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AIHA: Healthier Workplaces |
A Healthier World
AUGUST 2023
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Synergistic Systems
The Complexities of Modern Laboratory Ventilation
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CONTENTS
SYNERGISTIC SYSTEMS
THE COMPLEXITIES OF MODERN LABORATORY VENTILATION
In many laboratories, a building automation system (BAS) performs functions that are critical to safety for workers inside the lab and out. When it works as intended and is used well, a BAS helps execute a laboratory ventilation management program. Too often, though, the BAS becomes an obstacle instead.
BY JIM COOGAN
»
A STRATEGIC APPROACH TO LABORATORY VENTILATION
THREE STEPS FOR ACHIEVING SATISFACTORY FUME HOOD PERFORMANCE
Laboratory fume hoods serve as the primary means of protecting people working in or around labs. However, fume hoods are not independent pieces of equipment. Rather, they are part of a complex fume hood ventilation (FHV) system with numerous interacting components. This makes FHV systems costly and challenging to test and maintain.
   BY THOMAS C. SMITH
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NEXT-LEVEL ACCREDITATION
AIHA LAP ENTERS YEAR TWO OF ITS STRATEGIC PLAN At the end of 2020, AIHA Laboratory Accreditation Programs retained a contractor’s services to create a five-year strategic plan, the tenets of which include improving awareness of the AIHA LAP brand, developing programs to meet the demands of labs and their customers, and building LAP operations. The plan was completed in 2021 and went into effect last year.
BY CHERYL O. MORTON
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CONTRIBUTORS
JIM COOGAN, FEATURE AUTHOR
Jim Coogan, PE, is an engineer at Siemens in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, and a member of AIHA’s Laboratory Health and Safety Committee.

THOMAS C. SMITH,
FEATURE AUTHOR
Thomas C. Smith is president of 3Flow in Cary, North Carolina, and a member of the ASHRAE 110, ASHRAE TC9.10, ASHRAE SPC 129, ASTMZ9, and ASTM Z9.5 committees.
 
CHERYL O. MORTON, FEATURE AUTHOR
Cheryl O. Morton is the managing director of AIHA Laboratory Accreditation Programs LLC.
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The Synergist's mission is to provide AIHA members with news and information about the occupational and environmental health and safety fields and the industrial hygiene profession. The Synergist focuses on industry trends and news, government and regulatory activities, key issues facing the profession, appropriate technical information and news on association events and activities.
The Synergist's objective is to present information that is newsworthy and of general interest in industrial hygiene. Opinions, claims, conclusions, and positions expressed in this publication are the authors' or persons' quoted and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors, AIHA, or The Synergist.