EHS Professional – July 21, 2022

IHMM Certificant Recognition

IHMM has completed inserting new credential badges in every certificant’s MYIHMM account. Everyone may access those badges for use in their email signatures, LinkedIn accounts, and other social media and communications media.  With a link from your credential badge to the IHMM website [see above] you can not only stand out as an IHMM-certified professional, you can also promote IHMM credentials to others. Right-click on the badge of choice, save as to your computer, then load it to whatever medium you choose.

Throughout our certificant’s MYIHMM accounts are also now placed 10 Year, 20 Year, and 30 Year badges signifying their longevity as an IHMM certified professional.

IHMM has also added Distinguished Diplomates and Fellows of the Institute badges to the appropriate people in the MYIHMM database. These two badges will be accompanied by new lapel pins to be sent to each of those distinguished by holding these designations.

Beltway Buzz – Ogletree & Deakins

EEOC Updates COVID-19 Guidance. On July 12, 2022, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission updated its COVID-19 guidance as it relates to the testing of employees in the workplace. Since the start of the pandemic, the EEOC has advised that COVID-19 viral testing was generally permissible under the Americans with Disabilities Act. With this week’s update, employers must now be able to demonstrate that mandatory testing is job-related and consistent with business necessity. This standard will require employers to “assess whether current pandemic circumstances and individual workplace circumstances justify viral screening testing of employees to prevent workplace transmission of COVID-19.” Christine Bestor Townsend and Katy McGarry have the details.

NLRB: Union Election Petitions Increase. Workers around the United States continue to file more union representation petitions. According to the National Labor Relations Board, during the first three quarters of the current fiscal year (October 1, 2021–June 30, 2022), the agency received 1,892 representation petitions. This represents a 58 percent increase from the 1,197 petitions the agency received during the same period last year.

DOL Issues NPRM Relating to Federal Contract Successors. On July 15, 2022, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) implementing President Biden’s Executive Order 14055, “Nondisplacement of Qualified Workers Under Service Contracts” (November 18, 2021). The NPRM notes that the executive order requires federal contractors, when succeeding federal contracts for the same or similar services, to “offer qualified employees employed under the predecessor contract a right of first refusal of employment under the successor contract.” The proposed rule sets forth parameters for defining which contracts are covered and excluded, guidelines for determining which workers are eligible for job offers, the process for offering and accepting jobs, and recordkeeping requirements. If this all sounds familiar, the concept goes back to at least the Clinton administration, and subsequent administrations have both rescinded and resuscitated the policy. Comments on the NPRM are due on or before August 15, 2022.

House Approves Labor Amendments. This week, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2023 (NDAA) (H.R. 7900). To Congress’s credit, the annual legislative effort has never failed: the bill authorizing funding for the military has passed for sixty-one straight years. In the House, more than 1,200 amendments to the bill were filed, and about half that number were considered for debate on the House floor. The following labor-related amendments were approved as part of the House-passed NDAA:

• An amendment to require the Office of Federal Contractor Compliance Programs to establish compliance procedures (filing of complaints, investigations, etc.) relating to the federal prohibition on criminal history inquiries by federal contractors
• An amendment to prohibit the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) from contracting with any employer found to have committed an unfair labor practice within three years of the contract award
• An amendment to require the DOD to give preference to unionized contractors, enter into neutrality agreements, or promise not to hire striker replacements
• An amendment that would blacklist from federal contract opportunities employers that have committed two or more violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act within the past five years

Of course, time will tell if these amendments make their way into a final bill for President Biden to sign. The U.S. Senate will likely consider the NDAA in September.

Employer Group Warns About Online Voting for Union Representation Elections. Just last week, the Buzz reported on the inclusion of language in the House Committee on Appropriations’ Fiscal Year 2023 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies Bill that would order the National Labor Relations Board to “develop a system and procedures to conduct union representation elections electronically.” In a very timely response to the committee’s action, the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace this week issued a report titled “Online Voting in Union Representation Elections: The Latest Attempt to Eliminate Workers’ Right to Secret Ballots.” The report argues that online voting for union representation elections is subject to fraud, coercion, and cybersecurity risks and warns that “[t]he NLRB must halt their efforts to implement an online voting system, and Congress should oppose legislation permitting the Board to establish such a system in order to protect the credibility of union representation elections.”

Power of the Purse. The Buzz has recently been discussing federal government spending and appropriations, so it is perhaps appropriate that this week marks the forty-eighth anniversary of the enactment of the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974. The act was a response to the executive branch’s steady usurpation of Congress’s power of the purse: presidents since the founding had always refused to spend (i.e., impounded) certain funds appropriated by Congress. Congress tolerated this practice for the most part until President Nixon took it to the extreme and refused to spend tens of billions of congressionally appropriated funds on initiatives that he opposed. (President Nixon signed the bill into a law a month prior to his resignation.) The act reasserted Congress’s control over the appropriations process by creating the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, as well as the House and Senate budget committees. It also moved the federal government’s fiscal year from July 1 to October 1, to give Congress more time to react to the president’s annual budget message. Perhaps most importantly, Title X of the act put much stricter limits on when and how presidents may impound funds. In that respect, the act could be considered a success. But in terms of delivering a smooth and on-time federal budget process? Not so much.

Appropriators Not Close on Government Funding for FY23

Government funding expires at the end of September and congressional appropriators are not particularly close to passing appropriations bills for fiscal year 2023.

While House Appropriations Committee Democrats are working to schedule floor votes on some of the 12 annual spending bills in July, the Senate Appropriations Committee has been deadlocked on top spending levels for defense and domestic spending bills for months, raising the likelihood of another continuing resolution to fund the government past Sept. 30.

The Senate is out of session until the week of July 11 and the Senate appropriations process was thrown into further uncertainty by news that Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT) had surgery last week to repair a broken hip.

Read more > https://ihmm.org/appropriators-not-close-on-government-funding-for-fy23/

HMS Makes Finding Courses to Earn CMPs Easy

Every year more than 1,600 IHMM certificants have to recertify their credentials, evidenced their continuing commitment to improvement and learning to elevate their professional credential.

Earning Certification Maintenance Points [CMPs] is illustrated under Recertification of Your Credential, that includes the Recertification Claims Manual – Appendix A, that details all of the ways a certificant may earn CMPs > https://ihmm.org/recertification-claims/

Having mastered that manual, how does an IHMM certificant find courses to earn CMPs?

HMS has made that simple and easy.

1. Go to https://hazmatsociety.org/education-training/
2. Scroll down until you see a row of buttons…click on the CMPs button

The system will then generate all of the courses on the HMS E&T platform with IHMM CMPs already attached.

The next developments by the HMS E&T committee will refine available courses’ CMPs by individual credential!

Member Benefits of Hazardous Materials Society

99% of IHMM certificants are aware of the Hazardous Materials Society, which we appreciate. IHMM established the Hazardous Materials Society in order to support and provide services to IHMM certificants.

Did You Know?

Your company’s membership dues for Associate Membership in the Hazardous Materials Society (HMS) are 100% tax-deductible and your participation directly supports scholarship and education/training opportunities for professionals working in hazmat and EHS. Joining as an Associate Member expresses your commitment and your company’s leadership in giving back to our professional community. Join today to claim your tax deduction for the 2020 tax year while expressing your company’s professional affiliation and accessing tools for your marketing and business development plans.

To learn more about what HMS is doing now and what they are planning for the future, please see the new Member Benefits page here.

Linking IHMM and HMS Exam Training

Every IHMM credential page has a section providing guidance on Exam Preparation.

In each credential’s Exam Preparation section is the graphic at left, linked to the section of the Hazardous Materials Society [HMS] website where the applicant can find the exam prep courses being offered to assist the applicant with preparing for the IHMM exam.

If you are a vendor offering exam prep courses and your prep course is on the HMS site, IHMM applicants will find it. If you do not have an exam prep course on the HMS site, no applicant will find it.

Click on the graphic at the left, from the CHMM Exam Preparation page, and see where it takes you. Is your prep course there?

Make your IHMM credential exam prep courses visible to IHMM applicants by contacting Gene Guilford at [email protected]

Applications for the 2022 HMS Scholarship Awards Now Open

The HMS scholarship award is given annually to undergraduate and graduate students whose academic program and research studies have the potential to address the most serious issues in handling hazardous materials, dangerous goods, environmental issues, health & safety challenges. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents enrolled in accredited U.S. academic institutions.

DEADLINE TO SUBMIT SCHOLARSHIP AWARD APPLICATIONS IS December 1, 2022. All submissions and associated materials must be submitted using the online form.

Scholarship Winners Will Be Announced at the HMS Annual Meeting.

For More Information, Visit > https://hazmatsociety.org/scholarship/

IHMM/HMS Coronavirus Resources

In February of 2020, the World Health Organization’s director-general has declared a public health emergency of international concern over the ongoing outbreak of respiratory illness caused by a novel coronavirus. On March 13, 2020 President Trump declared a national emergency for the United States. IHMM and HMS’ first concern is with the safety and health of all of us; our staff and families, colleagues, certificants and members. We will update this page regularly as credible, authoritative information is available.

INFORMATION FOR HEALTHCARE PROFESSIONALS, PUBLIC HEALTH PROFESSIONALS, AND LABORATORIES.

• IHMM/HMS Coronavirus Resources Website
• COVID-19 Data Tracker By State
• COVID-19 Case Investigation and Contact Tracing in Non-Healthcare Workplaces
• COVID-19 Weekly Review – August 26, 2022
• CDC Communications Toolkit

Retiring? IHMM Invites You to Become an Emeritus

You may have decided, after a long and successful career, to retire from active daily duty. Congratulations. That doesn’t mean you have to completely disengage from your profession. IHMM is pleased to offer Emeritus status to all certificants who will no longer be actively engaged in their communities of practice but who still want to stay in touch. Please let us know when you’re approaching that decision and we will assist you in the credential transition.

Please contact Margaret Toscano at [email protected] and she’ll be happy to help you.

Columbia Southern University

The Hazardous Materials Society [HMS] is a partner of Columbia Southern University. Columbia Southern University is an online university based in Orange Beach, Alabama, that strives to change and improve lives through higher education by enabling students to maximize their professional and personal potential.

A subsidiary of Columbia Southern Education Group, CSU offers online degree programs at the associate, bachelor, master, doctorate or certificate levels in a multitude of areas such as occupational safety and health, fire administration, criminal justice, business administration, human resource management, health care administration and more. CSU also features undergraduate and graduate certificate programs to provide focused training in specialized areas for adult learners.

Click on the CSU graphic at left and learn more about the professional development and degree program opportunities at CSU.

IHMM CONFERENCES FOR 2022

IHMM will attend and support a number of conferences and trade shows throughout 2022, virtually as well as in-person as COVID issues allow. Below are some of the conferences IHMM will support in 2022.

Are there conferences you believe IHMM should attend that do not appear here? If so, let us know! Send an email to Katie Young Eagle and tell us what conferences we should attend.

2022 FET Environmental Conference

October 25-27, 2022
Pewaukee, WI

IHMM-HMS EVENTS CALENDAR

AFFILIATIONS