The Occupational Health and Safety Section APHA announced today the recipients of their awards for outstanding achievements. The OHS Section will celebrate the accomplishments of these individuals during a luncheon ceremony at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011.  The OHS Section is one of APHA’s oldest ― established in 1914―and is comprised of individuals who are dedicated to protecting and advancing workers’ rights to healthy and safe workplaces.  APHA is the largest and most diverse public health organization in the world. 

Martin Cherniack is the recipient of the 2011 Alice Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement. Dr. Cherniack has been an occupational health clinician and physician-investigator for 30 years. With a clinical focus originally focused on asbestos exposures among members of the Metal Trades Council unions, he found many suffering from the effects of repetitive trauma, with particular problems from vibration exposure. This led to both extensive clinical work and research work in the area of musculoskeletal disorders and vibration, including the founding of the Ergonomic Technology Center at the University of Connecticut. Dr. Cherniack is the author of Hawk's Nest about the Gauley Bridge disaster, where thousands of mostly immigrant workers suffered from silicosis, and spent several years doing on-site investigation of childhood cancers in residents of Belarus exposed to radiation from Chernobyl. Dr. Cherniack currently serves as co-director of the Center for the Promotion of Health in the New England Workplace.

Salvador Moncada i Lluís is the recipient of the 2011 International Health and Safety Award. Since 2000, Dr. Moncada has directed the ISTAS Center on Work Organization a non-profit trade union technical foundation supported by the Spanish Trade Union Confederation “Comisiones Obreras”.  Aiming to empower trade union health and safety representatives, Dr. Moncada conducts research and training on health inequalities related to gender and social class, and on the prevention of workplace psychosocial risks. He led the adaptation to Spain of the Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, a work stressor questionnaire now used in Spanish national surveys, and collaborates with other research groups to adapt this questionnaire in Latin American countries.  Dr. Moncada previously served as director of the Center for Occupational Health of the Municipal Institute of Public Health of Barcelona, a Collaborating Centre in Occupational Health of the World Health Organization.

Amy Liebman is one of two recipients of the 2011 Lorin Kerr Award for Activism. Ms. Liebman is a tireless advocate for disenfranchised working populations. At the Migrant Clinicians Network she established and manages a one-of-kind program to address risks associated with environmental and occupational hazards for farmworkers and their families. She recognized years ago the value of culturally appropriate train-the-trainer models, such as promotores de salud, in building capacity among workers and community members, and empowering vulnerable communities to learn about environmental and occupational hazards and ways to reduce risks. Ms. Liebman was recently awarded a 5-year EPA grant to support clinician training in pesticide diagnosis and management and is an author of the one worker-focused chapter in the EPA’s Recognition and Management of Pesticide Poisonings. Ms. Liebman is also an active and enthusiastic member of the OHS Section.

LaMont Byrd is also a recipient of the 2011 Lorin Kerr Award for Activism. Mr. Byrd is Director of Safety and Health for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, for whom he has worked for more than 20 years. Under his leadership, the Department of Health and Safety has expanded significantly. In just the past 10 years, over 50,000 Teamsters workers, in addition to other non-union workers and community partners, have benefited from the health and safety training offered by the Teamsters. Mr. Byrd is actively involved in providing technical and regulatory support to rank-and-file Teamsters members, IBT Trade Divisions, and Local Union Affiliates on issues related to transportation safety and ergonomics. He continues to demonstrate his committment to improving the health and lives of workers across the country by ensuring that they areadequately trained to recognize and control potential hazards and reduce hazardous exposures.

Barbara Rahke is the recipient of the 2011 Tony Mazzocchi Award for Grassroots Organizing. Ms. Rahke is  the director of the Philadelphia Area Committee on Occupation Safety and Health, or Philaposh, and has brought tremendous energy and organizing skills to make Philaposh a leading safety activist organization. Ms. Rahke came to safety and health activism after being an acclaimed organizer for the UAW. She has brought skill and professionalism to the COSH movement, the family support movement and to the broader worker health and safety movement. She has positioned Philaposh to be the cutting edge of COSH groups by developing a program for residential construction workers, and has developed alliances with OSHA, union, community and management groups to make this program work. Her passion and attention to detail have and will continue to inspire others to organize for health and safety.

This year’s awardees will be honored on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011 at APHA's Annual Meeting, as part of the OHS Section’s Awards Luncheon at the Washington Convention Center. For tickets and more information, please contact the individuals listed above, or visit us online at: www.apha.org/membergroups/sections/aphasections/occupational.