AIHA: Healthier Workplaces | A Healthier World
OCTOBER 2021
Mental Health in the Workplace
Tips for Supporting Workers' Mental Well-Being
CONTENTS
MENTAL HEALTH AND THE WORKPLACE
TIPS FOR SUPPORTING WORKERS’ MENTAL WELL-BEING
As occupational and environmental health and safety professionals have grappled with COVID-19, another crisis is affecting workers around the world. Increased stress and isolation related to the pandemic have highlighted mental health as an important workplace safety and health concern, and many people have made public the struggles they previously managed in private.
BY LIZ HILL AND MERAIAH MARVEL
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PROCESS SAFETY MANAGEMENT AND THE IH
EXAMINING OSHA’S PSM STANDARD Process Safety Management (PSM) is an OSHA standard focused on preventing the unexpected release of toxic, reactive, or flammable liquids and gases. The standard is very prescriptive and establishes a roadmap for OEHS professionals to ensure the safety of workers and communities. An industrial hygienist has much to offer PSM, and the skillsets needed for each are mutually beneficial.
  
BY MATTHEW PARKER AND MERAIAH MARVEL
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THE RIDDLES OF BERYLLIUM A SHORT HISTORY OF A CHALLENGING WORKPLACE HAZARD Chronic Beryllium Disease (CBD) is a lung disease that can be disabling or fatal and is caused by inhaling dust or fumes containing beryllium, often produced in industrial settings. This article recounts beryllium’s complex history as a workplace hazard and the difficult problems industrial hygienists encountered when trying to establish protective programs. BY PAUL F. WAMBACH
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DIGITAL EXTRA: BACK TO SCHOOL WEBINAR PANEL DISCUSSES HOW SCHOOLS CAN STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE DURING THE PANDEMIC—AND BEYOND A Synergist Webinar held Sept. 13, 2021, brought together a panel of experts from diverse professional backgrounds to discuss practical measures schools can take to maintain a safe environment for students, teachers, and staff. A key theme of the webinar was that each school’s approach must be tailored to individual facilities. BY ED RUTKOWSKI
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CONTRIBUTORS
LIZ HILL, FEATURE AUTHOR
Liz Hill, MPH, CIH, CSP, is a Total Worker Health adviser at SAIF Corporation, the past chair of AIHA’s Safety Committee, and a member of the AIHA Total Exposure Health/Total Worker Health Advisory Group.
MATTHEW PARKER, FEATURE AUTHOR
Matthew Parker, MS, CIH, CSP, ARM, is a safety and health consultant with Paragon Technical Services. He is the current chair of the AIHA Safety Committee, president of the Pensacola chapter of the American Society of Safety Professionals, and president-elect of AIHA’s Florida Local Section.
 
PAUL F. WAMBACH, FEATURE AUTHOR
Paul F. Wambach worked as an industrial hygienist in the Department of Energy headquarters from 1980 through 2012. He is now retired.
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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.