News | February 15, 2008

AIHA Introduces Respiratory Protection Management DVD

Fairfax, VA - The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) is offering an intermediate course available on DVD entitled "Respiratory Protection Management: Current Issues."

The course is designed to provide participants with working knowledge of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) Respiratory Protection Standard and related respiratory program tools. Emphasis will be placed on the practical aspects of day-to-day program management. Recent changes in legal and practical aspects of the standard (29 CFR 1910.134) have given rise to questions regarding implementation of this and related standards, even though OSHA has published guidance documents.

The course will present recognized elements for a respiratory program compliant with 29 CFR 1910.134 and information that can be used to assess the quality of the respirator manufacturer and the properties of the respirators currently available. The goal is to provide participants with information and resources needed to review, update, tailor, and manage respiratory programs for a variety of industrial and first responder environments.

Featured speakers include James Johnson, PhD, CIH, section leader of the chemical and biological safety section in the safety programs division at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Zane Frund, PhD, manager of chemical research and respiratory product development at the MSA Company; Arthur T. Johnson, PhD, PE, professor in the biological resources engineering department at the University of Maryland; and John Steelnack, OSHA's project officer for the Respiratory Protection Standard and the Assigned Protection Factor rulemaking.

Participants will learn to:

  • Develop a respiratory protection program or implement appropriate changes in an existing program to comply with OSHA's Respiratory Protection Standard
  • Establish safe, reliable replacement schedules for chemical cartridge/canister respirators
  • Semiquantify the differences between workplace protection factors, assigned protection factors, and total inward leakage values
  • Anticipate the effects of chemical agents and disinfectants/decontaminants on respirator materials of construction
  • Recognize the physiological effects of respirators on workers and first responders and their performance
  • Retrieve the most appropriate respirator reference materials from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), OSHA, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), and respirator manufacturers
  • Establish respirator program metrics
  • Quantify/determine the return-on-investment of the program
  • Discuss the current issues surrounding respirator selection for response to nanomaterials, weapons of mass destruction, and biological agents, such as avian flu

The course will take approximately 8 hours to complete. Individuals will have up to twelve months from enrollment to complete the course. Participants have the opportunity to earn 1.0 IH CM point, 0.8 CEU, and 0.8 COC. AIHA's Respiratory Protection Committee sponsored this course. To order, please call (703) 849-8888, or register online at http://www.aiha.org/Content/CE/DL/ProfessionalDevelopmentCourseVideos.htm. AIHA members can purchase the course for $300, nonmembers for $425.

SOURCE: American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA)