The Pacific Rim Chapter would like to invite you to a professional development session with guest speaker Melanie Gorman PhD, CIH on the background and use of the BCCSA Silica Exposure Control Tool.  

Melanie Gorman Ng PhD CIH, Health and Exposure Scientist

Dr Melanie Gorman Ng:  is the Health and Exposure Scientist at the BC Construction Safety Alliance (BCCSA) and an Adjunct Professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health.  She is an occupational hygiene researcher with a focus on health hazards in the construction industry. 

She developed the silica exposure database and model the drives the Silica Control Tool, an online risk-assessment tool widely used by the British Columbia construction industry.  She also develops occupational hygiene resources for the construction industry including exposure control plan guides, COVID-19 prevention guidance, and bulletins on topics ranging from isocyanate exposure to working safely during wildfire season.

The session will be Thursday April 7th, 2022 at 12:00 pacific, and last for approximately 60 mins. There will be a Q&A at the end.  Registration is free, though you must register in advance by following the registration links provided.

Silica Control Tool – BCCSA

Review of background information and tool development, as well as a live demonstration!  Learn how to generate Silica Exposure Control Plans to highlight exposure risks and controls within your organization to mitigate, and help ensure compliance.

The BCCSA has developed the Silica Control Tool™ as a resource for the construction industry in BC. The Tool assists employers in conducting appropriate risk assessments and implementing effective controls and safe work practices where RCS dust may be an occupational hazard. Through the compilation of data relating to RCS dust exposures pertaining to various materials, tools and tasks in construction, the Tool can predict the expected exposures to workers under similar conditions.

New provisions under the OHSR permit employers to use existing monitoring data from equivalent work operations as an alternative to air monitor testing, in appropriate cases. This means that employers can look to the Tool as a means of using "...objective exposure monitoring data that was collected during equivalent work operations through industry surveys or peer reviewed or scientific studies".

The Tool relies on scientific studies and data collected through research of a team from the UBC School of Population and Public Health at the Faculty of Medicine.

Based on the information the user inputs, the Tool identifies processes that may lead to exposures over the allowable exposure control limit, provides information about how to bring the exposure within the allowable limit, and produces a corresponding Exposure Control Plan (ECP) for the user.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting and exploring this extremely useful online tool. 

Regards,

Keith Dodd MSc OHSE

Pacific Rim Chapter Chair (BC)

Phone: 604 616 4280

CANADIAN SOCIETY OF SAFETY ENGINEERING

PO Box 51031

RPO Eglinton Square

Toronto, On

M1L 4T0