2004 Donald E. Cummings Memorial Award LectureIndustrial Hygiene in Decline—What Can We Do?

Abstract

The Donald E. Cummings Memorial Award was established in 1943 as a tribute to Donald E. Cummings, AIHA's third president. It is given for outstanding contributions to the knowledge and practice of the profession of industrial hygiene. This year's Cummings Award recipient is D. Jeff Burton for his many publications and training courses, as well as his involvement in many IH/OH organizations.

Notes

1. Parenthetically, we have a very interesting and disturbing paradox. While we try to figure how to deal with the technical demands of many expanding disciplines like air pollution or ergonomics, we are at the same time also struggling to retain our most basic technical disciplines those central to the IH profession from the beginning. These include IH chemists, IH toxicologists, IH sampling experts, IH engineers, and others.

2. Harry Ettinger, “Industrial Hygienists: Who We Are, Priorities, Goals, Limitations.” AIHA Journal 64:724–729 (2003).

3. Steven J. Owens, “Standards.” Electrical Contracting and Engineering News, August 2003, pp. 28–33.

4. AIHA/ANSI Z9 Committee: Recommendations for the Management, Operation, Testing, and Maintenance of HVAC Systems: Maintaining Acceptable Indoor Air Quality in Non-Industrial Employee Occupancies Through Dilution Ventilation. Fairfax, Va.: AIHA Press, 2004.

5. The Foundation for Occupational Health & Safety (FOHS) was established in 1988 by ACGIH® to fulfill the need for broadened research and education in the industrial hygiene profession and to subsequently publish the scientific information gleaned from the research; to disseminate the results of valuable research findings; to assure a heightened quality of continuing education in occupational health and safety; and to foster enhanced cooperation and professional exchange in the international arena. Beyond its attention to fostering expanded establishment and use of occupational exposure values throughout the world and its annual presentation of the Jeff Lee Lecture at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHce), FOHS plans to increase its emphasis on the need for high-quality continuing professional education and on elevating its vision to a higher plateau in this important arena. The Foundation's most recent initiative is a worldwide, outreach program. FOHS, working in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centers for Occupational Health, and in accordance with its 2002–2005 Work Plan, has developed the program to benefit the needs of educational institutions in developing countries throughout the world. On behalf of FOHS, the ACGIH International Committee investigates and recommends suitable recipients of publications and educational material for qualified educational organizations. In 2003, the YIHWAG Family Foundation granted $15,000 to FOHS to be distributed to educational organizations in developing countries over a period of 5 years. FOHS awarded the first grant in 2003 to the Occupational Health Department Library at the University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, to fulfill the educational needs of the occupational hygiene MPH program by providing 14 ACGIH student memberships, one full ACGIH membership, books on TLVs and BEIs, and several other publications. The development of FOHS is an “exciting and … wonderful opportunity to fill a real need for getting essential information out to IHs and related professionals,” stated FOHS President Dawn Tharr. “I am convinced that grant-making foundations can be shown the tangible value of our programs and will see an identifiable “payoff.'…” FOHS and its plans are unique and singular. The “payoff,” which will accrue to all within the profession, is, of course, the improvement of worker health and safety.