Industrial Hygiene

Become Director of Safety, Health and Wellness with Audrey Lawrence

Audrey Lawrence, MPH, serves as the Director of Safety, Health, and Wellness at the San Francisco International Airport, where she has worked for 30+ years.

06/13/2023: Sampling Methods For Personal Exposure to Herbicides

About the webinar:

Many herbicides can exist in the atmosphere as both a droplet and evaporated vapor. Therefore, methods to assess personal exposures to herbicides samplers must be developed to optimize capture of both droplet and vapor phases. This webinar will describe the qualities of two such samplers. Measurements taken in both the lab and field will be presented to demonstrate sampler qualities and to detail the considerations needed to properly assess herbicide exposures.

05/09/2023: Occupations at Risk for Vector-Borne Diseases

About the webinar:

The incidence of vector-borne diseases spread by ticks and mosquitoes are increasing in the United States. Various occupations, such as agriculture, logging, outdoor recreational, and construction workers, are especially at risk for these diseases. This presentation will describe the primary insect vectors, major diseases they spread, risk factors, and methods to prevent exposure to insect vectors.

03/06/2023 - 03/07/2023: Ventilation Assessment Using Balometers, CO2, and PM 2.5

Ventilation is an essential engineering control for optimizing indoor air quality and minimizing the impact of wildfire smoke events, climate change exacerbated allergies, COVID-19 surges and variants, and in preparing for future pandemics. This in-person, hands-on training will review the basics of assessing ventilation at the occupant level, and help you identify a framework to identify and address ventilation vulnerabilities.

During the workshop, learners will use balometers to collect and analyze data, and to calculate air changes per hour. Learners will also receive hands-on...

02/03/2023 - 02/04/2023 - COEH Builds Bridges: Algorithm Based Work, Wearables, and Surveillance

Friday, February 3 - Saturday, February 4, 2023 | Sacramento, CA


Join COEH for a conversation on the impact and future of data-driven technologies in the workplace. We will discuss how data is collected and used in the workplace; the intersection of humans, robots, and artificial intelligence; and ethical considerations, including how algorithms can reinforce discrimination and erode worker privacy. We will also explore the role of wearables in reducing musculoskeletal injuries, and how human-centered design of textile-based wearable products can improve health and...

02/08/22 - Firefighter Respiratory and Cardiovascular Health: Climate Change & Smoke Exposure

About the webinar: Firefighters comprise the largest group of public safety employees with more than 350,000 career firefighters and more than 780,000 volunteer firefighters in the United States. Smoke inhalation is the primary risk factor of more than half of work-related deaths among them by respiratory and cardiovascular causes. It is well established that the intensity, severity, and magnitude of wildfires is increasing at alarming rates due to climate change. This presentation will discuss smoke exposures, including polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and exhaled breath condensate (...

The Air-Surface Interface of Viral Contamination: What Can Exposure Modeling Tell Us?

About the Webinar:

COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of understanding how communicable diseases are transmitted and the relationships between different transmission routes. Exposure modeling is a useful tool for exploring and describing the fate and transport of viral pathogens in indoor environments. This presentation will explore examples of exposure modeling used to investigate connections between air and surface contamination and potential implications for 1) healthcare workers’ occupational exposures and 2) risk reductions offered by interventions.

05/10/2022: Occupational Hygiene and One Health Approaches to Infection Prevention and Control in Animal Farming

About the webinar:

The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of infectious disease transmission in animal food production. Few preventive programs exist. This presentation will explore an occupational hygiene approach to infection prevention and control on farms, with an emphasis on a One Health lens that considers the health and well being of both workers and animals in a shared environment.

Quantifying Occupational Heat Stress Among U.S. Agricultural Workers

About the Webinar:

Exposure to extreme heat can result in occupational illnesses and injuries including heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and heat rashes. This presentation will explore the public health burden of heat stress in agricultural workers in the United States. Learners will also discuss challenges surrounding the measurement of occupational heat stress, and methods to assess heat stress exposure using spatial and meteorological data.

Promoting Sanitation Worker Health and Safety through Social Enterprise

About the Webinar:

Worldwide, 2.7 billion people rely on onsite sanitation systems that are not connected to sewer systems. These facilities are cleaned and maintained by informal and invisible sanitation workers at a great risk to their health and dignity. This webinar will focus on how social enterprise may be an important mechanism for integrating sanitation workers in the formal economy and safeguarding their dignity and health. Case studies from East Africa and Southeast Asia will be discussed.