Upcoming Webinars Will Cover OEHS Aspects of Wildfires

Two webinars in November will address occupational and environmental health and safety issues related to wildfires. On Nov. 10, UC Berkeley will host a presentation on respiratory protection for wildland firefighters by Rachael Jones, PhD, CIH, a UCLA professor and AIHA member. On Nov. 23, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will discuss the intersection of environmental and occupational health using wildfires as a case study.

The UC Berkeley webinar will be held from 3 to 4 p.m. Eastern time. It will address barriers to the adoption of respiratory protection among wildland firefighters and the role of user evaluation studies in selecting suitable equipment. Participants must take a post-webinar evaluation within seven days of the event to receive a certificate of completion. Speaker Jones is an industrial hygienist and a professor in the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, as well as the director of the Southern California Education and Research Center and the UCLA Center for Occupational and Environmental Health. Register via the UC Berkeley website.

The NIEHS webinar will take place from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Eastern time and will be co-hosted by the institute’s Worker Training Program and Disaster Research Response Program, according to a flyer for the event (PDF). Researchers, public health practitioners, occupational health and safety professionals, Tribal partners, and federal agencies will engage in interdisciplinary discussion on wildfire research and response. Attendees will learn how research can lead to better protections for workers, responders, and communities before, during, and after wildfire events. To participate, register through Microsoft Teams.