The mission of AIHA’s Education and Technical Initiatives (ETI) department is to provide a full suite of OEHS educational resources that empower professionals who apply scientific knowledge to protect workers from occupational hazards. ETI fulfills its mission through the work of four teams: on-site education, e-learning, publications, and technical initiatives.

On-Site Education

As I predicted in my November 2021 post, 2022 was a year of transition. The ETI department has seen renewed interest from AIHA members in on-site education offerings. Both AIHce EXP 2022 and the four-day Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene course, which was offered in partnership with SafeX Inc., engaged on-site and virtual attendees equally. To fulfill members’ demand for on-site education, ETI also offered a two-day on-site training course focused on exposure assessment and lab ventilation at the Los Alamos National Laboratory.

AIHce EXP 2022 instructors delivered top-notch education through professional development courses (the average rating for PDCs was 4.33 out of 5) and educational sessions, including research roundups (the average rating was 4.45 out of 5). Attendees rated 60 percent of sessions at 4.45 or above.

The AIHce EXP 2023 education program will launch the week of December 5 and offer OEHS topics traditionally covered by conference programming, as well as Total Worker Health, Academic, and Lab tracks. Visit the site next week to browse the program that the Conference Program and Conference Education committees have designed. I hope you’ll appreciate the variety of sessions and professional development courses offered and will begin planning your 2023 education journey.

eLearning

The Use of Direct Reading Instruments certificate program was updated to align with the 2021 technical framework. Designed to help everyone working with DRIs, the certificate program covers hazard evaluation, chemistry for monitoring, hazardous gas and vapor monitors, DRI functions and limitations, sensor specificity, calibration and functional tests, “reality checking” results, use errors and user errors, DRI maintenance and storage, and recordkeeping and datalogging. The recently developed Making Accurate Exposure Risk Decisions course will prepare participants for the Exposure Decision Analysis (EDA) Registry exam.

Our e-learning subscription programs are growing both in the number of offerings and in popularity. As we’ve opened 2023 registrations, you’re now invited to check out what courses we’ve planned for individual and group subscribers in the coming year.

Publications

In 2022, AIHA also published the sixth edition of The Noise Manual and the second editions of Biological Monitoring: A Practical Field Manual and Recognition, Evaluation, and Control of Legionella in Building Water Systems, as well as the CPPS Study Guide and CPPS Review Flash Cards. A Case-Based Introduction to Modeling Occupational Inhalation Exposures to Chemicals is scheduled for publication in January. I hope that you’ll have a chance to read these books or adopt them at your university. If you’ve read them, AIHA’s Content Priorities Advisory Committee will be voting on Critics’ Choice Award winners in March 2023. Let CPAG know which of these new books you recommend for the award.

Technical Initiatives

AIHA’s OEHS frameworks play a foundational role in all our content development efforts. They also provide a roadmap that helps OEHS professionals identify their paths toward competency and develop fundamental skills in specific practices or areas of expertise. Spencer Pizzani and Steven D. Jahn wrote more about the importance of frameworks in their July post.

This year, the technical initiatives team also updated the competency framework SDS and Label Authoring Registry and technical framework A Resource for Respiratory Protection Programs. The occupational exposure assessment and susceptible worker protection frameworks will be published by January 2023.

I’d like to wrap up this post by wishing everyone a happy and healthy 2023! Email me if you notice any gaps in our education or would like to work with us on new initiatives.