This week, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) sent a letter in support of H.R. 2500, the “Voluntary Protection Program Act,” introduced by Rep. Todd Rokita, R-Ind. The Act would codify the Department of Labor’s Voluntary Protection Program (VPP), ensuring that the program would continue with adequate funding.
Jennifer Nash, executive director of the Regulatory Policy Program at Harvard Kennedy School, kicked off Stewardship 2014 by challenging attendees to consider what the phrase "product stewardship" truly means to them, both in theory and in practice.
Investigative journalist Gabriel Thompson delivered the 14th annual Upton Sinclair Memorial Lecture at AIHce 2014 today, recounting his experiences working long hours in low-paying, unsafe, and harmful jobs. Drawing on material from his book Working in the Shadows, Thompson discussed the unsafe conditions facing many immigrant workers in the United States—conditions which, in some cases, Thompson knows from firsthand experience as an undercover journalist harvesting lettuce, working in a poultry processing plant, and picking tobacco.
On Wednesday, June 4, Michael (Mike) K. Harris, PhD, CIH, the recipient of the 2014 Donald E. Cummings Award, urged AIHce 2014 attendees to make industrial hygiene better known to the wider public in order to attract millennials to the field.