MoreHere are the top ten public policy issues of interest to environmental health and safety pros, according to a poll of American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) members:
Emergency response / Homeland Security - Assigning roles and responsibilities for EHS pros.
Updating permissible exposure limits (PELs) - A legislative fix is closer to being proposed.
Mold exposure, inspection and remediation - The media hype, lawsuits and rush to regulate puts a premium on sound scientific data and expertise.
OSHA reform / third-party workplace reviews - Republicans in Congress continue to be interested in the idea of privatizing or contracting out certain inspection functions.
Ergonomics - Training and technical assistance, not standards-setting, will be the national focus for the next several years.
Indoor air quality - Beyond mold, this is a long-standing issue for industrial hygienists.
Professional recognition / Title protection - One of the top policy issues since 1993.
Small business assistance - Can a program be developed with OSHA to provide small businesses with pro bono consulting help?
Injury and illness prevention plans - OSHA had dropped the idea of a standard, but some states have requirements and voluntary guidelines, in the form of management systems, that are becoming popular.
Laboratory accreditation - Accredited laboratories are the best way to ensure that test samples from food facilities, workplaces and homes are analyzed accurately.
With access to over one million professionals and more than 60 industry-specific publications,
