IHMM Today August 3, 2021
Below you will see the 3 EHS credential badges that are now in each CSHM, CSMP, and ASHM certificant's MYIHMM account. Every IHMM certificant may use these badges, linked as those below are to their IHMM credential page, for their email signatures, business cards, and other social media applications. You're justifiably proud of the accomplishment of having earned your credential and you can show the rest of the world. Simply right-click on the badge of choice, then save as to your computer, and then load it to wherever you want to use it and please link that back to https://ihmm.org/.
Are You Ready for a Global Stage?
September 14-17, 2021, Sheraton Charlotte Hotel, Charlotte, North Carolina
EnviroSummit is a global conference with international presentations in the morning on the main stage, and breakout sessions for Remediation, Vapor Intrusion, Air Quality and Wastewater in the afternoon. The 2021 Global EnviroSummit is a conference with a mission of evaluating the different approaches for "Accelerating Trends and Advancing Technology" in the environmental industry. There will be speakers from around the globe that will address some of the environmental challenges they face in their country. There will also be speakers from the EPA, ITRC and other government agencies.
IHMM has between 1.30 pm and 5.00 pm on September 16, 2021, to deliver 4, 45-minute presentations on Wastewater Technologies. These 4 presentations should highlight specific projects done by a CHMM involving wastewater and include a narrative lasting 30 minutes that focuses on everything from permitting to technology and construction and results.
IHMM has two presentations and seeks two individuals who are willing to each make presentations in person, in Charlotte on September 16, 2021 between 1.30 pm and 4.15 pm
Interested? This affords the CHMM the opportunity to bring to a global audience the technical capabilities of your work and that of your company in handling challenges involving wastewater management.
Contact: Gene Guilford at gguilford@ihmm.org
HMS Offers 4 PHMSA HMIT Grant DOT Hazmat Courses at the IHMM Offices – Rockville, MD
The Hazardous Materials Society [HMS] has been promoting these four DOT Hazmat programs since early July to those in the Virginia, Maryland, and DC area as all of these programs will be conducted in-person at the IHMM offices in Rockville.
All of these programs are FREE of charge. Click on each of the links provided below for more information about the registration, prerequisite, and CMP requirements associated with each program.
August 17-19, 2021 PHMSA HMIT Grant DOT Hazmat Basic Awareness Training HMS Rockville, MD
August 24-26, 2021 PHMSA HMIT Grant DOT Hazmat Advanced Awareness Training HMS Rockville, MD
Sept 21-23, 2021 PHMSA HMIT Grant DOT Hazmat Basic Awareness Training HMS Rockville, MD
The Pathway to Green and Complete Streets:
Steps, Success Stories, and Lessons Learned
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time
Green streets can provide many environmental, social and economic benefits. In addition to stormwater runoff reduction and water quality improvement benefits, green streets can be designed to calm traffic, provide safer pedestrian and bicycle paths, mitigate urban heat island effects, improve community aesthetics, and stimulate community investments. This webcast will feature EPA's Green Streets Handbook, a document intended to help state and local transportation agencies, municipal officials, designers, stakeholders and others to select, design and implement site design strategies and green stormwater infrastructure practices for streets, alleys and parking lots. Additional presentations from Arlington, VA, Grand Rapids, MI, and the New Jersey Department of Transportation will feature on-the-ground green street programs, share success stories and lessons learned, and highlight the environmental, economic, and social benefits of green infrastructure practices.
Alisha Goldstein
Town of Chapel Hill, NC
Elise Bremer-Nei
New Jersey Department of Transportation
Carrie Rivette
City of Grand Rapids, MI
Christin Jolicoeur
Arlington County, VA
For any questions related to this announcement, please contact king.matt@epa.gov. Do not respond directly to npdes_news@epa.gov, as this inbox is not monitored.
Want to Raise the Visibility of Your Credential? Answer the Question in the Survey
IHMM wants inform the news media, state and federal regulators, and the legal profession of the availability of "experts" for use in legal proceedings, working with environmental regulators or commenting on matters in the news for the news media. This will raise the level of visibility of all IHMM credentials and those who hold them.
We will construct a section of our AA/database allowing IHMM certificants to register for this project and select the areas of specialization they hold. Only those whose fees are up-to-date will be allowed to register and be available for public view of their levels of expertise.
This project will increase the value of our credentials as well as our ability to serve the legal, media, and government regulator sectors of the economy by offering experts to provide commentary or testimony. Registration would be strictly voluntary.
Before IHMM does any further work on this project we need to collect some data. This survey is designed to collect data from IHMM certificant's general attitude toward this new feature being created and whether or not you may ultimately register for it. The survey obligates you to nothing. We are just collecting data on whether or not IHMM certificants believe this service if it is created, would be worthwhile.
Take the survey here.
HMS and Earning Certification Maintenance Points [CMPs]
IHMM created HMS, in large measure, so that IHMM certificants could have one, central place within which to find professional development courses in which to earn certification maintenance points. HMS courses cover all of IHMM's 8 credentials, not only one.
We've made it easy to find CMPs.
Go to https://hazmatsociety.org/
Go to the Education and Training tab
Scroll down until you see these buttons…and click on the CMPs button
The system will produce a listing of the programs on the platform that have already been reviewed and given CMP ratings. You can find the programs suitable for you.
For example, one of the programs is from Columbia Southern University, offered online, has 36 CMPs attached, and is FREE. This is only one example. There are hundreds of programs on HMS.
Recertification of your IHMM credential is easy and straightforward – encompassing the 5 basic steps shown above. This graphic applies to the CHMM, CHMP, CDGP, and CDGT credentials. IHMM is constructing the system to incorporate the former ISHM point system to the IHMM point system for all CSHM and CSMP credentials later this summer.
IHMM certificants need to recertify their credentials every 5 years. You can learn about and use this system here.
How to earn Certification Maintenance Points [CMPs] is also easy and straightforward: read the IHMM Recertification Claims Manual.
IHMM's recertification system allows certificants to start a recertification application at any time, don't wait until the 4th year and the 11th month to start one – start now and enter your CMPs as you go. That makes completing the application easy when the time comes to recertify. Certificants can start a recertification application with their CMPs through their individual MYIHMM accounts.
If you need assistance with this process, accessing your MYIHMM account, or anything concerning the recertification process, simply contact either Jimmy Nguyen at jnguyen@ihmm.org or James Drosdak at jdrosdak@ihmm.org and either will be happy to help you.
CALL TO ACTION MEANS YOU!
CALL TO ACTION – Representative Spanberger of Virginia's 7th Congressional District has drafted legislation entitled, H.R. 2171, "Freedom To Invest in Tomorrow's Workforce Act." This legislation expands the provisions of existing law with respect to the allowable uses of Section 529 education tuition accounts to include most expenses paid by the holders of private professional certifications. We need you to contact your House and Senate members to ask them to co-sponsor this legislation.
CLICK HERE TO PARTICIPATE
Scroll to the bottom of the page in the link above. Then click on the Freedom To Invest in Tomorrow's Workforce Act. All you have to do is enter your name, address, and zip code and the IHMM VoterVoice system does the rest and automatically sends our message to your Senators and members of the House of Representatives. It's very easy and matters!
[NEW AT LION.COM] 24-Hour HAZWOPER Training
Lion Launches 24 Hour HAZWOPER for Hazmat Technicians
Who Needs HAZWOPER Training?
HAZWOPER Graphic Guide: Emergency Response
Browse All HAZWOPER Training
Do You Want Government to Recognize Your Credential?
IHMM & AHMP 45 in 5 Project – National Credential Recognition
On January 25th, we began outlining the strategy to go after the 21 states in yellow, above. Since then we have succeeded in adding Nebraska, Colorado, and California.
This is just the beginning. Here is the present composition of the 45 In 5 Task Force and the states we are focusing on. More people may volunteer anytime!
In 2019 Mark Bruce from AHMP and Gene Guilford from IHMM worked on a project to get the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to recognize the CHMM and CDGT credentials. With Mark's work on the ground in Pennsylvania, we succeeded.
Since the launch, we have added Delaware, Florida, Texas, California, Washington, Georgia, Ohio, Tennessee, Alabama, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, Missouri, Iowa, North Carolina, Colorado, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Puerto Rico as the next places for us to work on with 44 volunteers.
45 in 5 Task Force Votes to Move Forward
At its July 19th meeting the 45 in 5 Task Force voted to:
Initiate a rulemaking with the Environmental Protection Agency to amend 40 CFR § 310 Definitions, to include the Certified Hazardous Materials Manager [CHMM] credential with the existing Professional Engineer and Professional Geologist.
Initiate a guidance change with the Small Business Administration concerning the performance of Phase I and II environmental assessments.
Support the IHMM/PCC Freedom to Invest in Tomorrow's Workforce Act. H.R. 2171.
It's Infrastructure Week in the Senate
EPA Holds Public Webinar on Development of Proposed TSCA Data Reporting Rule
OSHA-NIOSH Small Business Safety and Health Handbook
NEW DOT Chart 17: Markings, Labeling, Placarding Guide
e-Manifest User Fees and Payment Information: Fiscal Years 2020 and 2021 User Fees and Frequent Questions.
2021 Guidance Document – Battery Powered Cargo Tracking Devices / Data Loggers Revised for the 2021 Regulations – Revision 1
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; Monitoring Requirements for Use of Dispersants and Other Chemicals
CDC – Interim Public Health Recommendations for Fully Vaccinated People
House passes bill requiring EPA to regulate PFAS contamination
Pennsylvania DEP to require radiological testing of leachate at landfills
'Green' Synthesis of Plastics from CO2
Breakthrough in Detection of SARS-CoV-2 Variant in Wastewater
The Environmental Toll of Disposable Masks
EPA – Spring 2021 Unified Agenda of Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions
Agriculture –Semiannual Regulatory Agenda, Spring 2021
EPA – Proposed Substances To Be Evaluated for Toxicological Profile Development
EPA and Army Announce Next Steps for Crafting Enduring Definition of Waters of the United States
EPA Releases Preliminary Data for 2020 Toxics Release Inventory Reporting, Including First Ever Reporting on PFAS
New Interactive Maps and Resources Empower the Public and Policymakers to Act on Environmental Justice
Regulatory Update: DOL Rolls Back Contractor Rule
OSHA Heat Standard Aimed at Indoor Workers
Actions on How to Handle the Spread of Delta Variant of COVID Begins
Evaluation of the Department of Defense's Actions to Control Contaminant Effects from Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances at Department of Defense Installations (DODIG-2021-105)
Statement from CDC Director Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH on Today's MMWR
Aug 4: The Power of Video and AI – Creating Insights to Optimize Health & Safety
Aug 12: Best Practices for Conducting EHS Inspections
Safe + Sound Week
Please join us in participating in Safe + Sound Week from August 9-15, 2021. Safe + Sound Week is a nationwide event held each August to show your business's commitment to keep workers safe year-round. Safe + Sound Week is also a time when information and ideas are shared to help get your safety and health program started or improve an existing program.
Visit the Safe + Sound Week webpage to sign up to participate, and for ideas on planning and promoting your event.
REGISTER NOW FOR SAFE + SOUND WEEK
4 Qualities of Great Safety Leaders
The Fall Protection Lifeline: A Safety Professional's Guide to Self-Retracting Devices
OSHA Safe + Sound Week: August 9-15, 2021
Safety News You Need: Leadership and Partnerships
Learn More About the 2021 ASSP Governance Proposal
August 5 – September 2: ONLINE COURSE: Implementing ISO 45001 Course
August 10: Live Virtual Classroom: Workplace Mental Health: A Blueprint for a Healthier Workforce
ISO 45001 and OSH Professionals
ASSP is the TAG Administrator [Technical Advisory Group] to ANSI for the ISO TC283 [Technical Committee]. TC283 is responsible for the creation of ISO 45001 and other important standards and documents under the 283 series of technical materials. ASSP, as the U.S. TAG Administrator, is responsible to work with the committee [TAG] membership to create U.S. voting positions and technical comments for ANSI at the global level. IHMM is a member of ASSP and is proud to have contributed to this important work through our representative Tom Slavin, CSHM.
The Society recently concluded an extensive webinar with Martin Cottam [TC283 Chair], Sally Swingewood [TC283 Manager], Vic Toy [U.S. TAG Chair], and Kathy Seabrook [U.S. TAG Vice-Chair].
This is an extensive webinar and interview that should interest OSH Professionals working with ISO 45001 and management systems. We address ISO 45001, 45003, 45005, etc. There are always a lot of questions on this standard[s] and ASSP can give you the answers. This webinar is worthy of your time to review.
HMS Affinity Programs – CINTAS Uniforms
With more than 27,000 people – here is where HMS leverages our numbers for member's benefit. There is strength and value in numbers and that translates into lower costs for you.
Save up to 65% off Cintas uniforms, safety and facility services.
Keep your team and workspace looking their best. New Cintas contracts enjoy special discounts and a free one-time UltraClean service and free installation of hygiene dispensers. Enroll with NPP today and save on Cintas!
Enroll your business for FREE with NPP to learn more about Cintas discounts. Enroll with NPP here.
This is the center of education and training for IHMM certificants and prospective certificants. Among these more than 15.000 programs are webinars delivered online and virtually all carry IHMM CMPs values with them for your annual / 5-year CMP planning.
COVID-19 Weekly Review – July 30, 2021
College & University Hazardous Materials Management Conference
This conference is being run entirely virtually.
This is an in-person and virtual conference. There are 100+ confirmed speakers and attendance is expected to be over 800.
Contaminated soil, groundwater, and the air is a global issue and over $1 trillion is spent every year to mitigate pollution. There is a lot still to learn from each other on how each segment of the environmental industry impacts the next. The 2021 Global EnviroSummit will include technical presentations from some of the world's leaders on pollution control and the leading technologies that are used in the industry.
Registration Open Here
It's Infrastructure Week! The U.S. Senate this week began debating the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684), the 2,700-page infrastructure bill that has been the subject of heated negotiations over the last several weeks. (As a point of reference, the first published edition of Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace was merely 1,225 pages long.) Here are a few things to note about the bill and the process going forward.
Hard infrastructure. The bill provides $1.2 trillion in funding for the building and repair of roads, bridges, ports, airports, public transit, broadband, power grid modernization, and other projects. The bill also takes steps to address climate change (it provides funding related to electric vehicles, alternative fuels, and carbon capture, for example), shrink red tape associated with major construction projects, and reduce pollution.
No PRO Act. Importantly, the bill does not contain provisions of the PRO Act, and it does not address paid leave, child care, Medicare expansion, unemployment insurance reforms, or other "social infrastructure" matters. Congressional Democrats plan to address these and other issues in subsequent legislation using the reconciliation process, which would allow them to pass such a bill with a simple majority vote.
ERTC shortened. Employers may want to note that the employee retention tax credit (ERTC), which was established by the CARES Act and extended in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, will terminate early under the bill. Currently, employers can claim the retention credit through the end of 2021, but this date would be pushed forward to October 1, 2021 (though certain small businesses that began operations in 2020 may claim the credit for the remainder of 2021). The provision is included as a funding mechanism for the bill.
Bipartisan push. The bill has significant bipartisan support, as 17 Senate Republicans voted with all Democrats to begin debate on the bill. In addition, the bill enjoys support from groups such as the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as from the AFL-CIO.
What comes next? As for timing (always hard to predict), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has indicated that he would like to wrap up the amendment process quickly, which means that final passage of the legislation could take place sometime next week or sooner. Assuming the bill passes the Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives will then have an opportunity to address it. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has promised that she would not address the bill until the second "social infrastructure" bill passes the Senate. This all means that we could be continuing this discussion about both bills into the fall.
Pregnancy Accommodation Bill—One Step Closer to Law? On August 3, 2021, the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) advanced the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) (H.R. 1065). The lopsided 19–2 committee vote on approval perhaps portends a favorable outcome for the bill on the Senate floor. The PWFA—which would require employers to make reasonable accommodation for pregnant workers (such as by providing more frequent bathroom breaks or easing lifting requirements)—has been on the Buzz's radar for a while now. With this action this week, the bill moves one step closer to President Joe Biden's desk.
Weil Nomination Slowed. In other Senate HELP Committee news, the committee voted 11–11 on David Weil's nomination to be administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Wage and Hour Division. This means that Weil's nomination (similar to the nomination of NLRB General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo) will need an additional vote from the full Senate in order to be discharged from the committee. Weil has the numbers on his side (ever so slightly), and he, like Abruzzo, will likely be confirmed in due course. As the Buzz has previously discussed, Weil is known for his views on the "fissured workplace," as well as a narrow interpretation of what it means to be an "independent contractor" and an expansive interpretation of "joint employer."
Fed. Contractor Minimum Wage Reg. Deadline (Slightly) Extended. The DOL extended the deadline for stakeholders to submit comments in response to the proposed regulations implementing an increase in the minimum wage for certain employees of federal contractors. Interested parties probably should not think about booking a late-summer vacation, though: the period has only been extended from the original date of August 23, 2021, to August 27, 2021.
Congress Continues to Target Arbitration. House Democrats have reintroduced the Restoring Justice for Workers Act, which would "prohibit predispute arbitration agreements that require arbitration of work disputes." The bill represents yet another front in the political battle over arbitration agreements. As the Buzz noted recently, another bill in the 117th Congress—the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act (H.R. 4445/S. 2342)—proposes to limit the enforceability of certain arbitration agreements.
Congressional Gold Medals. The 2020 Summer Olympics wraps up on August 8, 2021. The Olympics and politics have always been intertwined, so it should come as no surprise that these former U.S. Olympians subsequently made their way into politics.
Bob Mathias won gold medals in the decathlon in the Summer Olympic Games in London (1948) and Helsinki (1952), and he subsequently represented California's 18th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1967–1975).
Wendell Anderson won a silver medal playing ice hockey for the United States in the 1956 Winter Olympics. He was later elected governor of Minnesota. When Minnesota senator Walter Mondale resigned his position after being elected vice president of the United States in 1976, Anderson essentially appointed himself as Mondale's successor, and served two years in the U.S. Senate (1976–1978).
Tom McMillen earned a silver medal playing basketball for the United States in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. The U.S. men's team lost to the Soviet Union, 51–50, and became the first U.S. men's basketball team not to win a gold medal in the Olympics (after having won gold at the previous seven Olympic Games—all the way back to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin). The final seconds of the game were mired by an officiating controversy, and the U.S. team refused to receive their silver medals. After completing a successful professional basketball career, McMillen served in the U.S. House of Representatives (1987–1993) from Maryland's 4th congressional district.
Bill Bradley won a gold medal in basketball in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. He subsequently won two National Basketball Association championships playing for the New York Knicks before representing New Jersey in the U.S. Senate (1979–1997).
Ben Nighthorse Campbell also represented the United States in the 1964 Summer Olympics, participating in judo. He later represented Colorado in the U.S. House of Representatives (1987–1993) and in the U.S. Senate (1993–2005).
Jim Ryun (whom the Buzz previously profiled) also participated in the 1964 Summer Olympics as a middle-distance runner for the United States, and he also participated in the Olympics in Mexico City (1968) and Munich (1972). He then represented Kansas's 2nd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives (1996–2007).
Professional Certification Coalition [PCC] Year in Review and Prospectus for FY2021-2022
What We've Done for Certificants This Year
PCC's new fiscal year (July 1, 2021-June 30, 2022) began this month. As the calendar flips, we have prepared our annual "year in review" document highlighting the PCC's major workstreams, accomplishments, and thought leadership over the past year. As you will likely be able to tell, even with the interruption of many state legislative sessions due to the pandemic, it was another busy and productive year for the Coalition. We are also including in the document a Prospectus section, outlining expected priorities for the fiscal year that just began. We hope that you all, your executives and Board members, and other stakeholders within your organization find this document useful in recognizing the value of your PCC membership. Please also feel free to share this document at your discretion with other like-minded organizations that may wish to join the PCC this year. While the depth of your commitment to participating in the PCC's activities has been critical, we continue to believe that there is strength in numbers; it would be beneficial to expand our membership to include a wider array of professions/occupations and to give us the financial resources necessary to both deepen and broaden our state and federal advocacy efforts.
IHMM is proud to be a member of the PCC and joins with 117 other certification bodies around America defending our certificants.