That Time of Year! Conferences, Posting Requirements, and OSHA Violations Increased!

It's that time of year again. We're between conferences.  February 15-16, 2024 was the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) Environmental Conference and the Environmental Information Association (EIA) National Conference & Exhibition is March 18 - 21, 2024.  This year we have the honor of speaking at both conferences.  We are speaking on the "Fallacy of PCM Clearance" in other words 5 reasons PCM should not be used for clearance.  We are speaking on Wednesday, March 20, 2024, at 1:00 PST if you happen to be in San Diego, California come down and say hello!  We're looking forward to arriving early and seeing the San Diego Wildlife Park and the Zoo, two different areas.  Our speech was very well received at the PACNY Environmental Conference.  If you would like to see the posts from the PACNY Conference visit PACNY's Linkedin page.

FEDTC's Booth at PACNY Conference

There are other things also happening at the beginning of the year.  For example, remember to post your Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 300A if you have 10 or more employees, see last month's post for more information.  The 300A, which is the summation of injuries and illnesses your company had in 2023, should be posted from February 1st, 2024 to April 30, 2024.  Also, remember certain employers must electronically submit the OSHA 300A information directly to OSHA by March 2, 2024.

300a Must Be Posted & For Some Must be Submitted

On January 16, 2024, the OSHA maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations increased from $15,625 per violation to $16,131 per violation.  The maximum penalty for willful or repeated violations also increased from $156,259 per violation to $161,323 per violation.  These increases happen every January 15th.  This year's increase was delayed because January 15th was a Federal holiday (Martin Luther King Day).

Looking Forward to EIA's Conference in San Diego & Visiting the Wildlife Park

The Environmental Information Association Conference Is Back in Phoenix.

We will be attending the Environmental Information Association (EIA) 2022 National Conference and Exhibition.  It is being held at the Hyatt Regency in Downtown Phoenix and it is also being held virtually.  If you wish to register for the conference click here!  

Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West

Our love of Phoenix, Arizona started when we became a member of the American Council for Accredited Certifications (ACAC) Certified Indoor Environment Consultant Board.  Our meetings were always in January/February time period which is an absolutely perfect time to visit Phoenix.  The weather gave us a break from the winter of the Northeast.  It's not too hot during the day and not too cold at night.  Meeting members of the ACAC boards was a fantastic networking event!  This year the ACAC was planning a meeting of the Boards, however, attendance by ACAC members was not as hoped.  But we are still planning on getting together and will attend Adam Andrew's presentation in Session 4 - "Asking the Right Questions: Inbound marketing with professional certification."

Some of the ACAC Board Members we're hoping to see!

The EIA conference starts on Monday, March 21, 2022.  The opening of the General Session starts at 8:30 am and the schedule for this session includes the introduction of EIA governance, a short presentation by EIA Managing Director J. Brent Kynoch, EIA President Steve Fulford, and EIA 2022 Conference Chairs Chris Gates and Vessa Roberts. This session also features the presentation of the 2022 Jack Snider Jr. Award and the EIA 2022 keynote address.  The EIA's 2022 Keynote Presentation: "National Environmental Public Health Tracking: From Data to Action" Centers for Disease Control (CDC) National Centers for Environmental Health Environmental Public Health Tracking Program, CDC & AZ Department of Health Jena Losch, CDC, Public Health Advisor, National Center for Environmental Health and Hsini Linn, AZ Department of Health, Deputy Office Chief for Environmental Epidemiology.

Chihuly at the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix

We are looking forward to the Technical Program and seeing several sessions in addition to Adam Andrew's presentation.  We are looking forward to Lee Poye's, Eurofins - J3 Resources, presentation on "Libby Amphibole, Talc, Erionite, and Other Respirable Elongate Mineral Particles – Nonregulated Hazards?", Dylan Staack's presentation "Qualitative vs. Quantitative Fit Testing: Understanding the Gaps in Your Respiratory Protection Program", Danaya Wilson's, CHC Training, & Tom Laubenthal's, Air Quest Environmental plenary session on "Asbestos Regulation 101: Past, Present, Future", Michael P Menz's, CIH, CHMM, Indoor Environmental Concepts, LLC, Deregulated Asbestos Floor Tile Removal Using Dry Ice Technique", and Peggy Forney's, EPA - Retired, "Enforcement of Asbestos Abatement Projects."  To see the entire schedule of events click here.  We hope to see you at the conference and look forward to writing about the various presentations.

PACNY's Environmental Conference Day Three - A NYSDOL Surprises with Fast Track Variances!

The last day of the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 24th annual Environmental Conference was held at the Turning Stone Casino in Verona, New York on Friday, February 28, 2020.  The last day started similar to the first day with opening remarks from Ms. Deb Sanscrainte, of ARAMSCO and the conference chairwoman, and Timothy Thomas of Tetra Tech and President of PACNY.  These remarks included a change in the program because a snowstorm caused the originally scheduled speaker unable to attend the conference.  The beginning presentation was by Martin S. Rutstein, Ph.D., President of Ecological Consulting & Management Services, Inc. discussing talc litigation.  Followed by Brent Kynoch of the Environmental Information Association (EIA) discussing the benefits of joining the EIA.  The Regulatory Day of the conference includes the last chance of visiting the Vendor Exhibit Hall with a continental breakfast and visit the 30 vendors to get a chance to win the vendor gift cards/prizes.

Dr.Rutstein speaking about talc litigation

After the two morning presentations, and a short break in the Vendor Exhibit Hall, the New York State Department of Labor's (NYSDOL's) Panel with a question and answer session began.  The panel included  Dr. Eileen Franko, the Director; Mr. James Meacham Program Manager, Asbestos Control Bureau; Mr. Kirk Fisher, Program Manager, Licensing & Certification; and Mr. Ed Smith, Program Manager, Engineering Services Unit.  Questions and answers session was moderated by Mr. Tim Thomas of Tetra Tech Engineering.

NYSDOL Panel Discussion

The panel started with some opening remarks by Dr. Eileen Franko which included announcing her retirement in March 2020.  Making this the last year she will be on the panel.  Those of us who have gotten to know Dr. Franko through the years will miss her leadership and her willingness to listen to the industry and work with the industry to better things for all contractors and consultants.  As usual, the discussion of a new industrial code came up and it is still being worked on.  Mr. Smyth announced, to everyone's surprise, that they had launched a pilot program for certain site-specific variances (SSVs).  This pilot program is called Fast Track Variances.  These variances are common variances that are issued regularly by NYSDOL.  The purpose of this program is to speed up the review process for these routine variances and reduce the workload.  Currently, SSVs can take two to three weeks to turnaround.  Fast Track Variances can potentially be issued within the same day they are received.  There are 10 Fast Track Variances available and can be found at NYSDOL's Division of Safety and Health (DOSH) Engineering Services Unit's website.  Mr. Meacham discussed enforcement regarding Article 32 the NYS Mold Law.  NYSDOL has received 175 complaints and has issued 30 violations.  Most of the complaints are tenant-landlord complaints which do not apply to the law.

Future Environment Designs was a Gold Sponsor of PACNY's Environmental Conference

Another conference has ended and another successful year for PACNY with over 600 people attending the conference with 30 vendors exhibiting in the Vendor Exhibit hall both increases versus last year.  Though we are happy for Dr. Franco and wish her all the best, the industry will miss her.  Though she does leave us with a solid group of professionals running the various divisions that matter to the asbestos and mold industries.  Hope to see you next year!  

Conference Season Has Begun! First PACNY, Next EIA, Then ADAO

We had the honor and pleasure to speak at Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) conference this year, again.  We will discuss that in a later post on the 21st Annual PACNY Environmental Conference.  We also had the pleasure to speak at the Environmental Information Association (EIA) Fall Technical Conference in Orlando, Florida, last year.  Our presentation regarding the New York State Mold Law Article 32 "What Happens When Politicians Write Laws They Know Nothing About?" was well received and we had many comments from the audience and afterwards.  For those who wanted a copy of our presentation you can find it in our FED Training CD-Link to the Dropbox Folder under Mold and Other IAQ Documents.  This year we will be attending the EIA's 34th Annual Conference & Exhibition in Orlando Florida from March 25-29, 2017.  In addition, on March 26, 2017 we will be attending the American Council for Accredited Certification's (ACAC) Board Meeting.

Our Presentation at the EIA's Fall Technical Conference 

We are looking forward to the usual networking we get to do with the members of the ACAC and the EIA.  Like the Fall Technical Conference we are looking forward to some of the presentations at the EIA's 34th Annual Conference.  The brochure has quite a list of speakers, we are looking forward to Steve Compton's presentation on the "Resuspension of Settled Asbestos Dust - A Review of Exposure Assessments Related to Cleaning Asbestos"; David Branch's presentation on "Operating A Successful Environmental Business"; David Matson's presentation "Go Team! Consequences of Owners Picking the Wrong Team"; Andreas Saldivar's presentation on "Drywall Joint Compound by Visual Estimation, Point Counting and TEM"; and Lee Poye's presentation "Effectiveness of NIOSH 7400 for Post-Abatement Clearances - Do PCM Clearances Adequately Protect Public Health?"  These are just the one's we're interested in, the brochure has over 21 sessions that all sound interesting.  We hope to see you there!

Linda Reinstein of ADAO 

The next conference after EIA is the 13th Annual Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO) International Asbestos Awareness and Prevention Conference being held at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Virginia from April 7-9, 2017.  Another excellent conference that delivers some excellent presenters discussing the hazards of asbestos and providing information regarding asbestos internationally.  Presenters this year include Dr. Barry Castleman, Alex Farquhar, Dr. Arthur Frank, Fernanda Giannasi, Dr. Richard Lemen, & Michael Borowick.  In addition, Linda Reinstein, the President of ADAO, is a fantastic speaker.   Visit ADAO's blog to learn more about the speakers.

We always enjoy conference season because of the networking and camaraderie that occurs at these events.  It does involve some time away from the business, but we find that it renews us and we always bring something back from the conferences that keeps our training new and up to date.  We highly recommend you take the time and attend these events.  We hope it rejuvenates you as much as it does us.

Related articles

• The "S" in NIOSH(blogs.cdc.gov)

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• Improving Workers' Health Across the Globe(blogs.cdc.gov)

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Environmental Information Association 33rd Annual Conference & Exhibition 2016

This year the American Council for Accredited Certifications (ACAC) held its executive board meeting the weekend the Environmental Information Association's (EIA's) 33rd Annual Conference & Exhibition started.  Giving us the opportunity to attend this organization's conference for the first time.  We've been a member of EIA since we joined the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY).  This is another benefit of becoming a member of PACNY    The mission statement for the EIA, formerly known as the National Asbestos Council, is "it's multi-disciplinary membership will collect, generate and disseminate information concerning environmental health hazards to occupants of buildings, industrial sites and other facility operations."

The 33rd Annual Conference & Exhibition was held March 6-9, 2016 at the Tropicana Las Vegas Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada.  The twitter hashtag for the conference was #EIAPROUD & #EIA2016 and Future Environment Design's twitter hashtag for the conference was #FEDTCEIA.  The conference was definitely full of information concerning environmental health hazards between the exhibition hall and the presentations.  We definitely were quite impressed with scope of the presentations.  The presentations ran in sessions so there were side by side presentations.  This was a disadvantage of the conference with so many presentations running at the same time we had to miss a few presentations that coincided with other presentations we wanted to hear.  One presentation we missed was Mr. Lee Poye's presentation on "Cumulative Summary of the Variety, Size, and Aspect Ratio of Respirable Elongated Mineral Particles (REMPs) Compiled During Analysis of over 400 Human Lung Tissue Samples".  From those who attended the presentation, the data provided information regarding the type and size (0.5 micron and smaller) of REMPs most commonly encountered in human lung tissue effected by asbestos related disease.

Dan Lier's Presentation was Inspiring & Interactive

The presentation by Mr. Dan Lier, "Maximize Your True Potential" was inspiring and had several attendees quoting him throughout the conference.  Several presentations we attended provided significant information for our future classes.  We attended Mr. Vincent Brennan's & Mr. Chris Walker's presentation on the University of Vermont's confined space program in relation to the new Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA's) confined spaces in construction standard.  Major points from this presentation was the importance of rescue services and the importance of practicing rescues in the confined space you may need to make a rescue in.  Mr. Guy Sylvester's, of Absolute Resource Associates, presentation was on the "Mold Legislation for New Hampshire" which provided insight into the legislation process of how a mold law can come into being (probably some similarity to how it happened in New York).  Mr. Adam Andrew's, of ACAC, presentation on "Certification: Asset or Liability?" provided additional information regarding the levels of certifications and the advantages of being certified.  Linda Reinstein's, of Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization (ADAO), asbestos presentation was loaded with information and passion as usual.  Peter Delucia & Gregg Mance's, of ACC Contracting, presentation "Asbestos Q&A: Inconsistencies & Ambiguities in the Regulation" had some technical glitches but was well researched and thought out.  Ms. Amy Hensley's, of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), presentation "PCBs 101" provided significant information on the history, regulations and handling of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Grayling Industries during Vendor Introductions

The exhibition hall was where box lunches were eaten and the vendor introduction on Tuesday night with the happy hour was informative, too.  Graylings Industries, Aramsco, & Fiberlock were some of the exhibitors we typically see at the PACNY conference, along with EMSL & RJ Lee Group.  Two interesting exhibitors were InspectManager a mobile inspection system and Mycometer, a rapid microbiology - on-site technology.  Both exhibitors were very interesting and had presentations on their products.  The Mycometer information we've added to both our New York State Mold Assessment & Remediation classes.  Overall we were quite impressed with the presentations and the information we gathered from this event.  The EIA's next event is there Fall Technical Seminar being held on October 14, 2016 at Rosen Shingle Creek, Orlando, Florida.  We'll be going this year and we hope to see you there!             

Related articles

•  Another Great PACNY Conference - Part Two (futureenv.blogspot.com)

•  Another Great Conference! PACNY Does It Again! - Part One(futureenv.blogspot.com)

•  NYSDOL Roundtable Highlight of PACNY Environmental Conference(futureenv.blogspot.com)