​The Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum is dedicated to the victims of the infamous Donora Smog of 1948 that occurred in October of that year.

In their 75th Year of Remembrance of that fateful event, they are hosting an Environmental Symposium on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, in Donora just a few blocks from "ground zero" of the Donora Zinc Works that was the impetus of the deadly smog that killed dozens, sickened thousands and eventually led to clean air legislation and our moniker that "Clean Air Started Here."  Their goal on October 18th will be to remember the victims of the 1948 Smog by discussing past, current and future environmental issues. 

As a primer for the symposium, on Tuesday, September 26 at 7:30 p.m., they will be doing a combination in person (at the Smog Museum) and Zoom presentation on the 1948 Smog for the Battle of Homestead group. 

A lineup of presenters for the Environmental Symposium has mostly been established and they can be found at the link below along with other details of the symposium, including registration for the Sept. 26 7:30 PM zoom presentation:

https://sites.google.com/site/donorahistoricalsociety/futurepast-historical-events/1948-smog-75th-year-of-remembrance-2023

The mission of the Donora Historical Society and Smog Museum is to preserve, research, interpret and promote Donora history through cooperative continuing educational relationships with individuals and institutions, focusing on causes and effects of the 1948 "smog" tragedy and its impact on global environmental concerns and issues.

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!!

The AIHA Pittsburgh Local Section has six committees that are chaired by a volunteer appointed by the chapter’s president or, in the case of the Program and Nominating committees, designated to an Executive Committee member:

• Audit
• Program
• Corporate Sponsorship
• Newsletter
• Nominating
• Historical

 
Currently, most of our committees are unfortunately committees of one. We would like to take this opportunity to encourage everyone to consider volunteering to lead or participate in a committee of interest.
 
Benefits of Committee Participation

• Provides an opportunity to become more involved with the LS and increase connections with your peers
• Limited time obligation with high impact on the success and future directions of the LS
• Enhanced understanding of LS operations and an ‘inside look’ into what serving in an executive committee position entail
• Allows individuals that are not National AIHA members a chance to serve in leadership roles outside of the Executive Committee

 
Our LS chapter and affiliated student chapters survive and thrive by the involvement of our members, so please do your best to stay active and contribute to the success of AIHA Pittsburgh. If you are interested in leading or participating in any of our committees, please reach out to the Executive Committee via email to [email protected].

The Pittsburgh AIHA is proud to once again sponsor student awards at the 84th Pittsburgh Regional Science & Engineering Fair (PRSEF) which will celebrate another year of open competition of research projects in the fields of science, mathematics, and engineering in March. This competition is open to all students in grades 6-12 from the 21 counties within Western Pennsylvania and Garrett County, Maryland.

The Fair will be held at the Carnegie Science Center this year.  The Fair will be held over two days this year to allow for all student participation.  

Each year, the Pgh. AIHA sponsors two $500 awards - we need members to participate as judges.  As a judge, you will help to choose the recipients of our LS Awards.  To register to be a SPONSOR JUDGE, please go to www.STEMisphere.org/PRSEF.

The Science Fair has been a Pittsburgh tradition since 1940. It is also the third oldest science fair in the United States under the affiliation of Society for Science, which runs the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) and the Broadcom MASTERS middle school competition.

For more information, please visit pittsburghsciencefair.org or email [email protected].
Christie Orlosky, M.S.Ed.
Carnegie Science Center
STEM Competitions Coordinator
(412) 237-1534
[email protected]

Thank you to Pittsburgh AIHA Members Frank Pokrywka and Rick Mason who participated as Judges in the 83rd Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair that took place on March 22/23, 2022.  Once again this year, the Pittsburgh AIHA sponsored two $500 awards.  Congratulations to Tai Luangkesorn of Marshall Middle School and Ronald Bushnell of Hopewell Junior High who are this year's recipients!  Abstracts of their presentations are provided below - click "Read More":

Submitted by Frank Pokrwyka

Finally!! A non-virtual gathering in the COVID 19 era. On October 28 the local EH&S community gathered in person for the first time in almost two years in person at the MASHA Safety and Health Conference held at the Cranberry Regional Learning Alliance.  Many thanks to Bill Bernhart, Christy Kirsch and others for organizing this gathering of more than 120 Safety and health professionals, students and vendors. A few masks were seen early on but were soon discarded and smiling faces shown forth.
 
The Pittsburgh Section AIHA was well represented with more than 20 members present. After a moving opening session on Servant Leadership, Six excellent presentations were offered throughout the morning and afternoon. Time was allowed in between the technical sessions to allow attendees to visit the vendor booths that included MSA, SKC, PTA, AM Health and Safety, Premier Safety among others (see MASHA website:  mashasafetyconference.org).
 
Our AIHA local section also had a booth staffed by Frank Pokrywka and Sarmed Shareef. Several new members from Thiel and Slippery Rock Universities were signed up. Plenty of AIHA swag was available for all visitors to our booth.
 
Tom Blank, one of our LS Directors, headed up a panel discussion on mentoring to close out the conference. Also on the panel were Del Kubeldis, Lucinette Alverado and Frank Pokrywka who each gave a personal account of mentors and mentees throughout their careers who made a difference in their lives. Many comments were heard that this was a great conference and great day!

Pittsburgh AIHA Secretary Frank Pokrywka, Director Laura Hallett, and Past-President Tak Pajak volunteered to be judges on behalf of the Pittsburgh AIHA for the annual Pittsburgh Regional Science and Engineering Fair held as a virtual event on March 24, 2021.

Our judges reviewed hundreds of science abstracts to find those relevant to Industrial Hygiene.  They each chose 5 or 6 favorites and proceeded to narrow their choices down to six projects for further review during the Fair on March 24.  The choices were submitted to Nicole Wood, Science Fair Director, who scheduled each student for a 20 minute virtual interview.  Project write-ups for Pgh. AIHA selected students were available for review online prior to the virtual interview.  In addition, a rubric was included for each project category to enable the judges to rate various characteristics of the project and develop a score for the students experimental design, work product, and presentation skills.  The student projects selected included one from the junior division (grade 6), three from the intermediate division (grades 7 and 8),  and two from the senior division (grades 9-12).   (Continue reading below)

The Pittsburgh Local Section of the AIHA has nominated Bernard (Bernie) Quinn, M.S., CIH, for designation as an AIHA Fellow through the National AIHA. The AIHA Fellows Designation recognizes those who are full members in good standing, have 15 years of continuous Full membership, and have made recognized contributions to industrial hygiene or related disciplines, either through research, leadership, publications, education, or service to AIHA.

Bernie has recently retired as President and CEO of AM Health and Safety, Inc. 20 years after establishing and running the company along with his partner, Barry Momyer, CIH. He is a Masters Degreed CIH, who has served the IH profession since 1979, and has been a continuous member of the AIHA since 1979. In addition to working in government, and the steel and chemical industries in the early part of his career, he has provided HES consultation services throughout the United States for over 28 years. (Click "read more" to continue)

​The Carnegie Science Center is currently recruiting sponsor judges for the 80th Covestro Pittsburgh Regional Science, Engineering & Technology Fair (PRSEF) which connects nearly 1,100 students in grades 6-12 with our area’s scientists and engineers.  Mark your calendar for Friday, March 29, 2019!  The competition takes place at Heinz Field – Club Levels!

Each year, the Pgh. AIHA sponsors two $500 awards - we need two more members (two have already registered) to participate as judges.  As a judge, you will help to choose the recipients of our LS Awards.  To register to be a sponsor judge, please go to https://www.scitechfestival.org/mainsf/Registration/sponsorjudge.aspx. 

There will be an orientation for new sponsor judges on Tuesday, March 12 from 11a - 2p at the Carnegie Science Center.
For those who are not comfortable judging, a variety of other science fair volunteer opportunities are also available at https://www.volunteersignup.org/8QEPF.  

Julie Panko, CIH is the newest Pittsburgh AIHA member to be named National AIHA Fellow -- Congratulations to Julie on this well-deserved honor.  Julie will be recognized at the 2018 AIHce in Philadelphia in May.

The Fellow designation (FAIHATM) was established to recognize members who are full members in good standing, have 15 years of continuous membership, and have made recognized contributions to industrial hygiene or related disciplines, either through research, leadership, publications, education, or service to AIHA. The Fellow designation is limited to no more than five percent of the membership. 

Earlier in September we sent out a survey request to gather information on member preferences related to event topics, meeting venues/locations and more.  The information gathered from this survey will help the Program Committee plan future events.  Thank you to President-Elect Lucinette Alvarado, CIH for coordinating this survey AND the 36 members who responded to the request!  The results are below -- Click "read more" for a summary.

Welcome members, corporate sponsors, and advertisers to a new year for our local section.  The executive committee (and some members) held a productive business meeting in July and we are excited for the near future.  Three main focus areas were discussed for this year:
 
1.  Promote and facilitate community outreach. 

It’s about the kids!  In the spring newsletter and following the president’s luncheon, we discussed the AIHA/NIOSH partnership - Safety Matters, a program for educating our youth on safety and health in the workplace.  Most students and new graduates beginning part-time or full-time jobs have never been taught about workplace hazards. We have the ability to directly talk to kids about how to not get hurt, sick or killed at work!  Our local section director from RJ Lee Group, Inc., Keith Rickabaugh, CIH lead the way by promoting this program during a recent presentation to the Pennsylvania Association for Middle Level Education (PAMLE).  As a result, PAMLE plans to post the Safety Matters content on the Pennsylvania List Serve, a messaging center used by all schools in PA.

 Aaron Trippler, Director of AIHA Government Affairs has posted his latest report (May 4, 2016).  Headlines are below:

• Congress Takes Short Break with No Budget in Sight
• TSCA Reform Still Alive
• Silica Standard Challenged in Court
• Recordkeeping Rule Moving Forward
• OSHA Fines to Increase
• Worker Fatality Rate Increases
  
• OSHA and NIOSH Guidance to Zika Virus
  
• CLICK HERE to read the report...

The 2016 American Industrial Hygiene Foundation (AIHF) Scholarship Application is now available. Every year the AIHF provides support to students completing an undergraduate or graduate studies in Industrial Hygiene or a related field. One application qualifies students for up to 30 different awards.