EHS Professional May 27, 2021

IHMM Credential Recognition

Below you will see the 3 EHS credential badges that are now in each CSHM, CSMP, and ASHM certificant’s MYIHMM account. Every IHMM certificant may use these badges, linked as those below are to their IHMM credential page, for their email signatures, business cards, and other social media applications. You’re justifiably proud of the accomplishment of having earned your credential and you can show the rest of the world. Simply right-click on the badge of choice, then save as to your computer, and then load it to wherever you want to use it and please link that back to https://ihmm.org/.

IHMM UPDATES

Need Help? On the IHMM website just click on the “NEED HELP?” button and let us know what you need and the right person will get right back with you.

IHMM is a member of ASSP and is pleased to send along this important information to IHMM certificants…

How to Conduct a Risk Assessment

Risk assessment can be broken down into a four-step process. Step one is to gather data which allows you to develop an understanding of the hazards and risks that exist within your facility and how they affect worker safety. There are four key components of collecting and using information for your risk assessment.

Risk Education Week | June 7 – 11, 2021

Stay at the forefront of continuously evolving risk management tools and methods by joining your peers for a focused week of risk education. Get practical guidance on how to apply techniques from world-class instructors to help your organization assess and manage risk. As leaders in their fields, ASSP approved instructors are the best of the best. We carefully review and confirm their credentials, experience, and teaching abilities to bring you the most up to date education available in the safety industry.

Learn more about risk here.

CALL TO ACTION – Representative Spanberger of Virginia’s 7th Congressional District has drafted legislation entitled,  H.R. 2171, “Freedom To Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act.” This legislation expands the provisions of existing law with respect to the allowable uses of Section 529 education tuition accounts.

PLEASE GO HERE TO PARTICIPATE: https://ihmm.org/45-in-5-task-force/

All you have to do is enter your name, address, and zip code and the IHMM VoterVoice system does the rest and automatically sends our message to your Senators and members of the House of Representatives. It’s very easy and matters!

A 529 plan is a tax-advantaged savings plan designed to encourage saving for future education costs. 529 plans, legally known as “qualified tuition plans,” are sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions and are authorized by Section 529 of the Internal Revenue Code. Under H.R. 2171 those pursuing or who already have private credentials may use their Section 529 savings for applications, examinations, professional development/certification maintenance points costsrecertification, and so on.

The “Freedom To Invest in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act” will enable those who seek professional, post-secondary credentials from institutions recognized by the Internal Revenue Service.  A copy of the draft legislation is here.

Spanberger co-led the introduction of the legislation alongside U.S. Representatives Fred Upton (R-MI-06), Dean Phillips (D-MN-03), and Rob Wittman (R-VA-01). A companion bill in the U.S. Senate is led by U.S. Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Mike Braun (R-IN). 

On-Site Consultation Program

OSHA’s On-Site Consultation Program offers no-cost and confidential occupational safety and health services for small and medium-sized business in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories.  When employers use consultation services, the employers and their workers experience benefits that include lower injury and illness rates, improved morale, and economic benefits. In fact, the On-Site Consultation Program generates national economic benefits of approximately $1.3 billion per year.

 National Safety Council
IHMM is a member of the National Safety Council and is pleased to bring this important information to all of its certificants.

Join NSC and our sponsor VelocityEHS – Award-winning EHS & Sustainability Software – for the 25th anniversary of National Safety Month, an annual observance to help keep each other safe from the workplace to anyplace.

With the U.S. seeing the highest number of workplace deaths since 2007 – 5,333 fatal workplace injuries in 2019 – this observance is more important than ever.

• SAFER guidance evolves as vaccine distribution continues

• National Safety Council Says Employers Should Take Risk-Based Approach to CDC Mask Guidance

• NSC creates task force to provide guidance on returning to work safely

NSC Webinars

• June 2 – Webinar: OSHA Safety Training – How to Make it Effective

• June 2: A Step-by-Step OH&S Impact Guide to Biden’s Infrastructure Spending Plan

• June 2: Managing Safety Exposures Associated With Industrial Energized Assets to Prevent Serious Injuries and Fatalities

• June 8: How to Create an Engaging Hybrid Training Environment

• June 10: What is ISO 45001? And What Impact Will It Have on Your Business?

• June 17: Could You Do More to Reduce Your Manufacturing Workplace Safety Risks?

• June 17: Oil & Gas: Using Data to Understand and Address Safety and Health Issues

• June 23: Why category management and data analytics are essential in the fight against supply chain waste

Please join us in participating in Safe + Sound Week from August 9-15, 2021. Safe + Sound Week is a nationwide event held each August to show your business’s commitment to keep workers safe year-round. Safe + Sound Week is also a time when information and ideas are shared to help get your safety and health program started or improve an existing program.

Download the Save the Date and share that you’ll be participating in Safe + Sound Week on social media using #SafeAndSoundAtAWork.

Registration opens in July and will be announced via IHMM Today and EHS Professional.

Take the Pledge

When management leadership is sincere and is supported by actions, workers know that safety and health are important to business success. Top management can demonstrate its commitment to workplace safety and health in many different ways, such as by developing and communicating a safety pledge. Download A Safety and Health Pledge for Managers template, choose specific actions you will take to support workplace safety and health, and share the pledge with your workers and on social media using #SafeAndSoundAtAWork.

Due to the progression of the COVID-19 pandemic and its cascading effects on safety and health, work, travel, and large gatherings, all SafetyFOCUS events are now virtual. Our hope is that this format will make SafetyFOCUS events more accessible while offering the same networking opportunities and high-quality education you expect from ASSP. IHMM is a member of ASSP and we are pleased to send all IHMM certificants and you may learn more here.

Safety and Health This Week

• Wearables in the Workplace: What You Need to Know

• NIOSH CIB on Health Effect of Occupational Exposure to Silver Nanomaterials Includes REL for Silver Nanomaterials

• All Hands Fire Equipment Offering Best Pricing For N95 NIOSH Masks

• SAFER guidance evolves as vaccine distribution continues

• Long working hours kill 745,000 people a year, WHO and ILO estimate

• How Engaged Are You With Your Workers?

• Why Employers Should Invest in Worker Safety

• What Makes a Qualified Electrical Worker?

• Navigate safety in the future world of work

• Risk assessments: Establish your purpose

• Feeling stressed at work?

Latest Safety Tips

• How to Keep Employees Safe in 2021

• Tips For Drivers, Motorcyclists To Safely Share The Road

• Safety Shower Solutions in Freezing and Challenging Work Environments

Latest Workplace Solutions

• Data collection and worker privacy

• SAM and hazardous energy

IHMM & AHMP 45 in 5 Project – National Credential Recognition – 21 States Targeted

On January 25th, we began outlining the strategy to go after the 21 states in yellow, above. Since then we have succeeded in adding Nebraska, Colorado, and California.

This is just the beginning. Here is the present composition of the 45 In 5 Task Force and the states we are focusing on. More people may volunteer anytime!  https://ihmm.org/45-in-5-task-force/

• Washington state AHMP chapter is about to file its material seeking recognition of the CHMM with the state and that can serve as a template for other states – MTCA regulatory update in your library.
• We need everyone to engage their federal House and Senate Members on HR 2171, here > https://ihmm.org/45-in-5-task-force/
• Every IHMM credential page now has a section on “Who Hires…” and you can see the CHMM version here >  https://ihmm.org/chmm/ The federal and state agencies that recognize our credentials is extraordinary ranging from EPA to NASA and private sector companies from Abbvie to Texas Instruments. This is a great foundation on which to build formal govt recognition
• When Oracle in Karnataka, India needs an Environmental Health and Safety Manager, Oracle looks for an IHMM CSHM.
• Explore with Erik Vega in Puerto Rico on the approach to agencies there.
• The CSHM and CSMP will have new blueprints by the 4^th q of this year, so our efforts on behalf of both should wait until that project is completed.
• Any other areas where we need attention?
• We can launch on the regulatory update of https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/40/312.10 40 CFR 312.10 this summer
• We can launch on the regulatory update of SBA guidance to lenders for Phase I and II assessments this summer, anything else from the last meeting on this topic? Environmental Phase I Assessment Reports in your library

In 2019 Mark Bruce from AHMP and Gene Guilford from IHMM worked on a project to get the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to recognize the CHMM and CDGT credentials. With Mark’s work on the ground in  Pennsylvania, we succeeded.

Since the launch, we have added Delaware, Florida, Texas, California, Washington, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico as the next places for us to work on with 44 volunteers.

Let’s get the rest of the country on board. Volunteer using this form: AHMP/IHMM 45 in 5 Project

Who Hires ASHMs?

IHMM credentials are known and highly regarded worldwide. Below is the evidence of just a few reasons why IHMM promotion of its credentials – all of them – matters to governments, employers, and the employees who work so hard to acquire our credentials and keep them up-to-date. Here are only a few examples of the companies and governments that hire IHMM ASHMs…

ENVIRONMENT & SAFETY RECENT UPDATES

• California Officials Delay COVID-19 Workplace Safety Rule Changes

• Vote on California workplace safety changes to be held on June 3

• New york to Set Workplace Safety Standards for Airborne Diseases

• Workplace Safety and Wellness is the Top Priority for Business Leaders in 2021

• OSHA’s Strategic Partnership with Holder Construction, Georgia Tech Results in Improved Workplace Safety Conditions and Increased Involvement From Workers With Their Safety

• WFIA Honors Businesses for Outstanding Workplace Safety

• OSHA won’t enforce ruling on counting vaccine reactions as ‘recordable injuries’

• Public Health 101 failure’: CDC mask decision may knock out Biden’s workplace Covid crackdown

• Can an employer ask if you’re vaccinated in the US?

• New OSHA Standards Are Coming for COVID-19. Better Late Than Never?

• Walking-Working Surfaces, HazCom Clarifications Proposed by OSHA

• Oregon OSHA considers wildfire smoke, extreme heat protections for outdoor workers

• The Next Frontier of Workplace Safety

• New York State’s HERO Act Imposes New Workplace Health And Safety Obligations On Employers

• CDC Experts Discuss Evolving COVID-19 Workplace Safety Rules

• Labor Law: Virginia employers need to comply with workplace safety rules which conflict with the CDC and governor’s order

• State budget deal withdraws proposed permanent COVID-19 workplace safety rules

• Amazon (AMZN) Launches Employee-Designed Health and Safety Program called WorkingWell Across U.S. Operations

• Is Your Company One of America’s Safest Companies?

• Entering the Alligator Pit: An Overview of Confined Space Standards

• Eight Steps for Ensuring Your Emergency Shower Equipment is Ready for Action

• The National Fire Protection Association Establishes a New Standard to Help Against Cannabis Fires in the Workplace

• Powerful N.J. lawmaker questions whether Chemical Safety Board can do its job

• 2 Years After Disastrous Deer Park Chemical Fire, Texas Close To Creating New Safety Rules For Industry

• EPA Officials: Agency Deviated from ‘Typical Procedures’ in 2018 Dicamba Registration Decision

• Walking-Working Surfaces, HazCom Clarifications Proposed by OSHA

• South Jersey residents sue chemical companies over ‘public health catastrophe’

• States with the Highest Rates of Severe Injuries in the Workplace

• The Pregnant Workers Fairness Act Passes in the House

• GAO Issues Guidance on Building Resilient Roads & Highways

• Why Employers Should Invest in Worker Safety

• OSHA Proposes Clarification of Handrail and Stair Rail System Requirements for Safety

HMS UPDATES

HMS Donations

One of the most important projects of the Hazardous Materials Society is our Scholarship program.

HMS wants to make it as easy as possible for those who cannot always afford to participate in pursuing certification, or keeping up with professional development, or attending great conferences and receiving outstanding training. HMS does not solicit contributions from the general public. HMS does ask IHMM’s certificants and their companies and our education and training vendors to consider a contribution.

Here, through your generosity, you can make a difference in promoting the ability of those who can afford it least to become participants in our communities of practice.

It’s never too late to make a difference, so don’t let this opportunity to make a difference pass you by. Please consider a tax-deductible donation of $250, $500 or what you can to help build HMS’s effort to help others in our communities of practice.

HMS Education and Training

Hazardous Materials Society now has 11,701 education and training programs on its website https://hazmatsociety.org/education-training/ with more coming every week. Certificants will note that most of these programs carry a CMP value, making it easier to know in advance what to expect. The HMS Education and Training platform also provides a wide variety of courses for professional development across all of IHMM’s credentials – and more are being developed by the HMS Education and Training Committee.

This is the center of education and training for IHMM certificants and prospective certificants. Among these more than 15.000 programs are webinars delivered online and virtually all carry IHMM CMPs values with them for your annual / 5-year CMP planning. SEE: https://hazmatsociety.org/education-training/

HMS Affinity Programs – CINTAS Uniforms

With more than 27,000 people – here is where HMS leverages our numbers for member’s benefit. There is strength and value in numbers and that translates into lower costs for you.

Save up to 65% off Cintas uniforms, safety and facility services.

Keep your team and workspace looking their best. New Cintas contracts enjoy special discounts and a free one-time UltraClean service and free installation of hygiene dispensers. Enroll with NPP today and save on Cintas!

Enroll your business for FREE with NPP to learn more about Cintas discounts. Enroll with NPP here: https://mynpp.com/association/hms/