Industrial Hygiene

12/09/2025: Industrial Hygiene on the Farm: Communicating With the Agricultural Community About PPE and Ergonomics

About the webinar:

This presentation will discuss strategies for effective communication with the agricultural community about topics related to industrial hygiene and safety such as ergonomics, respiratory hazards, and fit testing. It will highlight responsive approaches for engaging both farmers and Spanish-speaking agricultural workers, emphasizing practical, field-ready guidance. Participants will also learn how to tailor safety messages and incorporate trusted community channels to improve uptake of PPE and ergonomic practices.

11/12/2025: Current International Research Efforts for Traditional Occupational Aerosol Samplers

About the webinar:

Aerosol sampling at workplaces requires many different strategies and tools. In particular, the choice of which air sampler to use is highly dependent on various environmental and practical factors. This means there can be dozens of samplers to choose from. In order to address the issues around sampler selection and sampler performance, the International Sampler Comparison Group (ISCG) was formed. This presentation will outline the current efforts of this group in the area of traditional aerosol sampling, including a review of existing sampler performance data, the...

10/14/2025: Evaluating Degreaser VOC Exposure in Auto Shops Using Air Sampling and Biomarkers

About the webinar:

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are toxic chemicals in degreasers routinely used in auto shops. This presentation will describe and share preliminary results from the Safer Degreaser Study, during which we visited auto repair shops before or after they participated in a public health intervention led by the Hazardous Waste Program, in King County, WA, which helps transition businesses from using VOC-based degreasers to safer alternatives. We aimed to characterize the exposure to VOCs typically found in degreasers by measuring VOCs in blood, urine, and exhaled breath...

09/09/2025: The Trust Decoder: Trust and Industrial Hygiene

About the webinar:

Trust is the foundation of a successful industrial hygiene program and professionals. It ensures open communication, accurate data collection, effective control implementation, and a shared commitment to protecting worker health. Trust is critically important for industrial hygiene because it underpins the effectiveness of all workplace health and safety efforts. Dr. Breysse Cox will cover the basic foundational concepts of trust and decode why these are critical for industrial hygiene professionals.

08/12/2025: Positive Psychological Functioning, Work, and Health

About the webinar:

How do optimism, purpose in life, and other aspects of positive psychological functioning shape our health and longevity? This presentation will explore research on positive psychological functioning and its associations with long-term health outcomes. It will also highlight various interventions designed to enhance positive psychological functioning and discuss how such interventions can be applied in occupational settings to improve worker well-being and performance.

04/09/2024: Exposure to Cleaning Chemicals and Disinfectants in Latina House Cleaners

About the webinar:

Cleaning products and disinfectants (CP&D) are known to cause a variety of health effects. This presentation will describe the activities of the Safe and Just Cleaners Project, which was a significant study in NYC focused on assessing employment and working conditions among Latina immigrant house cleaners. In this presentation, Dr. Harari will describe 1) regularly used household CP&D among Latina house cleaners and 2) inhalation and dermal exposure levels to CP&D in everyday household cleaning...

NC OSHERC NORA Seminar Series

About the webinars: The North Carolina Occupational Safety and Health Education and Research Center invites you to join them for the NORA Interdisciplinary Seminar Series. This series was established in 2002, and has been offered quarterly since 2005, typically in the months of February, April, August, and November. The seminars are fully virtual via Zoom and a recording link is available on the web page a few days after each seminar. This enables distance education students and others in the broader occupational health and safety community to attend and participate, facilitating...

Household Energy and Health: What's Come and What's to Come

Ajay Pillarisetti
2022

Between 3 and 4 billion people globally rely on the inefficient combustion of solid fuels – including wood, dung, crop residues, and charcoal – to meet basic household energy needs. The household air pollution resulting from these activities is a major contributor to the global burden disease, mainly through particulate pollution exposure that results in an estimated 2.3 million deaths yearly, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. This talk will provide a historical perspective on the identification of solid fuel combustion as a health risk, with a focus on the...