may 2012 rocky mountain center for occupational and ... · program in occupational &...

RMCOEH APPROVED FOR A Ph.D. DEGREE PROGRAM IN OCCUPATIONAL &

ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH

Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH) May 2012

Volume 9, Issue 1

The Rocky Mountain Center

n Tuesday, April 3, 2012, the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (RMCOEH) received formal notification that our request to develop a Doctor of Phi-

losophy (Ph.D.) in Occupational and Environmental Health degree program was approved by the Utah Board of Regents. This new degree program will complete the Center’s complement of graduate degrees including the MSOH, MOH, MS in Mechanical Engineering, and PhD in Me-chanical Engineering degrees. The PhD in OEH is the brainchild of the Center’s faculty and will have empha-ses available in three areas:

Industrial Hygiene, which includes education in the sciences associated with anticipation and recog-nition of potential risks to human health; develop-ment and/or use of measurement methods to evaluate the hazards to which people are or may be exposed; providing guidance for setting ac-ceptable exposure limits; and implementation of exposure controls (e.g., personal protection, and/or engineering or administrative controls) when needed.

Occupational Injury Prevention, a more recent discipline that involves studying injuries and working to prevent them. This trans-disciplinary program at the University will include students from both engineering and health sciences back-grounds.

General Occupational and Environmental Health emphasis, designed to provide students with a broad background without concentration in one area. This emphasis is particularly valuable for advanced level programmatic administration in large employers, government and academia.

The purpose of this degree program is to address needs for well-trained graduates in OEH for multiple diverse au-diences that include businesses, academia, insurers and governmental agencies. To provide a high-quality educa-tional experience, the Ph.D. in OEH program will selec-tively enroll students who share faculty member(s) re-search interests. The program is primarily designed for full-time students.

As part of this doctoral degree program, all students will have completed: 1) a Core Curriculum that is emphasis-specific, 2) Elective courses, and a 3) Doctoral Disserta-tion. All Ph.D. in OEH emphases will be a minimum 40 credit hours for those with an appropriate prior master’s degree and 64 for those without a prior master’s degree. In addi-tion, the IH emphasis is designed to meet the American Board of Engineering Technologies (ABET) Applied Sci-ence Accreditation Commission (ASAC) requirements for those programs. A key requirement for all Ph.D. OEH students is that the candidate will incept and execute a quality, scientific re-search project. They must prepare, submit and defend a dissertation embodying the results of their scientific re-search. The dissertation will provide evidence of original-ity and the ability to do independent investigation, and it must contribute to knowledge. A minimum of 14 credits in dissertation research will be required. The critical nature of the research requirement is driven by the increasing complexity of research. Thus, whether the graduate stu-dents’ career is in leading industry pro-grams, teaching, consulting or per-forming research, having advanced understanding and capabilities in re-search is essential.

The faculty eagerly anticipate the start of this new degree pro-gram to meet the needs of industry and train our future leaders.

Gateway to OSH Occupational Safety and Health

O

Inside this Issue

2

Advisory Board Spotlights

2

Scholarship Recipients

3

Truck Driver Safety & CTS

4

CE Courses

4

Certification Efforts

5

RMCOEH News Corner

6

Alumni News

hether it’s a minor back strain or something as severe as paralysis, injuries on the job can have a significant impact on work-

ers’ lives—and on their employers’ bom line. Working tirelessly to improve workplace safety in Utah and the surrounding region, the RMCOEH ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS

In March, the University of Utah helped host the Utah Re-gional FIRST Robotics Competition at the Maverik Center. FIRST, which stands for “For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”, is a national team-based compe-tition for high school students. RMCOEH faculty Andrew Merryweather and Stacy Bamberg both volunteered their time over the three days of competition. Dr. Merryweather was a robot inspector, and had the opportunity to interact with numerous teams to evaluate their robots and make sure the 'bots were both safe and legal for competition. Dr. Bamberg was a scorekeeper, which involves keeping an eye on the automated field and scoring systems and get-ting to press the start button at the start of each match.

This experience provides high school students with a fan-tastic opportunity to work in teams and learn more about science and engineering. A key aspect of FIRST is the atti-tude of "Gracious Professionalism," which encourages all participants to work hard and respect each other. In the competition, individual teams compete as one of three teams on either the red or blue alliance.

FIRST Robotics is a great way to get young people inter-

ested in technical fields. The regional competition is always free and open to the public. Please visit http://www.utfrc.utah.edu/ next spring for information about at-tending the 2013 regional.

If you are interested in volunteering with a team or at the competition, please contact Stacy Bamberg at [email protected], with “FIRST volunteer” in the sub-ject line.

avid Allcott MS, APRN, ANP-BC, COHN-S is the Medical Services Manager for ATK Aerospace Group. He is the immediate past President of the Utah Association of Occupational Health

Nurses. He is also the Chairperson of the Practice Committee for the American Association of Occupational Health Nurse (AAOHN). He has been a member of the RMCOEH Advisory Board since 2010. Dave has had a varied past work history, ranging from ditch digging and heavy equipment operation to cement ma-son and bartender. He took a left turn in 1993 and returned to school at the University of Utah earning a BS degree in Nurs-ing in 1998. While working in the MSICU at LDS Hospital he returned again to the U of U and earned his MS degree as an Adult Nurse Practitioner with a specialty in Occupational Health in 2002. He is the last graduate of the Occupational Health Nurse Program that was offered at the RMCOEH. As a Nurse Practitioner Dave worked for IHC Work Med and was the first NP to be contracted out, working at the ALCOA aluminum extrusion plant in Spanish Fork, Utah. From there he was recruited by Alliant Tech (ATK) to take the over the reins of their occupational health program at the re-tirement of their medical director, Richard E. Johns, MD in 2005. Over the past 7 years he has been responsible for a program that includes the management of three medical clin-ics and the care and medical surveillance of over 5000 em-ployees. He has been an integral part of the safety team that has achieved world class safety numbers. Under his direction the AAOHN Practice Committee

has reviewed and revised the AAOHN Standards of Practice. These have recently been published on the AAOHN website. Currently he is overseeing the review of the Core Curriculum of Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing, the study guide for COHN-S certification. The committee is also review-ing and revising the “Foundation Blocks”, a collection of OHN continuing education offered by AAOHN. Dave and his wife Nancy can often be found camping and running rivers in their inflatable kayaks. Dave is also an avid rugby fan and is more than happy to help those new to the sport under-stand it, giving them the benefit of his 18 years of hard won knowledge gained while play-ing for local club teams. Dave also enjoys bicycling and participates yearly in the Harmon’s Best Dam Bike Tour fund raising event to fight MS.

D

Scholarships Awarded

rucking causes approximately 4,500 annual deaths, ranking it amongst the most haz-ardous occupations affecting both truckers

and the driving public. Jury judgments related to crashes frequently exceed $30M each, relegating medical malpractice to a relatively minor concern financially. Medical standards for truck drivers re-mained unchanged for approximately 35 years until the US Congress directed the US Department of Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Ad-ministration to form a Medical Review Board (MRB) in 2006. Kurt T. Hegmann, MD, MPH, a Dr. Paul S. Richard’s Professor of Family and Preventive Medi-cine, and the Director of the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health was ap-pointed by US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta and then elected by the Board as the first chair of the MRB. Comprehensive systematic literature reviews were accomplished resulting in 15 evidence reports. Lit-erature was critiqued. Twelve Medical Expert Pan-els were incepted to address topical areas. The MRB met, received testimony, deliberated and de-cided on recommendations. The Board has formulated 84 recommendations on these major challenges. These include shortening maximum permissible certifications below the cur-rent 2-year limit for those with certain diseases. Recommendations also include criteria for sleep apnea screening, preclusion of driving with narco-lepsy, development of narrow criteria for allowing a few select drivers using insulin to drive, and preclu-sion of driving for those with seizure disorders. The MRB has been concerned with the degree of hazard associated with bus crashes as well as the potential harm from crashes involving hazardous substances and flammables. Thus, more stringent requirements for both bus drivers and those drivers transporting hazardous substances are recom-mended. In April’s edition of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Dr. Hegmann provides the summary of the MRB’s work for its first 5 years. “We hope to reduce these major burdens of injuries and deaths.”

large multicenter prospective cohort study of the distal upper extremity has been in progress for over 9 years. These are the

longest running cohort studies for musculoskeletal disorders of which we are aware. The main pur-pose of this study is to determine what are risk fac-tors for the disorders including carpal tunnel syn-drome (CTS), which should identify what can be done to prevent them. These disorders are by far the greatest driver of workers compensation costs.

Workers were enrolled in Utah starting in 2003. They underwent completion of an extensive ques-tionnaire (266 items), structured interview to ascer-tain symptoms (483 items), two standardized physi-cal examinations, and a nerve conduction study. Each worker’s job was videotaped and measured for factors including force, duration of exertion, pos-ture, cycle time, rate of repetition, speed of work, use of vibrating tools, temperature and direct me-chanical stress. Workers were then followed monthly for development of symptoms and job changes. Nerve studies were repeated every 6 months.

In the first paper published on these results from half of the cohort (Ergonomics; March 2012.), the biggest driver of the risk of for development of CTS in this cohort was the Strain Index. That index measures job demands including force and repeti-tion. Force however, is the largest driver of the In-dex. This strongly suggests most job-related pre-vention efforts should focus on reducing force. Considering the emphasis many professionals place on repetition and posture, these results will likely necessitate considerable retraining of the OSH community.

Life is not so simple. Instead of merely finding that job factors drive the risk of CTS, there were strong risks from several other factors including: obesity, diabetes, age, having other upper extremity muscu-loskeletal disorders, rheumatoid arthritis, and a measure of depression.

These results suggest an effective prevention pro-gram would need to address both occupational and non-occupational factors. Further results will be

T A

Improving Trucker Driving and

Public Safety MSD Cohort Study Results Begin

University's Biomedical Informatics Department Leading

Certification Efforts in new subspecialty of Clinical Informatics

Upcoming Continuing Education Classes and Events

he University of Utah's Department of Biomedical Informatics is helping to lead efforts to develop certification examinations in the newly approved subspecialty Clinical Informatics. Last September, the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) approved Clinical Informatics

as a medical subspecialty, with board certification granted by the American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM). The American Board of Pathology is cosponsoring the subspecialty with the ABPM. Kurt T. Hegmann, M.D., M.P.H., Pro-fessor of Family and Preventive Medicine and Director of the Rocky Mountain Center for Environmental and Occupa-tional Health, is involved in the certification process through his role as chair of ABPM. A certification examination will be available to physicians who have primary specialty certification through the ABMS. The goal is to have the first board exam available next fall. Dr. Hegmann, stated, "We are enthusiastically working to provide a high-quality examination which will allow certification beginning in 2013." The Department of Biomedical Infor-matics is in the process of establishing a program that will, upon accreditation, provide training for certification. Joyce A. Mitchell, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Biomedical Informatics and Associate Vice President for Health Sciences Information Technology, noted, "Our physician graduate students are eagerly awaiting this board certification. We also are in discussions with ABPM to develop a certification examination for our non-physician graduate students."

May Courses

OSHA 510 & 500 Occupational Safety and Health

Standards for the Construction Industry

NIEHS-8-Hour Hazardous Operations

NIEHS-40-Hour HAZWOPER Training (Denver, CO)

NIEHS-8-Hour HAZWOPER Refresher (St. George,

UT)

Asbestos Inspector Refresher (Green River, WY)

June Courses

Hazard Communication Compliance

Air Monitoring for Toxic Substances

OSHA 501 & 510 Occupational Safety Health Stan-

dards for the General Industry

DOT Hazardous Material Transportation Training and

Refresher Training

Asbestos Inspector Training

July Courses

OSHA 510 & 500 Occupational Safety and Health

Standards for the Construction Industry

(NIEHS) 40-Hour, 8-Hour HAZWOPER Training and

Refresher

(NIEHS) Operations Level Emergency Response

OSHA 2225 Respiratory Protection

Lead Safety for Renovation, Repair, and Painting

(RRP) Training Course

August Courses

Asbestos Project Designer Refresher

Comprehensive Review of Industrial Hygiene

OSHA 2045 Machinery & Machine Guarding Standards

49 CFR / IATA 4-Day Initial HAZMAT Training

September Courses

Asbestos Contractor/Supervisor Refresher and Asbes-

tos Inspector/Management Planner Refresher

(Pocatello, ID)

Pulmonary Function Testing

CAOHC—Approved Occupational Hearing Conserva-

tion & Refresher

(NIEHS) 40-Hour HAZWOPER Training (Bismarck, ND

(NIEHS) Hazardous Materials Leadership Dev.

Utah Council for Worksite Health Promotion

October Courses

(NIEHS) Operations Level Emergency Response

29th Annual Utah Conference on Safety and Industrial

Hygiene

Asbestos Contractor/Supervisor Training

Chemical Compatibility & Storage

Lead Safety for Renovation, Repair, and Painting

(RRP) Training Course

November Courses

Asbestos Contractor/Supervisor, Inspector/

Management Planner Refresher

Asbestos Worker Refresher in Spanish

Lead Inspector, Risk Assessor, Supervisor Refresher

NIOSH-Approved Spirometry Refresher

Lead Supervisor Training

December Courses

(NIEHS) 24-Hour Hazardous Mate-

rials Technician

Asbestos Inspector/Management

Planner Training

Correspondence Courses (Enroll at

any time)

Accidents Investigation, Analysis &

Prevention

Behavior-Based Safety

Practical Aspects of Health and

Safety Management

T

For additional

information on CE

classes, including

distant learning

courses, please

visit the continuing

education section

of the RMCOEH

website: http://

medicine.utah.edu/

rmcoeh/

RMCOEH News Corner

Hanford Scholarship Awarded New Occupational Medicine Faculty

Rahila Andrews, MD, one of the Occupational Medicine Residents was awarded the first Hanford Scholarship. Jes-sica Hanford, MD, MPH,(OM, 2009) has requirements of a poem on safety & health with the winner drawn at random. Following is the poem by Dr. Andrews:

I will work today, thinking of tomorrow My job and my family need me Eyes wide open, alert and aware “Tis better to be safe than sorry

Personal protective equipment is my best friend

Preparation and prevention are key Only we can prevent an accident “Tis better to be safe than sorry.

This is my pledge, to heed these words:

“Tis better to be safe than sorry.

Dr. Melissa Cheng joined the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational and Environmental Health after her completion of residency in 2011. She graduated from the University of Utah School of Medicine in 2008. She also has a Master of Health Sci-ence in international health with an emphasis on complex humanitarian emergencies from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in

2003 and Master of Occupational Health from the Univer-sity of Utah in 2010. Dr. Cheng performs in a full spectrum occupational medicine practice and teaches residents and graduate students in occupational and environmental health. She is married with 1.5 young children, and enjoys reading, traveling, being outdoors and trying new foods.

Dr. Eric Wood was approved by NIOSH in October 2011 to take the helm as Deputy Director for the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupa-tional & Environmental Health. He continues to lead the Occupational Medicine Program

Dr. Maureen Murtaugh is leading the Center’s Pilot Pro-ject Research Training Pro-gram (PPRT). Announce-ment for this funding can be found on the RMCOEH web page.

Dr. Matthew Hughes joins us again as an Assistant Professor for the Center, and is teaching and is in the Clinics. What is Huntsman’s loss is Rocky Mountain’s gain. Wel-come back Dr. Hughes!

Dr. Rod Larson has been ap-pointed as the Director of the Graduate Programs in Occupa-tional and Environmental Health. This includes the MSOH, MOH and PhD in OEH degree pro-grams.

Changes at the Rocky Mountain Center

RMCOEH now has over 500 graduates and we would love to know where you are. Please send a photo of yourself either alone or in

front of the sign of your employment and a brief description of your job to: [email protected]

We plan to highlight 2-3 alumni in every newsletter.

Eric G. Swedin is an associ-ate professor in the History Department at Weber State University. His doctorate is in the history of science and technology. His publications include numerous articles, six history books, several forth-coming science fiction novels, and a historical mystery novel. Dr. Paul S. Richards (1892-1958) was one of the pio-

neers of worker safety and occupational medicine in Utah. He ran the Bingham Canyon Hospital for twenty-six years (1922-1948), serv-ing the needs of that mining community. He realized that many of the chronic health problems faced by miners could be solved with preven-tative measures, which he helped to develop and con-vinced mining companies to

implement. He helped pro-mote the first occupational diseases law for Utah in 1941 and worked extensively with the Utah Medical, Labor, and Industrial Council. Dr. Swedin's research on Dr. Richards led to a book, Bing-ham Canyon Doctor: The Life and Legacy of Paul S. Rich-ards (Salt Lake City: RMCOEH, University of Utah School of Medicine, 2012).

10th Annual Regional National Occupational Research

Agenda (NORA) Young/New Investigators Symposium

April 19-20, 2012

Presentations by RMCOEH Graduates at the NORA Symposium 2012

Richard Hanowski, PhD pre-sented as the 9th Annual Paul S. Richards Visiting Lec-turer with a talk titled “A Natu-ralistic Driving Approach to Investigate Truck Driver Health and Safety” He is also a research scientist. Dr. Hanowski has formal training in human factors engineering, systems design, safety, re-search methods, experimen-tal design, statistics, training, and human-computer interac-

tion. Dr. Hanowski earned his Ph.D. in industrial and systems engineering from Virginia Tech in 2000. Included in his research re-sults is the now well-known risk of crash from texting (23-fold). Less well known is that there is not a risk from use of hands free or hand-held cell phones. Instead crashes occur whenever drivers take their eyes off the road for 2 seconds, regardless of the

reason(s) He currently serves as the Project Manager for an Indefi-nite Delivery Indefinite Quan-tity contract for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admini-stration. He also serves as the Fatigue Subject Matter Expert for the National Sur-face Transportation Safety Center for Excellence.

Brad Husberg - Occupational Health Nurse, 1990

Decreasing Illness and Injuries in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fish-

ing through NORA

Travis Steele - E&S, 2012

A Computational Study of Shoulder Muscle Forces During Push-

ing Tasks

Richard Sesek & Tianyang “Joey” Wei - E&S, 1999

Modular Safety Training for Student Design Competition Teams

Travis Steele, Jason McGowan & Henry Klein - E&S, 2012 &

IIH, 2012

Comprehensive Analysis of Core Knock-Out Process at a Steel

Foundry

Justin R. Day, James Snead, Sanjay Gogate & Tyler Albright -

IH, 2012

Health and Safety Program Writing for a Small Business in the

Microchip Processing Industry

Erik Erlingsson, Sheler Sadati, Jordan Knight & Faris Ali -

E&S, 2012

Ergonomic Analysis of a Central Processing Sink Station

Billy Wang, John Burton, Kevin Chamberlain, Parth Dudhiya -

IH, 2012

Assembly line Ergonomic Analysis

Chris Nield, Scott Ryan & Nate Stettler - IH, 2012

Noise Mapping and Personal Dosimetry for a Dental Manufactur-

ing Company

Rahila T. Andrews - OM, 2012

Self-rated Depressed Mood in Commercial Truck Drivers

Jason Kraft - IH, 2012

Solid Phase Microextraction Screening to Determine the Pres-

ence of Formaldehyde in Bulk Liquid Samples with Analysis of

Hair Straightening Products as an Example Application

John W. Burton - IH2012

Validation of a Direct-Reading Aerosol Instrument Compared to a

Pump-Filter-Cyclone Sampling Method for Evaluation of Respir-

able Particulates and Respirable Silica at a Copper Mine

Featured Keynote Speakers

Eric G. Swedin, PhD

Dr. Eric Swedin, Weber State University, Opened the 11h Annual NORA Young/New Investigators Symposium

Richard Hanowski, PhD

9th Annual Paul S. Richards, MD, Endowed Distinguished Visiting Lectureship in Occupational Medicine

Rami Musa Shorti Royce Moser, Jr., and Lois H. Moser Endowed Scholarship

in Occupational Health Richard Buckley Doctoral

Scholarship Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe

Workplace Scholarship

Raymond J. Godfrey William C. Ray, CIH, CSP

Arizona Scholarship Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe


Travis Steele Utah Chapter ASSE Scholarship

Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe Workplace Scholarship

Volume 9, Issue 1

ByungJu Yoo Utah Chapter ASSE

Scholarship

Rahila Andrews

Hanford Scholarship

Hang Xu Dr. Paul S. Ricjhards Safe


Steven Sevy Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe


Rex Steel Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe


Ryan Payne American Industrial Hygiene

Foundation (AIHF) Jeffery Lee Scholarship

Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe Workplace Scholarship

Matthew Fechser Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe


Tara Koch Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe


Kevin Chamberlain, MD Dr. Paul S. Richards Safe


391 Chipeta Way Suite C

Salt Lake City, UT

84108

Phone: (801) 581-4800

Fax: (801) 581-7224

http://medicine.utah.edu/

rmcoeh/

More RMCOEH News ~ Alumni

hoa. Dr. Jessica Hanford is ready to slow down a bit.

For two years, she has had a cherry contract with

Whatcom Occupational Health here in Bellingham,

WA. As of January, she continues to visit three of

the local oil refineries for Whatcom Occ. This

leaves lots of flexibility in her schedule. She is planning her next move.

In the future, she may open a clinic called the Whatsup Occupational

Health, and she would be the Whatsup Doc.

She notes that medicine can still be fun if processing of the

volume of “paper” work our cases generates is done promptly and

correctly the first time (You have to develop a caring and properly

trained staff.) Or it can cause nightmares if patients don’t get back to

work, get the treatment they need, get the time loss and disability com-

pensation they depend on to get

by.

The Residency was

seriously great preparation for

the occ doc’s role in all this. It

was also really difficult for her.

That’s why she expressed her

appreciation in the form of a

scholarship—with “silly rules”.

(See page 5 Hanford Scholarship

Awarded)

Jessica Hanford—Middle

Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational & Environmental Health

r. John Dreyzehner is commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health. Appointed to this

position by Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam in September, 2011, Dreyzehner is a physician, resi-

dency trained in occupational medicine and board certified in 1999.

Dr. Dreyzehner began medical service in 1989 as a United States Air Force flight surgeon

honorably discharged as a major in 1997. He also practiced for several years in the field of addiction medicine

while working on substance abuse prevention, treatment and control in his public health role. He holds appoint-

ments as adjunct faculty with East Tennessee State University’s College of Public Health, founding faculty of the

Healthy Appalachia Institute and visiting assistant professor of public health at the University of Virginia. He also

chairs the advisory committee for the Virginia Tech-Carilion School of Medicine’s Master of Public Health Degree

Program.

Dr. Dreyzehner attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and

Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science in psychology. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree from the

University of Illinois at Chicago. He completed his Master of Public Health degree from the University of Utah,

where he also completed his residency in Occupational Medicine at the Rocky Mountain Center for Occupational

and Environmental Health.

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may 2012 rocky mountain center for occupational and ... · program in occupational &...

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