Editor’s note: This summer, 26 students in the UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) are getting hands-on experience as interns with government agencies and private companies. In our occasional “On the Job” series, we feature some of their stories.
Applied Occupational Hygiene (App OH)
Student Research Project |
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) enforces the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act, which is a federal plan enforceable throughout the United States. Any state can have an approved state plan as long as the safety and health rules and regulations in the state plan are either as stringent or more stringent than OSHA rules and regulations.
Student Research Project |
This project involved conducting an exposure assessment in the paint shop at Seattle City Light to evaluate
Student Research Project |
Artificial stone countertops are the centerpiece of countless modern kitchen remodels, but the process of fabricating these surfaces has recently gained attention due to high occupational exposures to fine silica dust, known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS). This report summarizes OSHA State Plan health compliance inspections of stone countertop fabricators in King County, WA.
Student Research Project |
Process Safety Management (PSM) is the safe and systematic management of highly hazardous chemicals that have the potential for catastrophic release that could result in toxic exposure, fire, or explosions.
Student Research Project |
Video Exposure Monitoring (VEM) is an underutilized tool within the field of industrial hygiene. In the past four decades there have been several systems developed for VEM around the world. Technology continues to evolve and there are new opportunities for VEM. Newer software and equipment are improving and modernizing VEM to make it more available for practicing industrial hygienists.
Student Research Project |
In early February 2018, a contractor performing restoration work on a communications tower in Seattle,
Student Research Project |
The investment casting environment poses many health risks to workers, including exposure to respirable crystalline silica. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) issued a new final comprehensive rule in 2016 that lowered the Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL) of respirable crystalline silica to 50μg/m3 for any combination of quartz, cristobalite, or tridymite.
Student Research Project |
Petroleum refining is an industry that poses many health risks to workers, including exposure to the gases benzene and hydrogen sulfide (H2S).
Student Research Project |
Even though the technology behind 3D printing has been around for several decades, it has only recently become commercially available. The ability to create customized objects in home and office environments has revolutionized small-scale manufacturing. Small fused filament fabrication printers are even being used on the International Space Station.