IH Pilot Studies: Current Research in Food Truck Exposure and Customized PPE

Recorded on September 8, 2020

With Deep South Center for Occupational Health & Safety

IH Pilot Studies: Current Research in Food Truck Exposure and Customized PPE

About the Webinar: 

During this webinar, Dr. Oh will present a couple of recent IH pilot studies performed by her IH research group. Cooking emissions can contain harmful contaminants and food truck industry has rapidly expanded in the U. S. in the past years. In the first pilot study, the work environment of this emerging occupation was investigated by evaluating the levels of aldehydes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and PM2.5 in local food trucks as well as ventilation hood performance. As far as the second study, every year millions of workers in the US have reported eye injuries while some injuries were still sustained by individuals wearing some sort of safety eyewear. This could be an indication of PPE fit issue. In an effort to improve the eyewear fit, the feasibility of the current 3D technology (i.e., 3D scanning applications and 3D laser scanner) was examined to identify better-fitting safety eyewear with closest overall match based on anthropometric data. This will help further development of a fit-matching application.

Instructor: Jonghwa Oh, PhD, MPH

Jonghwa Oh, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the director of the Industrial Hygiene Program at the Deep South Center for Occupational Health and Safety. Dr. Oh’s main research area is focused on the improvement of the current occupational exposure assessment and control methods. Her research topics include: evaluation of air contaminants and ventilation hood performance in food truck environments; development of a fit-matching tool to identify better-fitting safety eyewear; exposure assessment of hand-arm vibration (HAV) among grounds maintenance and forestry workers; and, development of a novel pre-analysis technique for gases and vapors.

Learning Objectives

  1. Recognize and evaluate occupational hazards in an emerging occupation, food truck operation
  2. Describe the current status of ventilation performance of food truck hoods
  3. Discuss an innovative control measure to resolve the fit issue of protective eyewear
Deep South Center for Occupational Health & Safety