Ken Kretchman, Chair
Pam Greenley, Vice Chair
Lindsey Kayman, Secretary

1) Opening Remarks/ Introduction (Ken Kretchman)

A sign-in list was circulated.

Ken explained that he would be chair of the committee until 12:30 on May 24, 2000. After that time Pam Greenley would be the chair and Lindsey Kayman the vice chair. He explained how the committee’s membership would be decided. Twenty five percent of the committee must be made of of AIHA members who have been on the committee for 2 years or less. There are a total of 25 members and an unlimited number of corresponding members. If there are more than 25 people who want to be members, the officers will decide who is on the committee based upon their potential contributions. An official list of committee members is posted on the AIHA website.

2) Approval of Minutes from the 1999 AIHC Committee Meeting

The committee approved the 1999 AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee minutes which were sent out to Committee members in a 2/15/00 e-mail from Ken Kretchman.

a. Biological Monitoring Committee (Shane Que Hee)

The AIHA Biological Monitoring Committee proposes to do a joint round table with the Lab Safety Committee on Biological Monitoring issues on University Campuses. Some biological monitoring topics that were discussed included mutagens, teratogens, DNA adducts and animal allergies. Joe Raab agreed to explore this issue further with the Biological Monitoring Committee.

b. AIHA Board Coordinator (Lindsay Cook)

Lindsay Cook discussed a priority of the Board to provide guidance for new professionals, especially those who serve smaller institutions with less funding. It was agreed that having resources available on the AIHA web site would promote this goal. Tom Oumet suggested posting message forums rather than utilizing the Listserve which is only available to committee members. Tom informed the committee that Ed Bartosh of the AIHA Computer Applications Committee is the appropriate liaison for all web-related projects.

Powerpoint presentations and other technical information will be available as a free resource. In the future there may also be streaming videos and virtual conferences.

Lindsay informed the committee that this is the fourth year that the AIHA has available $25,000 for seed money for AIHA Committee projects.

c. American Chemical Society (Doug Walters)

Doug informed the committee that Emmett Barkley, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Director of Laboratory Safety, will receive an award for Science Technical Education at the ACS meeting in August 2000.

Mat Finucane and Larry Gibs were going to present an Industrial Hygiene for Chemists session at a recent ACS meeting but the class was canceled when only 7 people registered. The committee discussed the reasons for the poor turn out and decided to develop a proposal for committee members to try offering the seminar in their areas through local section meetings or on-site at interested host institutions. It was decided to ask Larry and Mat to develop a proposal for standardizing the module for the committee so it could be used in this manner.

d. Government Affairs Committee (Aaron Tripler)

Aaron updated the committee about happenings in Washington DC. OSHA and NIOSH have been well-funded for the upcoming year. OSHA’s attempt to require ergonomic furniture for telecommuters is being used as a campaign issue by Republicans.

Title protection continues to be an issue for Industrial Hgyienists. Sixteen states currently have title protection for Industrial Hygienists. The AIHA opposes ASSE’s plan to create a "Safety Professional" title which has an educational requirement of only a high school diploma.

e. Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA)

It was decided that the Committee would establish a liaison with the Campus Safety, Health and Environmental Management Association. Michelle Johnson volunteered for this position.

4) Reports to Committee

a. Business Plan/Budget 2000 (Ken Kretchman)

Ken discussed the committee budget request. The request for $13,505 included costs for web page creation which will be removed since this service is being provided by the Computer Applications Committee. There is money in the budget to be allocated to distance learning projects. Also there is money allocated for four committee members to attend a midyear meeting and for two hours of conference calls.

b. Leadership and Session Arrangers Meeting (Pam Greenley and Lindsey Kayman)

Lindsey Kayman attended the AIHA Leadership Conference on behalf of the committee in May 2000. Pam Greenley will attend in 2001. The roles and responsibilities of committee officers are reviewed during the conference.

The incoming vice-chair must choose up to 8 papers for the next years technical session. Pam Greenley had this responsibility for this years conference and Lindsey Kayman will have it for next year.

c. PDCs

Two PDCs were offered this year. The Laboratory Ventilation PDC was increased to a full day session. Gordon Miller, the course auditor, reported that the class was very well received. This was confirmed by the evaluations. A Lab Safety and Health Exposure Assessment Course was offered for the first time. The session went well. There was a suggestion that the focus of the course should be broadened to cover more than one exposure assessment model and to increase the session from a half day course to a full day.

d. Technical Session

It was noted that this year’s technical session would be held on Thursday afternoon. This time slot was unavoidable since the timing of each committee’s sessions rotates.

a. Compendium of Lab H&S Resources (Liz Gross and Steve Hemperly)

The AIHA has developed a 26 chapter "Compendium of Resources for Health and Safety." Resources on laboratory health and safety which were collected by Liz Gross and Steve Hemperly will be included in this compendium. When originally conceived the list was going to be on the AIHA Lab Safety Committee web site. There was some disappointment over the AIHA stance that the compendium would only be available for sale. There was a suggestion that a working version or an abridged version of the list could be posted on the web site. Ken Kretchman agreed to pursue this.

b. Laboratory Health and Safety Web Page (Steve Hemperly and Ken Kretchman)

The committee discussed possible content for the web page including:

-Lessons Learned
-Organizations
-Chemical Hygiene Plans and other references that are available to persons outside the host institution
-Hazard Review Plans
-Exposure Assessments
-Best Practices

It was noted that CSHEMA has case studies on their web page. It was agreed that the committee would pursue posting accident descriptions, rather than case studies, in an anonymous format.

It was agreed that Tom Oumet, Ken Kretchman, Gordon Miller and Eric Gertner will work on the web page.

c. Report on ANSI Z9.5 revision status (Gordon Miller)

Gordon Miller informed the committee that the revision is about two years away from being published. Some recent changes include recommendations for the use of a face velocity measurements taken with an instrument that can take measurements in a grid-style rather than hand-held instruments. The ASHRAE 110 test will emphasized "As Manufactured" tests rather than "As Installed." There will also be an emphasis on preventive maintenance rather than achieving a specific face velocity. Gordon also reported that the Underwriters Laboratory has recently published a draft standard on Push/Pull hoods.

a. New PDC and Roundtable Proposals

Ideas for new PDCs included:

Physical Hazards
Commissioning of Laboratories
Gene Therapy
Lab Design
Biological Monitoring
Animal Hazards
Effective Health and Safety Audits

The committee decided to pursue two roundtables: Laboratory Commissioning and Decommissioning to be organized by Liz Gross and Laboratory Design to be organized by Gordon Miller. Joe Raab will work with the Biological Monitoring committee for a possible joint roundtable. Lindsey Kayman will speak with the Biosafety Committee about a possible joint session. Lindsey Kayman will be the arranger for the 2001 technical session.

b. Distance Learning

Development of distance learning programs are a major priority of the AIHA. The committee discussed having the Lab Ventilation PDC videotaped and made available for this purpose.

c. International Code Update (Mike Austin)

Mike informed the committee that the BOCA and Uniform fire codes are being merged into an International Fire Code. The NFPA will still have separate codes. Mike updated the committee on some changes pertaining to laboratory safety.

7) Appointments and Calendar

a. PDC Monitors and Auditors/Session Monitors

People who want to be a PDC or Session Monitor or a PDC auditor should notify Lindsey Kayman.

b. Important Calendar Items