IHMM Today June 6, 2023

Meet Jelian Larbi, PMP, Certification Coordinator

IHMM is pleased to introduce to our community Jelian Larbi, PMP, our newest Certification Coordinator who has been with us a month and is completing her orientation.

Jelian’s primary responsibility is working with the roughly 1,500 people who need to recertify their credentials every year. She will be in touch with every IHMM certificant who appears to be getting a bit behind in meeting their 5-year recertification cycle requirement to earn 100 points for their professional job and another minimum of 100 points in a variety of activities as spelled out in the IHMM Recertification Claims Manual.

Jelian is here to help every certificant retain their credential! After spending an enormous amount of time and money preparing for and earning their credential, the last thing we all want is for any certificant to lose their credential for not recertifying on time.

• Jelian will walk you through the IHMM Recertification Claims Manual and help you discover certification maintenance points [CMPs] that you may be able to take credit for,
• Jelian will assist you with how to start a recertification claims application, which everyone should do now and enter their points as they are earned, and she can show you how to enter them,
• Jelian will assist you with how you may update your MYIHMM record and keep it all current,
• Jelian will assist you with making any payments you need to make in your MYIHMM record.

Jelian is at [email protected] or at 301-244-4875.

Associate Hazardous Materials Manager® [AHMM®] Launches

IHMM is pleased to announce, after more than 24 months of work, that the  Associate Hazardous Materials Manager® [AHMM®] credential has launched this Memorial Day.

There are 250,000 people who muster out of the U.S. Armed Services each year, the vast majority of whom have no degree and less than 3 years of experience in an MOS/AFCS – or military occupation. Until now, IHMM had no credential for any of these servicemen and women. Each year, thousands of people graduate with a degree in environmental engineering or other sciences, get their first job in the environmental field and thus have no experience, and IHMM has no credential for these people either.

Now, IHMM has the Associate Hazardous Materials Manager® [AHMM®] credential for military personnel with no degree and less than 3 years of experience, or recent college graduates with little or no experience, or Student CHMM® graduates, may apply for and take examinations.

The AHMM certification blueprint is here.

IHMM thanks the AHMM Scheme Committee > https://ihmm.org/ahmm-scheme-committee/ as he success of this project can be largely attributed to the passionate subject matter experts in their field who were fully engaged in the process, and committed to the mission of IHMM and the AHMM credential.  Thank you for volunteering your time, your expertise, and your passion!! All of the members hold the CHMM certification.

Ten subject matter experts (SMEs) serve on the AHMM Scheme Committee, working under the guidance of Nicola Areshenko, Chair, and Craig Dickensheets, Vice-Chair of the AHMM Scheme Committee, and M. Patricia Buley, IHMM’s Director of Certification and Accreditation.

The AHMM website is here > https://ihmm.org/ahmm/

Certified School Safety Manager® [CSSM®] Launches

IHMM is pleased to announce, after more than 18 months of work, that the Certified School Safety Manager [CSSM] credential has been built from the ground up with its first blueprint and examination.

IHMM thanks the CSSM Committee > https://ihmm.org/csss-cssm-committee/ starting with its Chair Mike Howe, CSSM, for all of the time and effort building a new credential where none had existed before.

IHMM’s Certified School Safety Manager® [CSSM®] credential certifies the school safety professional who is responsible for overseeing and supporting key operational and safety functions in educational facilities. This position may provide direct supervision or advise operations and academic programs in order to provide an environment free of recognized hazards.

The IHMM CSSM website is here.

Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist® [CPPS®] Coming

For the past year the IHMM Microcredential Task Force > https://ihmm.org/microcredential-task-force/  has been developing the first IHMM microcredential, the Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist [CPPS].

A Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist (CPPS) Microcredential holder is first a CHMM or CSHM credentialed professional who has demonstrated, through education, experience, and examination, the ability to identify and assess the risks associated with pathogens and their effect on public health, commerce, industry, and/or government operation. The focus of the CPPS microcredential is to: assess and provide guidance concerning the preparedness levels of different entities, develop and implement risk-reduction strategies.

Common functions may include training needs assessment, identifying supply chain challenges, best practices and technologies associated with identified risks, leading multi-stakeholder meetings, and related duties. Mastery of International Standards including ISO 45006 Managing Infectious Diseases as well as ISO 45001 Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems, serves as a basis for this International IHMM Microcredential.

Much of this work is also based on the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness, whose annual report released last September strongly reflected that America was ill-prepared for COVID-19 and will be unprepared for the next pandemic unless public and private professionals act.

The CPPS blueprint has been completed, and the new CPPS examination is being loaded into the Kryterion system and IHMM should be in a position to release the CPPS website and deliver applications and examinations by the 4th of July.

ASSP Safety Conference and Exposition

Visit with Rosie and Kortney from IHMM at Booth #860!!

San Antonio, TX

June 5-7, 2023

IHMM Government Affairs – Needs You

IHMM is building volunteers for its Government Affairs Committee – open to all IHMM certificants. Anyone may join the committee on its website here >> https://ihmm.org/government-affairs-committee/

• Furthering the interests of certificants to secure government recognition of IHMM credentials

• Determine which state or federal regulatory actions to become involved with

• Determine which state or federal legislative activities to become involved with

The committee may be as busy as it chooses to be as IHMM certificants determine the number and scope of its activities in one of the most important areas in which we work both to secure recognition as well as to promote the strengths of our subject matter experts across the broad range of government policy making that affects us all.

Sandia scientists achieve breakthrough in tackling PFAS contamination

Debt Ceiling Permit Deal Clears Path For Biden CEQ’s Phase 2 NEPA Rule

EPA Completes Verification Analysis of PFAS Scientific Testing of Pesticide Products

OSHA Seeks Feedback on Effectiveness of Leading Indicators to Improve, Develop Resource Tool

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration is asking for stakeholder input on their current use of leading indicators and their impact on managing their safety and health management systems. Leading indicators are proactive and preventive measures that can provide insight on the effectiveness of safety and health activities and reveal potential problems. They are vital in reducing worker fatalities, injuries, illnesses, and financial impacts.

As OSHA considers developing a Leading Indicators Resource, the agency welcomes stakeholders to share their experience and expertise and provide detailed feedback on how/where they are used at their workplace. OSHA is interested in various perspectives on stakeholders’ answers to questions, such as the following:

• What leading indicators do you use?
• What lagging indicators do you use (OSHA incident rates, for example)?
• What leading indicators are, or could be, commonly used in your industry?
• What metrics do you share with top management?
• How do you determine the effectiveness of your leading indicators?
• Do you link your leading indicators to outcome data, such as OSHA incident rates to evaluate results?
• How could employers be encouraged to use leading indicators in addition to lagging indicators to improve safety management systems?
• What barriers and challenges, if any, have you encountered to using leading indicators?

Individuals may submit comments at regulations.gov by July 17, 2023, which is the Federal eRulemaking Portal, identified by docket number OSHA-2023-0006. For more information, see the OSHA Trade Release.

2022 TRI Reporting Deadline Is July 1, 2023 — What Is New This Year?

Each year about this time, companies are focused on the deadline to submit Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This year is no different as the July 1, 2023, deadline is rapidly approaching. By this date, entities subject to the reporting requirement must submit data for activities that occurred during 2022. Companies are required to report if they meet chemical activity thresholds and are either in a covered industry sector and exceed the employee threshold; or are specifically required to report based on a determination by EPA under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA) Section 313(b)(2). EPA’s TRI Threshold Screening Tool can help companies determine if they are subject to TRI reporting. The tool uses a step-by-step questionnaire to help companies determine whether they meet or exceed the facility, employee, and chemical thresholds established by EPA. For more information, please read the full memorandum.

Read more >> https://www.lawbc.com/regulatory-developments/entry/2022-tri-reporting-deadline-is-july-1-2023-what-is-new-this-year

OSHA and NIOSH Update Handbook for Small Businesses

Self-inspection checklists for ergonomics, young workers, workplace violence and infection control have been added to the OSHA/NIOSH Small Business Safety and Health Handbook.

The revised handbook features checklists on a wide variety of topics, including electrical safety, emergency planning, fire safety, hazard communication, heat illness prevention, noise exposure and fall protection. It also details how to implement a safety and health program and the value of having a program in place.

“Employers that make job safety and health a real part of their everyday operations will benefit in the long run,” the handbook states. “Investing in a safety and health program now will help you avoid possible losses in the future. A safe business is a sound business.”

See the Small Business Handbook Here.

OSHA to Hold Public Meeting June 15 to Discuss Modernizing, Improving, Expanding its Voluntary Protection Programs

The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration will hold a stakeholder meeting on Thursday, June 15 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT, to discuss modernizing, improving and expanding the agency’s Voluntary Protection Programs. The public may attend the meeting in person in the Frances Perkins Building, U.S. Department of Labor, 200 Constitution Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20210. Register to attend in person or virtually at VPP Stakeholder Meeting Registration by June 1. Virtual attendees will only be in listening mode; questions and comment opportunities will not be available.

The agency seeks input from stakeholders, regardless of whether they have had direct, indirect and no involvement with VPP facilities, on questions such as the following:

• Are there leading indicators for measuring future performance of safety and health management systems?
• How can OSHA encourage more employers to apply to VPP?
• Aside from current customer experience surveys, how can OSHA solicit more frequent and timely feedback on the program?
• Beyond the OSHA Challenge, how can the agency increase the use of effective safety and health management systems by companies not in the VPP?
• How can OSHA improve the program’s quality or integrity?
• Given OSHA’s limited resources, how can the agency grow VPP more efficiently?
• In what ways, can safety and health consensus standards be used to create pathways for companies to participate in the VPP?

For more information, see the OSHA Trade Release.

• IHMM submitted comments to the OSHA request and can he read here

Protecting Workers During National Safety Month

June marks the beginning of National Safety Month, which focuses on raising public awareness of the leading safety and health risks for workers and aims to decrease the number of injuries and fatalities in workplaces. While safety is important year-round, observances such as National Safety Month are paramount to raising awareness about safety and health hazards and creating an environment where workers and organizations can put safety first.

A safety-first workplace environment focuses on eliminating the leading causes of preventable injuries and deaths. By creating awareness of the risks and hazards and educating workers to conduct tasks safely, solutions can be made to help eliminate on-site risks.

In safety plans, PPE should be considered the last line of defense against injury. But while it is viewed as the last line of defense, it is still crucial to have head-to-toe PPE. Indeed, head-to-toe protection starts at the top. This National Safety Month, let’s review the head, face and eye protection needed when it comes to staying protected on the job.

Read more >> https://ohsonline.com/articles/2023/06/01/protecting-workers-during-national-safety-month.aspx?admgarea=magazine&m=1

–OHS

Beltway Buzz – Ogletree Deakins

Debt Ceiling Disaster Dodged. After months of political posturing, weeks of negotiating, and days of nail-biting, the U.S. Congress approved legislation to lift the debt limit to ensure continued payment of the nation’s bills. The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746) passed the U.S. House of Representatives on May 31, 2023, by a vote of 314–117, and it passed the U.S. Senate on June 1, 2023, by a vote of 63–36. One hundred sixty-five Democrats joined 149 Republicans to get the bill across the finish line in the House, and 44 Democrats, 2 Independents, and 17 Republicans voted for the bill in the Senate. According to a report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the measure will reduce the nation’s debt by about $1.5 trillion (over ten years) and save $188 billion in interest payments on the debt. The legislation accomplishes these savings by:

• suspending the debt ceiling until January 1, 2025;
• placing caps on discretionary spending (i.e., not Medicare/Medicaid or Social Security) for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal years;
• rescind about $27 billion of unspent COVID-19 federal relief funds that had been provided to nearly ninety budget accounts;
• recouping $1.4 billion appropriated for the Internal Revenue Service as authorized by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022;
• enacting work requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, or food stamps); and
• lifting the COVID-19 student loan pause.

NLRB GC Targets Noncompete Agreements. Noncompete agreements remain a popular target for policymakers in Washington, D.C. The Federal Trade Commission has its proposal to ban noncompete agreements and Congress has the Workforce Mobility Act, a bill proposed this year in February. Now, National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, through a memorandum issued on May 30, 2023, writes that she believes “[e]xcept in limited circumstances … the proffer, maintenance, and enforcement of” noncompete agreements violates the National Labor Relations Act. General Counsel Abruzzo’s theory is that noncompete provisions limit employees’ job opportunities, and thus chill employees:

• “from concertedly threatening” to quit their current job—or actually quitting—to demand better working conditions;
• “from concertedly seeking or accepting employment with a local competitor to obtain better working conditions”;
• “from soliciting their co-workers to go work for a local competitor as part of a broader course of protected concerted activity”; and
• “from seeking employment, at least in part, to specifically engage in protected activity with other workers at an employer’s workplace” (such as organizing a union at another employer’s workplace).

General Counsel Abruzzo suggests that narrowly tailored agreements designed to protect proprietary or trade secret information may be appropriate, but that avoiding competition from a former employee or an employer’s interest in retaining employees or protecting investments in training are unlikely to justify an over broad noncompete provision. The Board will have to adopt the general counsel’s theory in order for this to become Board policy. Jennifer G. Betts, Tobias E. Schlueter, Thomas M. Stanek, Christine Bestor Townsend, and Zachary V. Zagger have the details.

White House Holds Meeting on Employee Monitoring. Last week, the White House convened a meeting of policymakers and stakeholders “on the use of automated technologies by employers to surveil, monitor, evaluate, and manage their workers.” The meeting included White House officials, as well as officials from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, NLRB, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Scrutinized industries included “call centers, trucking, warehousing, home health care, and app-based ride sharing.” The meeting follows on the issuance of a request for information from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) seeking “comments from the public to better understand automated surveillance and management of workers, including its prevalence, purposes, deployment, and impacts, as well as opportunities for Federal agencies to work with employers, workers, and other stakeholders to ensure that these systems do not undermine workers’ rights, opportunities, access, health, or safety.” Those comments are due by June 15, 2023.

DOL Issues Letter on Calculating FMLA Leave. Fresh off the Memorial Day holiday weekend, on May 30, 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued an opinion letter on “how to calculate the amount of leave used when an employee takes leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) during a week with a holiday.” The letter first clarifies that because the actual workweek is the basis for employees’ leave entitlement, when an employee takes a full workweek of FMLA leave during a week that includes a holiday, the entire week counts as FMLA leave. However, if the employee takes intermittent leave (i.e., less than a full workweek), “the holiday is not counted as FMLA leave unless the employee was scheduled and expected to work on the holiday and used FMLA leave for that day.” The letter concludes that the holiday must be counted as part of the workweek when calculating the amount of FMLA leave used in order to avoid reducing the employee’s leave amount: “if the employee was not expected or scheduled to work on the holiday, the fraction of the workweek of leave used would be the amount of FMLA leave taken (which would not include the holiday) divided by the total workweek (which would include the holiday).”

Professional Certification Coalition

IHMM is a member of the PCC. The PCC monitors state and federal legislative and regulatory activity affecting professional certification on an ongoing basis. The PCC has compiled several “Watchlists” identifying and analyzing provisions in pending legislation at both the state and federal level that, under applicable rules, may still be enacted in the current legislative session.  Depending on the carry-over rules in the relevant legislature, the charts listing current legislation may include bills introduced in a prior year.  In addition, the PCC compiles each year a chart of enacted legislation that affects certification. The charts include hyperlinks to every bill or executive order. Note that the Watchlist and the Enacted Legislation document do not include profession-specific legislation and do not include regulatory initiatives. The charts will be updated as needed based on new developments.

• 2022 Accomplishments and 2023 Priorities

Other State and Federal Activities

In this section we will highlight other state and federal government affairs activities undertaken by the committee.

Current Priorities April-June 2023

• PHMSA Recycled Plastics Policy – https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/04/14/2023-07869/hazardous-materials-request-for-feedback-on-recycled-plastics-policy

• Ohio EPA Hazardous Waste Rules – https://epa.ohio.gov/about/media-center/events/public-hearing-HazWasteRules

• NY Department of Labor rulemaking concerning the recognition of the CSHM and CSMP. IHMM’s comments concerning initiating this rulemaking are here

• Work with Eric Vega in Puerto Rico concerning credential recognition

• Review of the Governor of Nevada’s Executive Order concerning licensing boards and potential for recognition of the CHMM. IHMM’s comments on the Governor’s Executive Order are here

• Scheduling meetings with the Maryland Congressional delegation concerning the Certified Pandemic Preparedness Specialist [CPPS] credential

IHMM Credential Recognition

The highest priority of IHMM’s Government Affairs Committee is the recognition of IHMM’s credentials by government. We have made substantial progress in the two years we have undertaken this endeavor, as outlined in detail here > https://ihmm.org/credential-recognition/

In this project we have 45-in-5, increasing the number of states that recognize IHMM credentials.

• We have already succeeded in 13 states – New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Indiana, California, Colorado, Nebraska, Minnesota, Arkansas, Oklahoma. Ohio, North Dakota, and Georgia. [Red states in the map above]. These are states where IHMM credentials are cited or 40 CFR 312.10 is cited by reference.
• We have partially succeeded in another 16 states – Alaska, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Florida, Delaware, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, and Maine. [Orange/Black Stripe states in the map above] These are states where the requirements of an “environmental professional” or QEP are cited that coincide with an IHMM credential so that relatively little work would need to be done to clarify the desired outcome.
• We have 21 states where no reference to an IHMM credential is made in either statute or regulation, nor is there anything defined in the area of an environmental professional. These states will require legislation or regulatory work. [Yellow states in the map above].

in January 2022 Gene Guilford released the 40 CFR § 312.10 EPA regulation that states a private certification that meets or exceeds the requirements of the regulation is an Environmental Professional under the regulation. Here is the crosswalk between the 40 CFR § 312.10 EPA regulation and the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager [CHMM] blueprint. The CHMM meets or exceeds the requirements of an Environmental Professional. 

Here’s what we ask each volunteer to do:

• Watch legislative and regulatory developments in your state that provide an opportunity for us to create amendments or other interventions
• Be willing to speak with regulators and legislators in your area about the recognition efforts we craft together

Regulatory Updates

Notice of Public Meetings in 2023 for International Standards on the Transport of Dangerous Goods

PHMSA’s Office of Hazardous Materials Safety will be hosting public forums in advance of four international meetings, to allow the public to give input on current proposals being considered by the International Civil Aviation Organization’s (ICAO) Dangerous Goods Panel (DGP) and the United Nations Sub-Committee of Experts on the Transport of Dangerous Goods (UNSCOE TDG). The international meetings include:

• The 62nd session of the UNSCOE TDG, scheduled for July 3 to July 7, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland
• The 29th session of the ICAO TDG, scheduled for November 13 to 17, 2023, in Montreal, Canada
• The 63rd session of the UNSCOE TDG, scheduled for November 27 to December 6, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland

Each of these public meetings will be held approximately two weeks before the corresponding international meeting. Specific information for each meeting, including date, time, conference call-in number, and details for advance registration will be posted when available on the PHMSA website under “Upcoming Events.” These meetings will be virtual, with hybrid options available as possible, pending public health guidelines.

The Federal Register announcement can be found here.

IHMM CONFERENCES FOR 2023

IHMM will attend and support a number of conferences and trade shows throughout 2023, virtually as well as in-person as resources allow. Below are some of the conferences IHMM will support in 2023.

Are there conferences you believe IHMM should attend that do not appear here? If so, let us know by sending an email to [email protected]

CUHMMC 41st Annual Conference

Oregon State University, Corvalis, Oregon

August 6-11, 2023

AHMP 36th Annual Conference

Omaha, NE

August 27-30, 2023

National Safety Council Congress & Expo

New Orleans, LA

October 23-25, 2023

FET Annual Conference

Milwaukee Marriott West

October 31-Nov 2, 2023