The International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) has announced that Roger Alesbury MSc, Dip OH, CFFOH will be the recipient of the IOHA Lifetime Achievement Award. The prestigious award will be conferred during the 11th IOHA International Scientific Conference (IOHA 2018), hosted by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) in Washington, DC in September 2018.  

The IOHA Lifetime Achievement Award honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the promotion and development of occupational hygiene practice that improve the health and welfare of working men and women. Roger is well known in the global occupational hygiene community as a champion of worker health protection, particularly in the field of training and education as a founding director of the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA).

Roger was nominated by the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) with support from the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygiene (AIOH), the New Zealand Occupational Hygiene Society (NZOHS) and the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA). All four organisations have affirmed his remarkable leadership and tireless commitment to the occupational hygiene profession across a career of more than 40 years.

Roger has held senior management positions with global responsibilities in a number of multinational corporations, most notably BP where his 27 year career included 11 years as Director of Industrial Hygiene. He led these organisations in the successful local development of IH capability and programs, engaging with business leaders, mentoring early career professionals and developing common strategies and goals in improving health risk management.

In the early 2000s, looking to address the challenges facing occupational hygiene resource across the world, Roger and a small group of occupational hygienists began to develop the OHTA international training scheme and qualifications framework.  This non-profit scheme enables trainees across the globe to develop transferable, practical skills in a consistent way using freely available training materials. The scheme has enjoyed considerable success, particularly helping to grow professionals in developing economies. To date more than 8000 exams have been taken for OHTA courses in 50 countries. Roger’s enthusiasm and support have helped many countries adopt the system, with the OHTA concept now endorsed by 25 member associations (of which 24 are national occupational hygiene organisations). Roger was Chair of the Board of Directors when OHTA became a UK charity in 2016, and he continues to contribute his time and expertise as an adviser to the current Board.

A Past President of the British Occupational Hygiene Society, Roger has also been Chair of the Chemical Industries Association Health Advisory Group and Member of the European Commission Advisory Committee on Safety Hygiene and Health Protection at Work. In 2016 he was corecipient of the AIHA William P. Yant Award, while in 2011 he received the ACGIH William Steiger Memorial Award.

Roger has been invited to deliver a lecture at the IOHA 2018 conference on 25 September. Entitled “Capability in Occupational Hygiene”, the session will look at examples of developing programmes in parts of the world where there are few or no occupational hygiene resources and the focus is on finding or developing skilled people, equipment and basic facilities. Roger will share his thoughts and reflections based on a lifetime in occupational hygiene, and examine what it takes to build capability and grow occupational hygiene.

Andrea Hiddinga-Schipper, President of IOHA 2017-18, said: ““Through the creation and development of OHTA, Roger Alesbury has established a remarkable legacy, and his accomplishments align very closely with IOHA’s objectives. Throughout his career he has dedicated himself to building occupational hygiene capability and he continues to support the next generation of occupational hygiene professionals. We are honoured that he will be joining us at the IOHA 2018 conference and I look forward to hearing him speak.”