Mark your calendar for our next event!!  On June 14, 2023, the Pittsburgh AIHA will head to the Donora Smog Museum for a presentation and tour.  This year marks the 75th Anniversary of the infamous Smog of 1948, which will be the focus of the presentation.  REGISTER ONLINE ---2023-06-14 Donora Smog Museum

The schedule is as follows:
Seminar – 9:15 – 11:15 a.m., Break – 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m., Tour – 11:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.  Lunch following the tour is optional and will be held at a local favorite, The Early Bird Diner.  The diner is less than a block away and has a private side room four our group to meet.  Lunch will be paid for by the attendee the day of the event and is not included in the registration fee.  

The Donora Historical Society was established in 1946 and incorporated in 1996 and is recognized as the oldest community historical society in Washington County of Pennsylvania. They are a non-profit that operates on a volunteer basis. Their parent historical societies are the Washington Country Historical Society and the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. The original charter members did yeomen's work with laying the foundation for preserving Donora's history. The members that followed would continue that work for the next 70 years. As a testament to all of their hard work and dedication, they have a plethora of artifacts and documents that they use for research and presentation purposes. In 2008, they opened their present facility to showcase the artifacts and call it the Smog Museum, thus their formal title is the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum. 

Pittsburgh AIHA Member, Zane Frund, Ph.D., Executive Director, R&D Dept. at MSA Innovation was named the recipient of the National AIHA John M. White Award, presented by the AIHA Respiratory Protection Committee.  National AIHA CEO, Lawrence Sloan noted "This is a testament to your leadership in driving continuous improvement toward improving the health and well-being of workers and the communities where they work and live."  

Zane's achievement will be recognized by the National AIHA in various ways, including via press release, on the AIHA website, the Catalyst online community, and at AIHce EXP 2023. 

The John M. White Award was established by the AIHA Respiratory Protection Committee to encourage scientific and application-oriented research in respiratory protection.

CONGRATULATIONS ZANE!!

With summer around the corner, the Pittsburgh Local Section headed to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) to learn about cutting-edge research being led by Dr. W. Jon Williams on heat stress.  Dr. Williams is a Senior Research Physiologist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who currently serves as the Vice Chair of the AIHA Thermal Stress Working Group.  Even more impressive than Dr. Williams’ resume is his research.  During the seminar with our local section, he discussed the team of scientists that he leads to study the physiological responses of wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) and the means to mitigate these responses.  The physiological responses that they study include cardiovascular strain, heat stress, cooling technologies, and pharmacological interventions to improve PPE and reduce the physiological strain from wearing PPE.  They also focus on the ergonomic impacts of PPE.  The research that was presented to the section is truly innovative and will improve the lives of workers and first responders in the future.
 
The Pittsburgh Local Section would like to thank Jon Williams, PhD., Research Physiologist, National Personal Protective Technology Lab for inviting us to NIOSH, sharing his research with us, and showing us one of his labs.  We would also like to thank Matt Zock, CIH for coordinating the event at NIOSH on April 18, 2023.
 
Finally, we would like to thank all the following members for attending this event: