Plans for #Safety2016 in Atlanta

Now that the CSP Beast has been conquered, I'm making my plans for #Safety2016 in Atlanta. Safety 2016 is the professional development conference and exhibition for the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE). 

Here's the tentative schedule of events for the Industrious Hygienist:

Saturday - June 25, 2016

Attend the ASSE Council on Practices and Standards as the Industrial Hygiene Practice Specialty proxy. 

Sunday - June 26, 2016

Attend the ASSE Council on Practices and Standards as the Industrial Hygiene Practice Specialty proxy. 

Attend the ASSE House of Delegates as the Industrial Hygiene Practice Specialty proxy.

Attend ASSE Region II party!

Monday - June 27, 2016

Session 518: Safety Excellence - The Big 5 at L'Oreal 

Session 543: Revolutionizing Risk Assessments - Oh My, Oh My, Bowties!

Session 566: A Federal OSHA Safe Patient Handling & Mobility Inspection & Citation

Session 580: Making the Fall Protection System Fit the Workplace

Tuesday - June 28, 2016

Session 605: Practicing Emergency Preparedness - The Key to a Successful Failure

Session 634: Laboratory Safety

Session 665: 3 A's of Ninja Awesomeness - Ninja-Style Back Safety and Injury Prevention

Wednesday - June 29, 2016

Session 707: Beyond the OSHA Log - Safety Management Systems for Healthcare

Session 744: How ISO 45001 Will Drive Business Excellence

Session 769: Remember the Ladies - Gender Equity for OSH Programs*

Join the Industrious Hygienist at #Safety2016

Session #769 is highlighted and underlined because I am co-presenting this session with Dr. Ilise Feitshans. We have an engaging presentation planned that will discuss the concept of gender equity and how it can be integrated into occupational safety and health programs.

Our session is being sponsored by Chubb (thank you!), the Women in Safety Engineering (WISE) Common Interest Group (thank you!), and the Industrial Hygiene Practice Specialty (thank you!).

Piper Pangolin is also coming to the conference, and we'll be roaming the expo hall for more interesting things to showcase in our Safety 2016 recap video. Last year's recap video was fun to make and will show you what to expect at Safety 2016.

A PPE vending machine at Safety 2015.

How to Study for and Pass the CSP Exam

Dear loyal readers,

Thanks for your patience during the long delay between posts. I have great news � I passed the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) exam yesterday! I�m working on a celebratory manga, but in the meantime, I�d like to pass along my study tips for this difficult exam.

I started studying for the exam in October 2015, when I took the Bowen EHS CSP Online Review Course. This course was immensely helpful in helping me identify where I needed to focus my self-study efforts. Based on the various topics and final exam, I identified my weak spots as: risk analysis, statistics, physics, radiation, and fire protection.

Reference sources that I reviewed and found useful:

• Safety and Health for Engineers (new 3rd edition just released May 2016)
• The Safety Professional�s Handbook
• Occupational Safety Calculations: A Professional Reference
• Concise Guide to Workplace Safety and Health
• Safety Management: A Human Approach
• Advanced Safety Management: Focusing on Z10 and Serious Injury Prevention
• Fundamentals of Fire Protection for the Safety Professional

A colleague also gifted me with her old (2011) CSP review course materials and a 2010 CSP Self-Assessment. Her course materials also had excellent problem sets and summary material ready for flash cards. I�ve taught Occupational Safety to graduate students for three years, so I thought I had a pretty solid grasp on the material � until I sat down to take the 2010 CSP Self-Assessment from BCSP about 10 days before my exam. Based on my, uh, lackluster score, I decided to redouble my efforts and really study.

The Bowen EHS CSP Online Review Course comes with an added bonus � a one-year membership to their �premium resources.� These resources include practice quizzes (by topic area) based on a bank of 675+ questions that they have developed since 2003. Each practice quiz contains a reference to the solution page, so you can go back on questions you missed to see how it was supposed to be solved. I went through about 200 questions on the practice quizzes and was able to narrow down my weak areas even further. Basically, my brain hates physics, mechanical engineering, statistics/probability, and risk analysis methodologies (FMEA, FTA, MORT, HAZOP, etc.). Maybe it�s the algebra. I may have arithmophobia specific to algebra. :) My brain just freezes up every time one of those questions flashes on the screen.

Some of the super-helpful practice quizzes in the Bowen EHS Member Center.

After some intense studying for 3 days, I took the 2015 CSP Self-Assessment and scored a 90%. Since much of the content between the 2011 and 2015 CSP Self-Assessments is similar, I figured that a bit more studying was in order. I made two decks of flash cards for specific items that required memorization. But the thing I am proudest of is my �safety alchemy� drawing. Here it is:

The Industrious Hygienist's CSP Exam safety alchemy art!

When I passed the Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) exam in 2012, one of the most helpful things I did was create an abstract symbol and fill it with the things I needed to memorize (constants, equations not on the reference sheet, etc.). So my CSP exam �safety alchemy� drawing contained the items that I wanted to memorize.

The drawing has information about experience modification rates, total case incident rates, radiation exposure measures, the range of normal human hearing, radiation quality factors, sizes of particulates, potential vs. kinetic energy, respirator assigned protection factors, the NIOSH lifting equation, volume of a cylinder, types of hard hats, air changes per hour, eyewash flow rates, combustible metals, distance between a crane and a power line, specific gravity, guardrails, probability, ISO standards, ANSI standards, LOTO, risk management, process safety management, types of fires, and fire sprinkler placement. All in one handy piece of art.

When I sat down to take the test, I used the scratch paper to draw my safety alchemy art, which had a calming and centering effect since I drew it for several days prior to the exam. The most ironic part is that most of the items on my safety alchemy art were not even on the exam version I took. My exam (for double irony) was heavy on statistics/probability, training, risk analysis (FMEA, FTA, MORT, HAZOP, etc.), radiation, and system safety.

I found some extra sources for studying if you�re like me and have issues with the topics referenced below:

• Risk Analysis Methodologies
• CrashCourse Physics � video playlist on YouTube
• Probability 101 video from Hank Green
• Khan Academy Statistics � video playlist on YouTube

I also went through a bunch of OSH Academy courses where I needed a refresher. The OSH Academy website is easy to use and I am currently enrolled in (almost done!) the 132-Hour OSH Professional course. I found the narrative easy to read and the quizzes were helpful. I really liked the custom posters and infographics used in modules throughout the course. there's a healthcare-specific track that I am doing next. 

Other helpful (and free!) video sources for CIH/CSP studying:

• CrashCourse Anatomy & Physiology � video playlist on YouTube
• CrashCourse Biology � video playlist on YouTube
• CrashCourse Chemistry � video playlist on YouTube
• Safety Management System Fundamentals (from the FAA)
• Process Safety Management Training

Look for more frequent posts and some new manga in future weeks. I am excited to get back to my creative life now that this professional/analytical hurdle has been achieved.

Update: Industrial Hygiene and Safety Blogs I Follow

I figured it was time to update the published list of industrial hygiene and safety blogs I follow regularly. These blogs are written by practicing industrial hygienists and/or safety professionals and do not include curated blogs from large companies or industry publications.

• OSHA Training Services Blog 
• Industrial Hygiene in Construction
• The Young Occupational Hygienist Blog 
• Theatre Safety Blog (#theatresafety)
• Indoor Air Nerd

Take a look and consider adding some of these to your reading list. If I've missed any interesting bloggers, please leave a comment and I'll update the list.

Student Entry #2 into ASSE Region 2 Film Festival: "Safety Regulations"

I'm cross-sharing the videos submitted by my graduate students from the Master of Science in Safety Science (MSSS) Program at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) into the ASSE Region 2 Occupational Safety and Health Independent Film Festival Contest.



This entry was from Mason Saldana, the ERAU Eagle Aero Sport Safety Lead and a member of the ASSE Arizona ERAU Student Section, and is titled "Safety Regulations." I'm proud of my students for their willingness to put creativity and effort into their videos about safety.

Student Entry #1 into ASSE Region 2 Film Festival: "Signs of Safety"

I'm cross-sharing the videos submitted by my graduate students from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) into the ASSE Region 2 Occupational Safety and Health Independent Film Festival Contest. 

This entry was from the ASSE Arizona ERAU Student Section, and is titled "Signs of Safety." I'm proud of my students for their willingness to put creativity and effort into their videos about safety. 

We won first place in ASSE Region 2's OSH Independent Film Festival Contest!

I'm thrilled to share that our latest Sock Puppet Safety video, "Yay for Lab Safety!" won first place in the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Region 2 OSH Independent Film Festival. The video starred Piper Pangolin, Lemmy Lemur, and two friends.

Piper Pangolin, Industrial Hygienist for Mad Labs, sharing her love of safety!

Thanks to the judges of the contest for their encouraging votes! The Exceptional Spouse and I will use the prize money to fund our time and materials for more Sock Puppet Safety videos.

As a member of the Arizona Chapter of ASSE, the Industrious Hygienist was a speaker at the 2016 Arizona Health and Safety Summit that occurred this week. The session was titled "Do-it-Yourself Safety Data Sheets" and was part of the ASP/CSP preparation track. The breakout session presented by the Industrious Hygienist was written to provide attendees with the knowledge to review safety data sheets (SDS) for accuracy. It also taught attendees how to prepare labels for containers based off of a SDS that was *mostly* compliant with the requirements of the UN Globally Harmonized System for the Classification and Labelling of Chemicals. The session discussed how to write and update a SDS, since some manufacturers are moving slowly on providing GHS-compliant SDS.

In the breakout session, we used a partially GHS-compliant SDS for a made-up chemical called "Wilburn Superflam 70%" to show attendees how to review an SDS for accuracy. 

SDS for Wilburn Superflam, 70% used in ASSE Arizona Health & Safety Summit (2016).

Using the SDS pictured above, the Industrious Hygienist showed attendees how to prepare a container label (like what would be provided by a manufacturer) using the GHS-compliant SDS. The example hazard communication label for Wilburn Superflam 70% is shown below. 

Example hazard communication container label for Wilburn Superflam, 70%.

Our next Sock Puppet Safety video(s) will probably be Piper Pangolin giving specific sections of the "Do-it-Yourself Safety Data Sheets" presentation, and teaching how to develop labels and review SDS. She'll be educating the internet on the chemicals shown in the "Yay for Lab Safety!" video: Wilburn Superflam 70%, Wilcorr Meltymess 25%, and Wilkil Allifes 15%. Watch for more fun and entertaining Sock Puppet Safety videos in upcoming months.

Sock Puppet Safety - Yay for Lab Safety!

The Exceptional Spouse and I made a new Sock Puppet Safety video starring Piper Pangolin and Lemmy Lemur, including two new friends that have yet to be named! This video, "Yay for Lab Safety!" was developed as an entry into the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE) Region 2 OSH Independent Film Festival. I hope to inspire the next generation of OSH professionals to see that safety can be fun and interesting.



The video is a continuation of our #IHFundance third-place winning video, "Cautionary Tales in Lab Safety." In the new video, there is a quick explanation of the OSHA Hazard Communication requirements, including the changes associated with GHS. This is a teaser to the educational sessions I am teaching at the Arizona AIHA Spring PDC (April 7, 2016) and Region 2 ASSE Spring PDC (April 21, 2016) on "DIY Safety Data Sheet Authoring and Revision." Each session will have information tailored to the audience of industrial hygienists and safety professionals.

Piper will also be making an appearance at #Safety2016 in Atlanta - if you see us wandering the expo hall, please stop by and say hello! I'll be co-presenting a concurrent session (Session #769) with Dr. Ilise Feitshans of the Work Health and Survival Project on gender equity in OSH programs. Look for more exciting safety and health videos and art in upcoming months.