmat unit,” says Lonczak.

Administrators were never advised to evacuate students, but they say they did so as a precautionary measure.

Lonczak says he will send an informational letter to parents regarding the incident and on Friday, the school day will resume as usual.

Throughout the environmental, health, and safety community, it is well known that picric acid becomes a shock sensitive compound over time.  This demands that all laboratories that handle this or similar compounds be inspected on a regular basis. Affygility Solutions always recommends practicing good chemical hygiene.  As part of any chemical hygiene program, an inspection and corrective action program should be implemented.

If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact us via our web form.

The next Advanced Topics in Potent Compound Safety Webinar Series begins November 9th, 2011.  Space is limited, so register today.

Get the Latest Information in Potent Compound Safety

Because of the webinar method of delivery, the potent compound safety experts at Affygility Solutions are able to provide you with the latest information and approaches to evaluating and preventing occupational exposure to potent compounds.  Learn key concepts in potent compound safety, hear relevant case histories, and learn how to control occupational exposure to potent compounds.

Convenient and Affordable

Avoid the hassle and expense of business travel, and attend from the convenience of your own office.  In this five module series, each module is two hours long and spread out over the course of five weeks.

Taught by Pharmaceutical Industry Experts

With well over 50 years of experience, the webinar instructors have deep pharmaceutical industry experience and significant training experience.  Both instructors have hands-on experience in potent compound safety.  This translates into providing you with real-life examples of how potent compounds have been mis-handled.

Highly Visual and Engaging

Unlike many other webinars and presentations that you may have attended, the webinars by Affygility Solutions are not just PowerPoint on the web.  Affygility Solutions makes all of its slides highly visual and the instructors are experienced at keeping the attendees engaged.

Certification Maintenance Points are Available

The American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) has granted certification maintenance points for this webinar series.

Click on the following link to learn more about the Advanced Topics in Potent Compound Safety webinar series.