Are you on the fence about whether to renew your AIHA national membership for 2021? Maybe you have not yet found the value you were looking for in volunteering, are struggling to fit the membership fees within your budget, or are soon retiring. Whatever your conundrum, I would like to reassure you of the value of your volunteering commitment, which has led this year to AIHA being recognized by the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) as one of 100 Associations That Will Save the World under the safety category.

This and AIHA’s other notable accomplishments this year would not have happened without the dedication of our members and the volunteer community:

• AIHA volunteers have produced 26 Back to Work Safely™ guidance documents, each focused on a specific industry sector and aimed at small businesses—eight of which have been translated into Spanish.
• Volunteers have also created another twelve-plus free public resources, with topics ranging from use of engineering controls to cleaning and disinfection strategies, PPE, and much more.

As a result of this extensive library of COVID-19 resources, AIHA and its members have received national media attention from outlets such as ABC News, The Wall Street Journal, an NPR member station, and USA Today, which interviewed members about occupational health and safety-related subjects. Such exposure boosts the credibility of the individuals featured, AIHA as an organization, and members of the profession as a group among employers, employees, and the general public, who may be seeing the IH/OEHS field as a source of expertise for the first time. Volunteering for AIHA’s pandemic-response efforts provides members both an opportunity to do good work on a pressing issue and the potential to be regarded as an expert by the public.

In fact, many former AIHA members have rejoined the association in appreciation for AIHA’s leadership in pandemic response. “In recent years, I have drifted away from active AIHA participation and let my membership lapse,” said Mike Van Dyke, PhD, CIH, an AIHA Fellow with over 20 years of IH experience. He explained that his withdrawal had to do in part with a perceived “lack of forward direction by the organization,” in addition to the natural progression of his career. But in consideration of recent developments, Van Dyke changed his mind. “[AIHA has] inspired me to get involved again and renew my membership,” he said.

Aside from important work on the most significant current health concern, what else may continuing your membership offer you?

• enhanced virtual educational offerings, starting with AIHce EXP 2021 and new events scheduled throughout this autumn
• AIHA’s brand evolution, including its new logo, tagline, and coinciding public awareness campaign, may raise your visibility as an expert for all matters pertaining to worker health and safety
• through our two most recent micro-websites, advocacy for the value of IH/OEHS expertise in the eyes of the public: WorkerHealthSafety.org helps educate non-IH/OEHS professionals and stakeholders about the field’s business value in the workplace, and OEHS Science Careers promotes awareness of and provides resources about the OEHS/IH profession to students, teachers, and guidance counselors

According to a recent member survey, 85 percent of current members are satisfied or extremely satisfied with AIHA membership, and nine in ten current members say they are likely or extremely likely to renew their AIHA membership in 2021. Join them and rest assured that we at AIHA are doing everything we can to provide you with the most current news, research, and career guidance, along with educational, networking, and volunteer opportunities to assist in protecting worker health and bolstering your professional development. If you renew your membership before December 31, you’ll secure member perks through the end of 2021 and will also be eligible to receive a complimentary copy of a brand-new e-book in our Essentials Collection, Essentials of Total Worker Health (otherwise $19.95 for members or $29.95 for non-members).*

*We will follow up with your free eBook download upon its release in January 2021. This offer is only valid on renewals received before 12/31/2020.

How to Pay Your Local Section Dues:

There are no local section dues reflected on your emailed or printed invoice. Each year, we have open invoices for local section dues that are never paid, which results in a manual and time-sensitive process to remove these invoices. With this in mind, we invite all AIHA national members to join or renew their local section dues as follows. Please don’t forget to update your personal information.

• sign in to AIHA’s member portal using your AIHA username and password
• click “New! Renew Membership”
• select “Verify your Information” and update all your personal information
• select “Renew National Membership”
• click “Local Section Dues”
• check out, and consider adding a donation to AIHF

Thank you in advance. If you encounter any issues, please contact AIHA Member Services at 1+ (703) 849-8888 or via email at [email protected].