As part of APHA’s effort to enhance cross-cutting activity among various APHA sections, work is underway to establish a new Forum on Built Environment Standards and Law.  APHA requires that at least 75 APHA members indicate an interest in being a member of such a Forum and, already, nearly this number have signed on, especially among those attending the APHA conference in November.  Other interested members of ICEHS are now specifically invited to add their names in support of this new Forum as they are counted on for significant input to the work of the new Forum.  As we all appreciate, injury prevention can be affected by the design, construction, and use of built environments in the form of dwellings and many other facilities. Our prevention efforts are impacted by laws and standards, taking many forms.

Membership in a forum neither affects ones section membership(s) nor involves any cost.  Interested members are asked to contact Forum organizer Jake Pauls at bldguse@aol.com to be put on the list of interested APHA members.  Simply send an Email to bldguse@aol.com with “Forum” in the subject line and, in the body of the Email, your full name and your state of residence/work (as shown in your APHA membership file).  Later this year you will have the opportunity to comment on the application being submitted to APHA so please take this first step to make sure that the interests of injury prevention are well represented in this new Forum.