March 2017 President’s Message

Spring is in the air with essence of flowers and trees blossoming. This month NJAIHA is hosting the joint dinner meeting with both NJASSE and MABSA on Thursday March 16, 2017. Craig Doolittle has been working with both organizations on speaker selection and relevant topics that will complement our collective memberships. This is truly one monthly dinner meeting everyone should be attending to collaborate and network with peers but share information and experiences with our colleagues.

Remember our “Loyalty Rewards Program”. Members who attend any five (5) dinner meetings will get the 6th dinner free!! Loyalty rewards are tracked by having your wallet card autographed at each dinner meeting. Also, if you sign up any five (5) new or former NJAIHA members in our “Member Geta-Member” program, NJAIHA will offer you a free dinner at any one of the monthly meetings. It is important to note that there are no time constraints for either program. To date, both of these programs have been very successful. Please continue to help us grow and prosper. Contact Candice Kowalewski with any questions regarding membership services.

You may have seen our continuous postings on social media – Facebook and Linkedin. Our objective is to connect more with our members on topics of interest and begin a deep dive by talking about the issues that affects the workforce, public, or environment. Using social media provides more connectivity with our membership in a timely fashion rather than emails alone. Recently we posted a number of jobs opportunities on Linkedin to complement the learning process. There are many useful peer-reviewed articles and other nationally recognized resources, which may be of interest to our members. Alternatively, NJAIHA encourages members to contribute beneficial information about the profession, interesting subject matter for learning, upcoming events, and posting other exciting job opportunities. Please send any information to Mark Ostapczuk, our Director of Publications.

NJAIHA continues to seek more vendors to advertise in our monthly newsletter and website, and help sponsor our monthly dinner meetings. As a bonus for advertising, we will promote your business by posting your information on our Facebook webpage. Advertising helps connect business opportunities with our membership. If you would like to advertise, complete an application on the website. Jack Zybura can provide more information about posting any information to the website or social media.

We need your support for the upcoming 2017 NJAIHA student scholarships. We continue to sell the piqué polo shirts with the NJAIHA logo to raise revenue to support the student scholarships. So far, we have been successful in holding our pricing so more NJAIHA members can afford these items. Many members have made a purchase so that they can wear the shirts and represent NJAIHA. These shirts can be worn to any NJAIHA venue and they make a great gift. If you want to make a purchase, contact Craig Doolittle, purchase them at the dinner meetings, or visit the NJAIHA website.

The NJAIHA Executive Committee is working on updating the bylaws and the operations manual in 2017. Both of these important documents have not been updated since 2013. Bylaws represent the written rules for conduct of the Executive Committee. One area of interest is deeper understanding of conflict of interest and fiduciary responsibilities by NJAIHA Executive Committee members. The operations manual helps us construct the framework to meet the policy requirements established in the bylaws. If anyone wants to work on either of these documents, contact Hank Shotwell.

The business value of industrial hygiene and safety is being recognized more in business as a tool for risk management, advancement of technology, and a driver for economic, social, and governance of the workforce, public, and environment. Over the past several months, NJAIHA has requested input from the membership to collaborate more with our neighboring local sections. Philadelphia, Metro NY, and NJ sections of AIHA agreed to post each other dinner meeting announcements and share other public information. NJASSE and MABSA are interested in sharing more information on occupational health and safety. The objective is to provide better collaboration and coordination of regional learning and job opportunities for the membership of each local section or chapter. If you want to help coordinate NJAIHA information and events, please contact Craig Doolittle.

Recently, Commerce and Industry Association of New Jersey (CIANJ) forwarded information on the 2017 NJ legislative agenda. The State Assembly is considering the ““Hazardous Drug Safe Handling Act.” The NJ state legislature found that healthcare personnel who work with or near hazardous drugs in healthcare settings may be exposed to these agents in the air and through contact with work surfaces, clothing, medical equipment, and patients. Antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs have been identified with a number of acute, short-term, and chronic effects, including skin rashes, infertility, miscarriage, birth defects, liver and kidney damage, damage to the bone marrow, damage to the heart and lungs, and various cancers. In 2004, NIOSH published an alert on preventing occupational exposures to antineoplastic drugs in health care settings. NIOSH urged that all hazardous drugs be universally handled according to standard precautions, which includes recommended procedures for assessing workplace hazards, handling hazardous drugs, and using and maintaining equipment, as well as a list of “drugs considered hazardous,” which was updated in 2010, 2012, and 2014. It is the policy of the State to provide for the appropriate regulation of the handling of hazardous drugs consistent with the NIOSH alert, regardless of the setting in which healthcare is provided, in order to protect the workforce from potential harmful exposure to antineoplastic and other hazardous drugs. However, the State Assembly failed to identify Industrial Hygienists or Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs) as subject matter experts to protect worker health. NJAIHA is working with AIHA national to determine what can be done to insert appropriate language into the Act. Please see page 15 of our March newsletter for the full article.

NJAIHA continues to work with New Jersey State Industrial Safety Committee (NJSISC) leadership to resolve the conflict of interest matter relative to the annual award ceremonies and dinner meetings. There are many obstacles including logistical and governance issues to consider so that all nonprofits with occupational health and safety initiatives in NJ can share the workload to support these events.

In closing, I hope to see you and a friend at the Thursday, March 16th dinner meeting at Snuffy’s! Look for more information in the email announcement and/or posting on Linkedin and Facebook.

Best regards,
Bernard L. Fontaine, Jr., CIH, CSP, FAIHA
President NJAIHA