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<ABIH News>

November 2003


[ September Meeting Report ] [ Next PCIH ] [ Not Certified ]
[ Distance Learning ] [ Arrent Warrant ] [ IOHA-Recognizes ABIH ]
[ ABET Update ] [ Computer Delivered Exams ] [ Lost Sheep ]
[ Mold Introspective ] [ Governance Study ] [ Bylaws ]
[ Email Communication ] [ Fall 2003 Exams Results ] [ Next Meeting ]

September 2003 Board Report

During the September 13, 2003 meeting, the following major issues were discussed, finalized and/or voted on by the Directors.

Certification Maintenance

 

Academy of Industrial Hygiene

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2004 PCIH - October 4-5

Planning for next year’s Professional Conference on Industrial Hygiene has already started. The conference will be held in Montreal, Canada. PDCs will be held over the weekend of October 2-3, followed by two days of general sessions, current topic workshops and exhibits. An AIHA sponsored Global Risk Assessment Symposium will immediately precede the PCIH Thursday and Friday, September 30-October 1. (For more information, see the PCIH information page on the AIHA web site.)

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Not Certified

Not Certified

In response to inquiries, the American Board of Industrial Hygiene reports that the following individuals have never been certified by the Board and are not authorized to use the designations Certified Industrial Hygienist/CIH, Certified Associate Industrial Hygienist/CAIH or Industrial Hygienist In Training/IHIT.

    Kate Levensohn 
    
    Formerly of Philders Group International, Inc.
    
    Winter Park, FL
    
    
    
    Stephen R. Martin
    
    
    
    Raymond D.Modglin
    
    Modglin Property Group
    
    Indianapolis, IN
    
    
    
    Harmon P. "Yogi" Yates
    
    Phillips Industrial Services
    
    Mt. Pleasant, SC

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Distance Learning Opportunities/CM Points

Check out the ABIH web site for distance learning courses that have been approved for CM points. Go to www.abih.org and click on Forms and Publications. Scroll down to the CM section and click on Approved Home Study Courses (Acrobat PDF format or MS Word format)

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Arrest Warrant

pictureAs reported in the November 2002 Newsletter, Eric Rothwell of Rothwell Consulting, Inc., Emeryville, California was certified by the Board in 1993 as a CIH. He failed to maintain his certification and was notified in November 2000 that his certification had expired. His continued use of the Certified Industrial Hygienist and CIH designations as well as other illegal business practices led to a warrant being issued for his arrest. The warrant includes 48 counts, at least 12 of which are for felonies. Mr. Rothwell fled from California to relatives in Ohio.

Following an attempt to arrest him there, he again fled and is considered a fugitive. We have received a request that anyone knowing of Eric Rothwell’s whereabouts contact Mr. Hansen Pang of the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office, Consumer and Environmental Protection Division, at (510) 569-6853 or hpang -at- co.alameda.ca.us or contact the nearest police department. The warrant is valid in all 50 states.

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IOHA-Recognizes Board Certification

The International Occupational Hygiene Association set up a Certification Committee to evaluate Occupational/Industrial Hygiene certification programs against IOHA developed program criteria. Their model certification program is patterned after recognized third party accrediting standards. ABIH was the first certification program to submit an application. We were notified in July 2003 that ABIH has been designated as an IOHA Recognized Certification Board.

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ABET Update

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology accredits both masters and bachelors programs in industrial hygiene. At the masters level, there are currently 27 schools with accredited MPH and/or MS programs in industrial hygiene. There are also 5 schools with accredited bachelors industrial hygiene programs.

ABET Accredited Masters Programs In Industrial Hygiene
Central Missouri State University
Colorado State University
Harvard University
Hunter College of the City University of NY
Johns Hopkins University
Medical College of Ohio
Montana Tech of the University of Montana
Purdue University
San Diego State University
Tulane University
University of Alabama at Birmingham
University of California at Los Angeles
University of Cincinnati
University of Illinois at Chicago
University of Iowa
University of Massachusetts at Lowell
University of Michigan
University of Minnesota
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Oklahoma
University of South Carolina
University of South Florida
University of Texas at Houston
University of Utah
University of Washington
Wayne State University
West Virginia University
Bachelors Programs Accredited By ABET
California State University at Northridge
Ohio University
Purdue University
University of North Alabama
Utah State University

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ABIH to Begin Computer Delivery of Certification Exams

Beginning in the Spring of 2004, ABIH Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and Certified Associate Industrial Hygienist (CAIH) exams will be given on computers at Prometric testing centers. Prometric has over 300 test centers in North America, many of them located in Sylvan Learning Centers.

There will be two testing windows each year, each two months long. The spring exam period will be April and May and will have a February 1 application deadline. The fall examination period will be October and November and will have an August 1 application deadline. This will greatly increase scheduling flexibility for the examinees, as they will have two months of dates from which to choose instead of two or three dates.

The added flexibility of having so many locations available will also be a plus. Reportedly, 95% of the population of the United States lives within 50 miles of a test center. Travel expenses and time lost to traveling will be greatly reduced for many examinees within the U.S. and Canada.

To help offset the increased costs of delivering the exams through a third-party vendor, the examination fees for both exams will be increasing by $100. It is anticipated that, for the majority of examinees, this increase will be much more than offset by the savings in time and travel costs previously associated with taking the exams either at one of the safety or IH meetings or at one of the regional exams. For those who live in cities where regional exams were previously given, it is hoped that the increased flexibility in scheduling and second opportunity to take the exam locally each year will be seen as beneficial.

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"Lost" Sheep

"Lost" CIHs

The following individual was due to report for certification maintenance by February 1, 2004, but we have been unable to locate him. We have listed last known employer and state.

Ronald M. Nordlund
Reynolds Metals Company
Oregon

If you know where this CIH is, please write, call, fax or e-mail us with his current location.

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"Toxic Mold" - The Future of Industrial Hygiene
or Just Another IEQ "Flavor of the Month"?

Ed Light, CIH
Building Dynamics, LLC, Ashton, Maryland, ELight -at- building-dynamics.com

Question - What is the IEQ "Flavor of the Month"?

  1. New product marketing various oil-based odors to trace plumbing pathways.
  2. Favorite ice cream of the AIHA IEQ Committee.
  3. An indoor pollutant or condition gaining notoriety through the media and temporarily perceived by the public as "Environmental Hazard #1".

Evaluation and control of the indoor environment presents the industrial hygienist with unique challenges. First of all, many contaminants routinely present at background levels have no accepted standards to distinguish normal from harmful concentrations. Second, potential health effects tend to be nonspecific, with many unrelated to air quality. Failing to recognize these complexities, IEQ assessments are often based on sampling strategies which assume that complaints are caused by exposure to a stable air contaminant with well established toxicology. Such narrowly conceived IEQ investigations are likely to result in either false positives (e.g., problem is incorrectly attributed to a pollutant measured in the normal background range) or false negatives (e.g., complaint is actually associated with a factor that was not evaluated).

Bona fide IEQ health effects may be relatively rare. However, the perception that symptoms are building-related can occur when unrelated medical problems coincide with time spent in a facility or conditions promoting psycho-social symptoms exist. Although building exposures have tended to remain constant in recent years, the media has periodically sensationalized an indoor pollutant as the cause of "Sick Building Syndrome." With the advent of the Internet, such news spreads rapidly and may even create a "virtual disease outbreak." This presentation will briefly review the history of this phenomenon and its relation to the current perception of "toxic mold".

Formaldehyde

One of the most visible IEQ issues of the early 1980s involved formaldehyde emissions from pressed wood products (e.g., urea formaldehyde resin in paneling). Like most indoor air pollutants, formaldehyde is commonly found at trace levels as a component in many consumer and building products. However, increased use of unstable formaldehyde resins in pressed wood (most notably in mobile and modular homes) produced levels irritating for the general population. Documentation of complaints, particularly in mobile and modular homes led to a resolution of this issue by about 1990 when pressed wood resins were modified to reduce their free formaldehyde.

Since that time, formaldehyde has generally assumed the role of a minor component of the VOC mixture with little or no health significance. However, its earlier notoriety still prompts many investigators to test for formaldehyde in IEQ surveys, without a specific basis. Taken to extremes, simply finding ubiquitous pollutants such as formaldehyde in indoor air can lead to an erroneous association with symptoms and unnecessary alarm.

"Sick Building Syndrome"

By 1990, a vaguely defined term, "Sick Building Syndrome," became increasingly applied to facilities where occupants attributed nonspecific symptoms to poor IEQ. Both research and practical diagnostic efforts to characterize complaints were based primarily on the use of questionnaires in which occupants described their health concerns. Lacking the patients' history and medical evaluation, their actual diagnosis and relationship to IEQ is not known. Misclassification of building-related symptoms can easily occur due to unrelated medical conditions or misperceptions (e.g., prompted by an uncomfortable or unpopular building). Although many epidemiological studies have been conducted to identify the contaminants or conditions responsible for Sick Building Syndrome, findings to date have been inconclusive. The author's experience suggests that IEQ impacts are site-specific and that to expect uniform conclusions based on self-reported symptoms is not realistic. However, the general public continues to be made aware of the Sick Building phenomenon through the media. In reality, only a relatively small proportion of schools, homes and office buildings perceived as "sick" show an actual association between building conditions and occupant health status.

Volatile Organic Compounds

Hundreds of VOCs are normally present in indoor air, many in the parts per billion range. Use of more sensitive analytical technology such as mass spectrophotometry now allows for the routine detection of many of these compounds. With no generally accepted guidelines and little basis for judging the risk presented by these pollutants, assessment may focus only on the presence of VOCs and their worst-case effects, ignoring dose-response principles. For example, most of us are routinely exposed to benzene in indoor air at about one part per billion, orders of magnitude below levels associated with health risks. Yet, trace benzene could be detected in any IEQ survey and considered to be the cause of occupant complaints. Following this logic, some products routinely emitting trace VOCs have been considered hazardous in the indoor environment.

While the range of indoor environmental conditions has changed little in recent years, specific complaints are often clustered around issues being publicized and sensationalized by the media. Investigators tended to respond with limited sampling strategies based on these perceived concerns. Often not asked in such investigations are basic questions such as:

Limited IEQ investigations are typically based on testing only, comparing data with unvalidated guidelines. Pass/Fail conclusions from such studies fail to consider:

Emergence of "Toxic Mold"

Mold growth in the indoor environment has always been recognized as a potential nuisance and/or minor health factor. Although the extent and risk of indoor mold growth has essentially remained the same, the perception of mold as a hazard became increasingly publicized in the late 1990s, eventually establishing it as the new IEQ "Flavor of the Month."

Mold's rise in status from a relatively minor IEQ issue to a major societal concern involves the role of mycotoxins. Until recently, mycotoxins were recognized by researchers as a component of many common molds known for potential inhalation impacts only in agricultural situations. Approximately 15 years ago, two published papers hypothesized that Stachybotrys could be toxic to building occupants. These were followed by a study associating bleeding lungs in infants to Stachybotrys. Although conclusions from this latter study were reversed by CDC, the media continued to promote the "toxic mold" theory supported by many field investigators and environmental laboratories.

By the late 1990s, "toxic mold" publicity led to the birth of new businesses (e.g., mold remediators) and new professional categories (e.g., attorneys specializing in mold litigation). Mold investigation was transformed from a minor industrial hygiene sub-specialty to a major practice area for many CIHs. In addition, tens of thousands of less qualified practitioners became "mold experts" based on overnight certification programs. "Toxic mold" is now the undisputed IEQ "Flavor of the Month", already serving a longer reign than any of its predecessors. Implications can be considered from the perspectives of public health, diagnostic effectiveness, societal cost and professional credibility:

  1. Public Health. Many mold surveys fail to include risk assessment based on the peer-reviewed literature. As a consequence, they generally assume that indoor mold growth should be handled as a hazardous material and that some mold types should be considered toxic.
  2. Diagnostic Effectiveness. Site assessments are now primarily based on microbiological sampling. These fail to recognize the limitations and variability of such data and the importance of visual and historical site information and the engineering expertise required to understand many moisture problems.
  3. Societal Cost. Assumptions about "toxic mold" have had a major influence on building design, management and maintenance costs, liability insurance coverage and premiums, litigation costs and liability concerns which are now being codified into new mold laws and regulations.
  4. Professional Credibility.

In closing, there are three possible outcomes to the "toxic mold" saga:

Industrial hygienists are in a position to promote the success of any of these three outcomes. Points which practitioners should consider when determining where they stand on this controversial issue include:

  1. Industrial hygienists should not promote health risks of building mold growth beyond that demonstrated in the peer-reviewed literature (e.g., see recent position paper of the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine).
  2. Mold testing should be considered a secondary assessment tool not needed in most surveys.
  3. Industrial hygienists should recognize that mold assessment requires expertise in building design, operation and maintenance with particular experience in moisture issues. Industrial hygienists may need to team with construction experts to locate damaged areas and to verify that moisture issues are resolved before mold remediation.
  4. Mold surveys should include the elements of a more general IEQ investigation to place both mold and non-mold findings in perspective.
  5. Health allegations should not be assumed but evaluated to determine their likely cause. Ideally, a physician should work with a hygienist to make this determination.
  6. Mold remediation should be based on procedures that are both effective and efficient, achieving cleanup goals in keeping with the degree of exposure and potential health effects involved.
  7. Since mold testing fails to account for normal variation and is not a predictor of health risk, remediation clearance should generally be determined by visual means.
  8. Industrial hygienists should provide leadership in the public debate on mold policy, advocating a science-based approach.

Concerns related to mold are generating an increasing number of phone calls/emails to ABIH from home owners, insurance companies and consultants. Regardless of whether you agree with every point or outcome, we hope the preceding article was thought provoking.

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Governance

As reported in the May 2003 Newsletter, ABIH has been exploring various governance models. The Board voted to adopt the Carver Policy Governance® model at a special meeting in August. The model helps to delineate the Board's job which involves prescribing what benefits will occur for which people at what cost (Ends) and that of the staff which concentrates on providing those benefits (means). The Board is less involved in administrative work/details and more involved with strategic issues and gathering information from groups affected by Board actions. The Carver process requires development of written policies that describe Board Ends, the Board Governance process, Executive (staff) Limitations and Board-Staff Linkage (delegation and accountability). ABIH will begin the transition to Policy Governance at the February 21-22, 2004 Board meeting.

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Bylaws

With the switch to Policy Governance, ABIH is taking the opportunity to review its Bylaws. A Board Task Force is looking primarily at the size of Board, length of term of office, how Directors are elected and the role of officers. Since ABIH is incorporated in Pennsylvania, any changes to the Bylaws must comply with Pennsylvania laws pertaining to nonprofit corporations. Proposed Bylaw changes will also be checked for compliance with certification accreditation standards. The current Bylaws can be accessed at the ABIH web site. Anyone who would like to comment on what they believe would be appropriate Bylaw changes, please respond to Lynn C. O'Donnell, CIH, Executive Director by January 15, 2004.

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E-mail Addresses

ABIH would like to increase its communication options with Diplomates. It would be more efficient and faster if we could email potential changes the Board is considering, annual renewal/CM reminders and other issues that would benefit from Diplomate feedback. To help us initiate this option, please update your web roster entry by entering your email address.

From the ABIH Home Page (www.abih.org), click on "Diplomate Services," then log in. This requires your last name and your ABIH I.D. number, which is NOT the same as your certification number. Your ABIH I.D. number is printed on your annual renewal notice (under the bar code) and also on your renewal receipt.

When you have logged in, you will see the "Diplomate Services Menu." The "Update Your Contact Information" choice brings up a form for entering changes. If your mailing address is in the U.S.A., please leave the "country" field blank. You only need to list a country if you are outside the U.S.. Please also note that there is a button beneath the last box to indicate whether or not you want to be listed as a consultant. If you check "yes," your address, phone numbers, and e-mail address will appear in both the "Public Roster" and the "Diplomate Roster." If you are not listed as a consultant, your contact information appears only in the "Diplomate Roster."

The roster, of course, contains only those CIHs, CAIHs, and IHITs who are in good dues standing.

Once you have entered your changes and clicked on "Submit Update to ABIH," the changes will NOT appear in the online roster immediately. The changes are imported into our database in the office and the online roster is updated from that database. This is done about once a week, so expect it to be a couple of days before you see the changes.

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2003 ABIH Examination Results

ABIH Examination Results

Based on the outcome of the 2003 fall examinations, the American Board of Industrial Hygiene announces the names of the new certificate holders.

(The Spring 2003 results were posted after the Spring newsletter went out and were not published here. They have been published and are available on this web site.)

Certified Industrial Hygienist
Comprehensive Practice (138)
Zachary R. Adams, CIH

Robert J. Agnew, CIH

Kwangesog Ahn, Sc.D., CIH

Wane A. Baker, CIH

Edwin F. Barth, CIH

Joel I. Berman, CIH

David A. Black, CIH

Marion B. Bragg, CIH

Brenda Jean Brewer, CIH

Robert J. Bridge, CIH

Gregory David Bronder, CIH

Donald Gary Brown, Dr.PH, CIH

Raymond V. Caddy, CIH

Stephen M. Caine, CIH

Kent A. Candee, CIH

Jason Todd Capriotti, CIH

Deepak Chadda, CIH

Michael A. Charlton, CIH

Melissa L. Cheszek, CIH

Thomas K. Chism, CIH

Brent A. Cooley, CIH

Mariette N. Cooray, CIH

Socorro Nadonga Cottle, CIH

Andrew P. Cruz, CIH

Jay Bart Dawson, CIH

David A. DeRuiter, CIH

Dominick A. DiMichael, CIH

Jeffrey S. Duffy, Ph.D., CIH

Gary Michael Eargle, CIH

Robert L. Edgar, CIH

George Manuel Evans, CIH

Anthony Wm. Flynn, CIH

Scott Michael Frajerman, CIH

Russell B. Furr, CIH

Mark Lester Gallett, CIH

Charles S. Garrett, CIH

William F. Garvin, CIH

Afsaneh (Afsi) Gerami, CIH

Joseph D. Gifford, CIH

Leonard A. Gilbert, CIH

Thomas C. Goob, II, CIH

Igor Grahovac, CIH

Kristin K. Gwin, CIH

Joshua M. Harney, CIH

Robert W. Harrison, CIH

Terry Lane Heaton, CIH

Darren S. Hendricks, CIH

Everette J. Horne, CIH

Kevin Charles Housman, CIH

Allen Harris Howard, CIH

Howard P. Hoyt, CIH

Brian E. Hroch, CIH

Jerry Walker Humphrey, Jr., CIH

Edward P. Jerome, CIH

Karen M. Jones, CIH

Kurt M. Juntunen, CIH

Wendy Ann Kady, CIH

Patrick J. Kempen, CIH

Michael A. Kenney, CIH

Christopher L. Kirkham, CIH

Mark W. Klein, CIH

Wendy E. Klein, CIH

Marvin K. Knight, CIH

Karla L. Konzen, CIH

Karen Marie Krall, CIH

Donald Anthony Kubik, Jr., CIH

Anjali Lamba, CIH

Beatrix M. Lambert, CIH

Richard T. Lamont, CIH

Michelle Lan, CIH

Peter T. LaPuma, CIH

Delano D. Leonard, CIH

Rainbow Y. Leung, CIH

Jana Lynn Lienemann, CIH

Kim Chien-Kai Lin, CIH

Yuk Pui Jimmy Lok, CIH

Joseph A. Loro, CIH

Steven Rosten Lyth, CIH

Bernardo Mangilin, CIH

Lisa S. Massih, CIH

Stacy L. Maxfield, CIH

Melissa K. McCullough, CIH

Erin M. McKeown, CIH

Theresa Jean Medina, Capt., CIH

John P. Meulenbroeks, CIH

Jennifer Meyer, CIH

Aaron M. Miller, CIH

Garret J. Miller, CIH

Andrea Maria Mims, CIH

Dinkar R. Mokadam, CIH

Michael J. Moriarty, CIH

Richard Lee Neitzel, CIH

Thresa-Jan Nelson, CIH

Daniel A. Newfang, CIH

Tuan Ngoc Nguyen, CIH

Keummi Park, CIH

Kent F. Parkinson, CIH

Horace G. Partin, CIH

Scott C. Petlick, CIH

Larry C. Pierce, CIH

Gerald Daniel Pineda, CIH

Jeanette F. Pon, CIH

James L. Poole, CIH

Dennison Poon, CIH

Michael S. Rosenow, CIH

Kelly A. Scanlon, CIH

Cathy A. Seeger, CIH

Andrea Frances Sevier, CIH

Jigar M. Shah, CIH

Edwin C. Slesak, CIH

Gavin J. M. Smith, CIH

Russell K. Smith, CIH

Gregory B. Sorenson, CIH

Jeff F. Stalnaker, CIH

Christina A. Starkbaum, CIH

Tobias Donald Steele, CIH

Brian D. Stymest, CIH

Susan S. Swan, CIH

Lauralynn Taylor, CIH

Siew-Tai Teo, CIH

Geoff G. Thomson, CIH

Troy W. Timothy, CIH

Stephen Victor Tsu, CIH

Man Kin Sam Tung, CIH

Marc A. Vargas, CIH

Haralambos V. Vasiliadis, Ph.D., CIH

Christopher D. Walker, CIH

Jon E. Wardecke, CIH

James Edward Watson, CIH

John K. Webster, CIH

Laura H. Weems, CIH

David G. White, CIH

Joseph P. Wier, CIH

Jennifer R. Wiest, CIH

Bo Xu, CIH

Perry Yeh, CIH

Liliana Yohonn, CIH

Lynne Marie Zarate, CIH

Certified Associate Industrial Hygienist (3)
Craig M. Cornell, CAIH

Xingqin (Kent) Huang, CAIH

Michael R. Perry, CAIH

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February 2004 Board Meeting

The next ABIH Board meeting will be held February 21-22, 2004 in Orlando, Florida. Anyone with issues that need to be addressed by the Board should contact the Executive Director, Lynn C. O'Donnell, CIH at (517) 321-2638 or abih -at- abih.org.

California Fires

ABIH would like to express its concern to all those Diplomates affected by the recent fires in southern California. If anyone experienced a loss of certification maintenance records or other ABIH related documents, please contact the office to discuss your situation.


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This was posted on December 5, 2003.