Deputy Assistant Secretary of OSHA Joins Industry Experts for Day-Long Virtual Summit With Focus On Protecting Vulnerable Workers From COVID-19

The Integrated Bioscience and Built Environment Consortium (IBEC), in partnership with the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), have announced, Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Workers: Challenges, Solutions & Invisible Barriers, a C.L.E.A.N. virtual summit that will be hosted on January 25th, 2022 from 12:00 pm to 6:00 pm EST.

Funded by a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), IBEC & AIHA have partnered to bring together industry leaders in safety and occupational health, including James Frederick, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Labor for Occupational Safety, and Health, as the event keynote speaker.

The Summit will assess current best practices, data-driven solutions, and innovative technologies that help people feel confident and safe gathering indoors while identifying remaining challenges felt around the globe as organizations work to reopen. Protecting workers from infectious diseases spread indoors like COVID-19 and the flu is a complex challenge that requires knowledge from a diversity of experts with clear steps to implement in the workplace.

"Both employers and their employees play a role in keeping their work environments and communities safe. While vaccination is one way to reduce the transmission and severity of COVID-19, there are other steps organizations should take to mitigate its spread and protect what matters most ? people," said AIHA's CEO, Lawrence Sloan. "This summit will bring together industry experts to conduct a discussion on how employees of vulnerable populations can reduce the risk of airborne infection transmission in built spaces," he added.

This 5-hour event - which will be broken down by industries into 1-hour sections - will explore the pain points and obstacles facing vulnerable workers and demonstrate risk reduction strategies beyond vaccination and medical responses, including recent technology innovations to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19.

Speakers and moderators of the event include:

• Barb Epstien: Certified industrial hygienist (CIH) on the safety services team at the Associated General Contractors (AGC) Oregon-Columbia chapter.
• Michael Ferreira: Chief Operating Officer at Vision Solutions AR and The Fire Solutions Group.
• David Ladd: Owner and Principal at Blackthorne Services Group, LLC.
• Brett Cole: Managing Director & Chief Occupational Hygienist at BioSafety International.
• Corey Boles: Senior Health Scientist with Cardno ChemRisk.
• Alex LeBeau: President of AIHA's Indoor Environmental Quality Committee.
• Kenneth Martinez: Chief Science Officer at IBEC.

"The goal for Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Workers: Challenges, Solutions & Invisible Barriers is to bring together disparate technical disciplines and knowledge areas to make it easier for organizations to implement safety and management practices that can reduce the spread of COVID-19 in a vulnerable workforce," said Ken Martinez, Chief Science Officer and Board founding member of IBEC. "As COVID-19 continues to be a critical public health concern, there is no better and more important time than now to help ensure that every worker, particularly our most vulnerable - those more exposed to COVID-19 and also most affected due to lost wages or reduced hours - are protected."

Tickets for the summit are free and available at https://www.weareibec.org/events/protecting-our-most-vulnerable-workers-challenges-solutions-invisible-barriers

About IBEC

IBEC, the Integrated Bioscience and Built Environment Consortium strives to bridge the gap between science and real-world applications so that people can feel safe gathering together again in indoor spaces. A membership-based organization founded in March 2020, IBEC brings together scientists, OEHS professionals, disaster response, and healthcare specialists to help accelerate the contributions of science and technology for healthily built environments. For more information, please visit www.weareibec.org.

About AIHA

AIHA is the association for scientists and professionals committed to preserving and ensuring occupational and environmental health and safety in the workplace and community. Founded in 1939, we support our members with our expertise, networks, comprehensive education programs, and other products and services that help them maintain the highest professional and competency standards. More than half of AIHA's nearly 8,500 members are Certified Industrial Hygienists, and many hold other professional designations. AIHA serves as a resource for those employed across the public and private sectors, as well as to the communities in which they work. For more information, please visit www.aiha.org.