Title: Awardees for the 2003 APHA Annual Meeting Section Awards
Author:
Section/SPIG: Occupational Health and Safety
Issue Date:
Alice Hamilton Award: Delores Huerta, UFW
Being in California is a good opportunity to put the spotlight on the plight of the farm labor force and the harsh working conditions they still face going into the 21st Century. The UFW, with great leadership from Delores, fought some of the most important OHS battles of our lifetimes – including the fight against pesticide exposures, the fight for a field sanitation standard and a ban on use of the short-handled hoe.
Lorin Kerr Awardee
The New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) was the first to contact OSHA regarding the lack of protections for rescue workers at the World Trade Center. NYCOSH's subsequent contact with the AFL-CIO led to a meeting with John Henshaw, Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA. After that, OSHA was more involved in getting contractors to improve protections for all workers at the site. NYCOSH called media attention to the concerns of immigrant workers at the site, the "forgotten victims" of the tragedy. NYCOSH facilitated meetings with unions, leading to a NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluation for several locations around Ground Zero. NYCOSH helped outreach to the immigrant community, provided respirators, fit testing and training for these workers. Over 400 workers were evaluated and trained. Since October, 2001, NYCOSH's Web site has been one of the few to post up-to-date information about World Trade Center health and safety problems. As a result, visits to the Web site have increased by several times in recent months. NYCOSH sponsored a conference on Environmental and Public Health Policy after September 11. No other organization has offered such a forum in New York City.
International Awardee
Le Van Trung, MD, PhD, is the director of the National Institute for Occupational and Environmental Health in Vietnam (their equivalent of NIOSH). He has been the moving force in creating this institution which develops occupational health standards. He has authored the only original books in Vietnam on occupational medicine and is, himself, a scholar of silicosis. His Institute recently received the Vietnam Silver Medal of Merit awarded by the country for meritorious work. He was the prime mover in the establishment of the Vietnam Association for Occupational Health, which had its founding meeting on April 25, 2002. He is one of the founders of occupational medicine in Vietnam.