San Diego to host the American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Expo June 1-6

[Guest guest]

California Beckons

San Diego and its expanded convention center host the American Industrial

Hygiene Conference & Expo early next month.

by Jerry Laws

Early June in Southern California is an especially appealing prospect. If

76-degree days with little rain meet with your approval, the June 1-6 run of

the 2002 American Industrial Hygiene Conference & Expo in San Diego will be

worth the trip.

This year's AIHce with the theme " OEHS--Powerful Partnerships " meets in the

San Diego Convention Center, which in September 2001 completed a major

expansion nearly doubling its size. The project added 276,000 square feet of

exhibit space. (Four months later, the same facility will be used for the

90th annual National Safety Congress.)

There's a chemical/bioterrorism track this year, hitting a major new area of

employer and government concern, and a fistful of ergonomics presentations.

But organizers of the program haven't forgotten 2001's other hot-button

issues. They have included sessions on asbestos (blamed for a series of

large corporate bankruptcy filings) and mold (blamed for skyrocketing

homeowners' insurance premiums and even school closings in southern Texas).

The full list of sessions offers presentations on hazardous waste shipping,

laboratory safety, respiratory fit testing, lead, and a host of other

important IH issues.

OSHA Administrator L. Henshaw, CIH, is the keynoter on Tuesday, June 4,

but the keynote speaker for the Opening General Session on Monday, June 3,

is less conventional: Ron , founder and director of The FIGHT Project

in Fairhope, Alabama. is a grassroots safety activist who helps

families cope with a serious injury, illness, or a death on the job. He made

workplace safety his life's work after his son, , died in a grain

silo accident in 1993.

Ron recently received a Labor Department appointment to fill a vacant

seat on the National Advisory Committee on Occupational Safety and Health

(NACOSH). He also will be admitted as an honorary American Industrial

Hygiene Association member at this conference. AIHce's promotional materials

portray his keynote this way: " Discover the inspirational and admirable

results achieved by and The FIGHT Project to forge productive

alliances and recruit volunteers to lobby Congress, state legislatures, and

media contacts. Hear about ' courageous and tenacious efforts to

improve workplace health and safety despite the obstacles of red tape and

layers of unresponsive bureaucracy. "

Co-Sponsors' Major Awards

Ergonomics figures into one of the American Industrial Hygiene Association's

major awards this year. The Alice Hamilton Award, presented annually to a

woman who has made a " definitive, lasting achievement " in occupational and

environmental hygiene, is going to Barbara S. Webster, PA-C, for " seminal

work on the recognition of the burden of work-related musculoskeletal

disorders on American labor, " according to the association. Other awards by

AIHA, a co-sponsor of the conference, honor safety and health professionals

from Mexico and Australia. The Distinguished Service Award is being given to

Dr. Ernest Mastromatteo for his work as chief of the International Labour

Office's Occupational Safety and Health Branch.

The conference's other sponsor, the American Conference of Governmental

Industrial Hygienists, at press time had not announced the winners of its

big awards. ACGIH is presenting its Meritorious Achievement Award, Herbert

E. Stokinger Award, and J. Bloomfield Award at its annual meeting on

Sunday, June 2; and its Steiger Memorial Award at the opening

session June 3.

Hospitality Tours and Sightseeing

The lineup of hospitality tours for AIHce 2002 includes the famous San Diego

Zoo, a half-day trip to La Jolla, and an all-day excursion June 4 to a

seaside town in Mexico. The Mexican border and bustling Tijuana are only 30

miles south of San Diego, and a light-rail trolley system operates between

downtown San Diego and the border.

Tijuana is a duty-free zone. This, combined with the peso's lowered value,

makes the city " a shopping paradise " for jewelry, pottery, leather products,

and more, according to the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau

(www.sandiego.org). If bullfights are more to your liking, Tijuana has

Sunday afternoon events at 4 p.m. in two arenas this time of year--the Plaza

Downtown Bullring and a seaside bullring. Call Mexicoach for tickets,

619-232-5049.

The Hyatt Regency San Diego and the San Diego Marriott Hotel & Marina are

co-headquarters hotels this year. AIHA's board of directors will be housed

at the Hyatt Regency, ACGIH's board at the Marriott. Committee events and

some meetings will be held at both hotels.

Next year's AIHce takes place May 10-15 in Dallas, Texas. The conference

moves to Atlanta in 2004.