Many safety professionals usually belong to a professional organization. We rely on these organizations for industry updates and continuing education. But with so many associations, societies and academies out there, how can we be sure that we haven't overlooked the one that best fits our needs? In today's installment of this continuing series of useful links from the Internet, I'll look at organizations aligned with the EHS field. And to help younger colleagues, I will note those that provide scholarships.

Finding Organizational Links

If you know the name of the association but not its web address, first try the group's acronym. Many organizations such as the American Society of Safety Engineers (www.asse.org), the American Industrial Hygiene Association (www.aiha.org) and the Academy of Certified Hazardous Materials Managers (www.achmm.org) use their acronym as their web address. By the way, all three of these organizations offer scholarships both at the local and national levels.

One caveat: To get the full benefit from any of these websites, you must be a member of the organization. Understandably, most groups reserve their A material for their members-only pages. But the free access material is still helpful in its own right; and it also gives you a sense of whether you want to join the organization. Let's now look at some useful links:

1. American Welding Society

www.aws.org/

The AWS offers useful industry updates on their homepage. Their foundation also provides scholarships. See the link on their homepage.

2. American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers

www.ashrae.org/

Many of us who deal with indoor air quality know about ASHRAE's publications, which you can order from their website. And they do provide grants and scholarships.

3. The Indoor Air Quality Association

www.iaqa.org/

Since I mentioned IAQ, let's look at this organization. On the IAQA's homepage you'll find several links to various IAQ topics, such as mold and remediation after a disaster.

4. National Board of Boiler and Pressure Vessel Inspectors

www.nationalboard.org/

The National Board websites may be familiar to many of you safety pros because this is one of the groups that certifies pressure vessels and trains inspectors.

5. American Society of Mechanical Engineers

www.asme.org/

ASME also certifies pressure vessels and provides inspector training. It also offers a scholarship. Conduct a search on their website for the link.

6. Compressed Gas Association

www.cganet.com/

This organization is referenced in the OSHA standards and you need to purchase their publications if you do any work with compressed gases. Many of their safety alerts can be downloaded for free.

7. International Code Council

www.iccsafe.org/

I found this organization after I got involved in industrial building renovations where we were dealing with use and storage of hazardous materials, including flammables. Sure, NFPA has standards that many "authorities having jurisdiction" follow. But when the building has to be inspected by the Code officials, more and more cities and states are following the International Building Code, which can be purchased from the ICC.

8. National Fire Protection Association

www.nfpa.org/

NFPA is the leader when it comes to information on fires, hazardous materials and analogous topics. NFPA has a large amount of free publications that you can download. The standard on Business Continuity Planning (1600) is available for free. Yours truly has recently been appointed to the Technical Committee to help rewrite standard 1620 - Pre-emergency Planning.

Conclusion

Until next time, keep sending those links or if you would like to see a column on a special topic, send an email to me at RegulatoryMavin@yahoo.com.

FULL OF HOT AIR
The Difference between Hydrogen & Helium

Thanks to the many members who caught the error in the first line of yesterday's "This Date in History." I inaccurately stated that "zeppelins filled with helium were flying tinder boxes." They were nothing of the sort. As a number of you pointed out, helium in a non-flammable gas. If it weren't, they probably wouldn't use it to fill balloons for kids. Now hydrogen gas is quite flammable. And, of course, it was hydrogen gas that was inside the Hindenburg.

Macon was actually helium-filled. Why Hindenburg used hydrogen rather than helium, I don't know. But I do know that I was wrong and I apologize for the mistake.

Glenn Demby
SafetyXChange
Editor-in-Chief

MEMBER REPLY

While the Macon (and some sister ships) were helium filled, all Zeppelins were - some had hydrogen to provide their buoyancy. This was because at the time, the US was sanctioning the Germans due to their obvious military build-up, and wouldn't sell them helium. Helium, while not nearly as light as hydrogen, is also non-flammable.

When the Hindenburg incident occurred, the press of the day mistakenly assigned the incident to the hydrogen, the assumption being that the hydrogen had caused the fire and explosion. Using proper forensic investigation skills, scientists determined that the real source of the incident was the doping material that was used to make the skin of the airship taut and weather resistant.It turns out that the doping was a mixture of iron oxide, cellulose acetate and aluminum powder - the type of ingredients that could be used for a solid rocket propellant! Once this doping material started to burn, it took everything else with it! But, as we all know, once a myth is created, it's very difficult to reverse.

Name withheld

FAT CITY

Milwaukee, WI: Named America's Most Athletic City

Fitness & Fatness in U.S. Cities

By Ted Morrison

The annual "Fattest and Fittest Cities" survey can be found in this month's Men's Fitness, a monthly magazine devoted to fitness and health issues for men. The magazine crunched numbers to find out how well people eat, how much exercise they get and how much extra weight they're carrying. The survey looked at how long people spent in traffic jams and on treadmills, and researchers canvassed city authorities to see what initiatives were in place to encourage people to get moving and stay healthy.

Some of the results of this year's survey are surprising. For example, Milwaukee, home of America's breweries, came in as Most Athletic City. The Best Eating Habits were found in Oakland, California. Folks in Memphis, Tennessee, watch the most television. And the Junk Food Capital of the USA is - drum roll please:

Cleveland, Ohio.

The dark horse healthiest city in America turned out to be Albuquerque, New Mexico, up a whopping 13 spots from last year. Then came Seattle, Colorado Springs, Minneapolis (last year's number 21!) and Tuscon.

And what was Fat City, USA? With almost as many fast food restaurants as Cleveland, and residents so inactive that doctors say 70 percent of them are putting their health at risk, it's... another drum roll please:

Las Vegas.

In the race for Fat City, both San Antonio and Miami were up over a dozen spots, then came Mesa, Arizona, and Los Angeles.

So if you're living in Las Vegas, you may want to consider moving to Albuquerque. If nothing else, moving furniture is good exercise.

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