On June 19, 2025 the Pittsburgh AIHA went on a tour of the Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN).  What a fun event - the Alcosan staff was very gracious, accommodating, and informative! Shana Merry, Manager of Operations, Tarra Prince - Operations Training Specialist, Ash Eberle-Procurement Specialist, and Nate Arnett-Contract Admin Specialist were our guides.  Alcosan is going through a major plant expansion to increase capacity and we were able to see new facilities including East Head Works, north end expansions, and a new laboratory.  It was a great day and a chance to get a behind-the-scenes look at one of the most essential environmental facilities in our area!

Alcosan is a nationally recognized wastewater treatment facility serving over 800,000 residents in 83 municipalities, including the City of Pittsburgh.  

The Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh AIHA will hold the summer local section business meeting on Wednesday, July 23 at Smokey Bones in Robinson PA​.  All members are welcome and encouraged to attend! 

Register online HERE:  2025-07-23 Business Meeting

Topics typically discussed during this meeting include:

• Welcome / Approve Minutes / Agenda
• New items (Agenda to follow)
• Treasurer and Secretary reports
• Local section committee updates
• Meeting topics / speakers / venues, etc.   
• Student sections 
• Corporate Sponsors/Advertisers 

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Please consider joining the meeting to offer suggestions or provide input. Your participation is key to our success!

The Spring newsletter is posted with a recent news and information, member articles and more!  Please take a few minutes to look.  Thanks to all who contributed content!  

The Pittsburgh AIHA is proud to congratulate Justin Doty, Safety Management Student at Slippery Rock University, who was awarded the Pittsburgh AIHA Local Section Scholarship for 2025.   Justin noted in a thank you letter that he was incredibly thankful for the award!  He added that the support from our association motivates him to continue striving for excellence in his future career and studies. 

Best of luck to Justin as he graduates from SRU and begins his career!  You can find Justin on LinkedIn here:  ​https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinndoty/

We are please to welcome the following students from Indiana University of Pennsylvania who recently joined the Pittsburgh Local Section.  These students are also members of the IUP AIHA Student Local Section, led by Pittsburgh AIHA member and IUP Assistant Professor, Bryan Seal, PhD., CIH, CSP, CHMM, REHS.  

• John Bellissimo
• Kendall Held
• Brayden Landgraf
• Gavin Prebish
• Kelli Sheehan
• Anthony Terzolino
• Noah Tomallo

The Pittsburgh AIHA Local Section held a technical meeting for the month of April entitled “Tick Prevention and Lyme Disease” on Tuesday, April 22, 2025 at AM Health & Safety, Inc. from 12:00 p.m. until 2:30 p.m. Local Section President and AM Health & Safety, Inc. President Barry Momyer, CIH hosted and moderated the event. 
 
Bill Moore from PA Lyme Resource Network presented first.  His presentation covered Pennsylvania tick bites and Lyme Disease trends, tick habitats, diseases ticks carry and their life cycle, tick bite prevention strategies, what to do when bitten by a tick, recognizing early symptoms of tickborne illnesses, and when to seek advanced medical care.  Below are links to the free resources that Bill shared during his presentation:

• DARE: Program Overview Free - PA Lyme Resource Network
• Tick Diagnostic Testing | Dr. Jane Huffman Wildlife Genetics Institute | ESU

 
Following Mr. Moore’s presentation, Mr. Eric Jones, DNP, CNRP, CME spoke from WorkWell Physicians.  Mr. Jones focused his presentation on medical treatment for Lyme Disease following a tick bite.  In addition, he covered a comprehensive overview of the disease itself. 

​The Pittsburgh AIHA would like to extend a big thanks to Mr. Moore and Mr. Jones for their presentations.  We would also like to thank Mr. Momyer and his team for hosting the event.
 
Finally, we would like to thank the following members/guests that attended the event:

Wow, it’s been a busy year so far, and the Pittsburgh AIHA is excited to welcome a long list of new members! Thank you to the following individuals for joining:

Both Slippery Rock University and Indiana University of Pennsylvania have their own AIHA student local sections. Kudos to these dedicated students and their local section advisors for their efforts in advancing the industrial hygiene profession!

A big thanks to National AIHA President, Nicole M.H Greeson, MS, CIH, who spoke at the annual Pittsburgh AIHA President's Luncheon held at LeMont Restaurant on Mt. Washington in Pittsburgh. We enjoyed a fantastic turnout of members and guests on a beautiful, sunny day—perfect for taking in the stunning city view! Special appreciation goes to our event sponsors, U.S. Micro-Solutions, Inc. and AM Health & Safety, for their support.

Nicole's talk was a two-part presentation: 

1. AIHA National Update (download file)
2. Life of an OEHS Professional at an Academic Medical Center (download file)

​Thank you to the following attendees for participating this year!

Following the recent Local Section Election, we would like to congratulate the following Pittsburgh AIHA members who will begin their term of office this summer!  

President-Elect:  Zane Frund, PhD, MPH, CIH, MBA
Director: MaryAnn Hoff, MS, MPM, CIH
Secretary:  Dane Mitcheson, CIH, CSP, CHST 

Thank you to current Committee members, Barry Momyer who will end his term as President, to be replaced by current President-elect Darrick Bertig, who will serve as President through July 2026.  Carol Delfino (Secretary) and Rona Smeak (Director) will end their terms July 2025.  Frank Pokrywka remains as Secretary, and  Morgan Ryan remains as Director, each through July 2026.  

A big thank you to all who participate and volunteer for the Pittsburgh AIHA!

The Winter newsletter is posted with a variety of news and information for your reading pleasure!  Please take a few minutes to look.  There's even an IH Challenge by Frank Pokrywka with a prize for the winner!  

The Central PA Safety Association, Central PA Chapter of the ASSP, and Keystone Local Section of the AIHA will hold their annual Central PA Safety Conference April 2-3, 2025. Visit www.centralpasafety.org/2020-pdc for more information.

The Executive Committee of the Pittsburgh AIHA held the winter local section business meeting at Smokey Bones in Robinson PA on December 12, 2024.  

The meeting minutes are now posted and can be found HERE:
​https://www.pittsburghaiha.org/uploads/2/6/7/0/26700671/business_meeting_minutes_2024-12-12.pdf

Our local section depends on its members to volunteer for positions on the executive committee.  Serving on the committee is a great way to become more involved in the local section, and you can claim certification maintenance (CM) credit toward your CIH.  We are currently asking for nominations for next year’s committee (serving July 2025 - June 2027):
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• President-elect, 2-year term followed by President (must also be a member of National AIHA)
• Secretary, 2-year term (must also be a member of National AIHA)
• Director, 2-year term (need not be a member of National AIHA)

NOTE:  The American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) allows you to claim certification maintenance (CM) credit annually for local section office:  local section President – 1 point; local section Officer or Director – 0.5 points.

If you would like to volunteer for elections or nominate someone, please email the Executive Committee at [email protected].   A short biography and statement of intent along with a photo are needed for any election candidates and due by February 28, 2025. 

New this year for members --- The Pittsburgh Local Section has signed up for the Full E-learning package this year. The Package delivers up to 24 contact hours of education to members throughout the year. Registration includes live participation and recording access to 2025 National AIHA University webinar series and brings the best of AIHA Connect OnDemand. Don’t miss out on the latest occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) information, trends, technology, and best practices! 

An eLearning Subscription guarantees automatic registration to all of the eLearning offerings throughout 2025. The subscription allows our membership to attend each of the live sessions along with session recordings. Last year there were 25 e-learning sessions. Recordings of the best sessions from AIHA University's live event offerings covering a wide range of topics and interest areas are provided in the online classroom to view at your convenience (for group registrations, everyone on our roster will also have access).

You must be a Pittsburgh AIHA member (active membership / dues paid) to take advantage of this benefit.  Your 2025 membership payment is due now -- see the sidebar at the right for more information.   

NOW COLLECTING - Membership dues for 2025 are due December 31, 2025.   If you are a National AIHA member, remember to check the box for Pittsburgh Local Section to include your LS annual dues of $35 for your Pittsburgh AIHA membership.  All NON-National AIHA members should pay dues directly to the Pittsburgh AIHA.  See the highlighted sidebar link on this homepage to process payment through PayPal -- Note you do not need a PayPal account to pay this way.  Any questions, please contact Christy at [email protected].   

​All ACTIVE Pittsburgh AIHA Members as of 2/13 2024 should have received notice from National AIHA eLearning regarding the 2024 Pittsburgh Section eLearning Subscription.   There are FOUR courses available in the online classroom currently, the FIFTH course will be available after presentation date:

1.  AIHA University Webinar: The Revised Ergonomic Toolkit: An Introduction to Assessing Musculoskeletal Risk
2.  An Ethical Conduct Checklist for Real-Time Technology Deployment (AIHce EXP 2023 OnDemand ESUB)
3. AIHA University Webinar: Revisiting the Worst Plant: A Virtual H&S Audit Version 2.0
4. An Ethical Conduct Checklist for Real-Time Technology Deployment (AIHce EXP 2023 OnDemand ESUB)
5. AIHA University 3-Part Occupational Toxicology Webinar Series:  Mechanisms of Action, SDS Communication, and Hazard Prioritization (Part 1-Sept. 17, Part 2-Oct. 22, Part 3-Nov. 19 – NOW AVAILABLE in online classroom)

Click the link in your email to login to the online classroom to view these courses at your convenience. 

Remember that this is a benefit for PAID Pgh. AIHA members only - if you did not receive an email, please confirm that your 2024 dues are paid.  To renew your Pittsburgh AIHA local section membership, see the details in the sidebar at the right on this page, or you can subscribe on the membership page.   Please reach out to Christy at [email protected] with any questions.

2024 course selections expire on 12/31/2024.