Expert Details

General Industrial Hygiene; Toxicology; Laboratory Safety; Hazard Communication; Chemical Hygiene

ID: 723683 New Jersey, USA

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Expert has worked as a consulting industrial hygienist for 24 years. He is both a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) and a Certified Safety Professional (CSP). He has conducted many detailed compliance evaluations/inspections and has developed helpful code interpretations for clients. Expert continues to provide comprehensive industrial hygiene services including air sampling, program development, and developing MSDSs. He has provided expert witness and litigation support work relating to OSHA compliance and industrial hygiene/toxicology issues.

Expert has an MPH in occupational health and a MS in Toxicology. Additionally, he has worked 24 years as a consulting industrial hygienist/toxicologist. During these years, he worked frequently with occupational physicians and nurses to ensure that physical and chemical exposure concerns were properly communicated to best ensure the health and safety of the workforce. He has helped to promote occupational health among workforces with previous known exposure to elevated airborne lead levels, chemical sensitizers, aromatic amines, isocyanates, diacetyl and very high occupational noise levels.

Expert has inspected numerous chemical fume hoods and face velocity indicators as part of his laboratory evaluations. He has worked closely with ANSI Z9.5 and ASHRAE 110 testing requirements. He has performed modeling and reviewed empirical information to demonstrate that properly exhausted chemical fume hoods do not require fire suppression in their exhaust ducts. Expert first became familiar with the operation of chemical fume hoods while working as a Biologist at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Expert has provided laboratory safety consulting services to numerous universities, pharmaceutical and biotech companies through the years. These services included many laboratory safety evaluations of R&D, QC and clinical laboratories. He has frequently presented topical laboratory safety issues at national conferences. He was the Chair of the AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee and spent several years as a research biologist before turning his attention to industrial hygiene and laboratory safety.

He served as product steward intermediary for a chemical manufacturer whose products were being ground to specification by a small contractor facility. His client wanted to be sure that the contractor had a responsible health and safety program so that they would manage products safely during grinding operations. His audit of the contractor’s facility revealed many serious health and safety issues and the almost complete absence of a meaningful health and safety program, including:

Noise levels in excess of 105 decibels;
Minimal local exhaust ventilation with particulate levels up to 45 milligrams per cubic meter of air during charging;
High prevalence of occupational asthma in the workforce;
No medical surveillance in place, inadequate personal protective equipment, poor housekeeping, no written health and safety programs and little safety training for the employees.

He worked to educate the contractor’s management and put health and safety “on the map” at the facility. An occupational physician was contracted to provide physicals, including spirometry and audiometric testing, for the workers. He developed written programs for hearing conservation, respiratory protection and hazard communication. He worked with management to provide adequate hearing protection, respirators and other personal protective equipment. He trained management in how to provide relevant safety training for employees. With the contractor’s high employee turnover, training could be performed more cost-effectively by management, thus avoiding frequent return trips. He also proactively reviewed Material Safety Data Sheets on new compounds entering the facility, and provided health and safety handling suggestions up-front to reduce potential problems, e.g., development of chemical sensitivities with resulting loss in productivity.

Improved working conditions and management interest in health and safety were met with enthusiasm by the workforce. His conscientious efforts and persistence resulted in a health and safety culture change at the contractor’s facility. This met the chemical manufacturer’s goals, improved the business climate for the contractor, and resulted in a safer workplace – a winning situation for all.

He served as a member of a corporate audit team performing comprehensive health and safety audits for U.S. and foreign sites of one of the largest biotechnology companies. Operations at the sites included research and development laboratories, manufacturing, cell culture facilities, central utility plants, and laboratory animal facilities. The audits targeted health and safety regulatory compliance, compliance with corporate standards and use of best laboratory practices.

These audits operated on tight deadlines with a requirement that findings be written up on-site during the audit. Knowledge of state-specific health and safety requirements was essential. Draft audit reports, closely scrutinized by corporate health and safety personnel and corporate attorneys, benefited from his clear and concise written communication style. His expertise in laboratory safety, health and industrial hygiene were critical to the success of the audits.

He was retained by a defendant’s attorney to serve as an expert witness in a case brought by a plaintiff who claimed that her birth defects resulted from her mother’s occupational exposure to lead. The plaintiff’s mother worked in a factory that assembled lead-containing equipment while she was pregnant with the plaintiff. The plaintiff brought an action against five separate companies that supplied lead-containing components for the equipment being assembled, asserting an enterprise theory of liability. He performed emissions modeling to determine the percentage of fault that could be attributed to the defendant in the event that the plaintiff prevailed on her theory of liability. The modeling demonstrated that the potential exposure to lead from the defendant’s product was substantially less than would otherwise have been expected if the parties had simply relied upon apportioning blame based on sales figures for lead-containing components. Additionally, his command of the fine points of the industrial hygiene and toxicology of lead assisted the defendant’s attorney in his interrogation of the plaintiff’s key witnesses. Shortly after those examinations, the plaintiff dropped the case against the defendant.
He served as an expert witness in litigation involving an individual alleging medical symptoms and an increased cancer risk from exposures at a hazardous waste site. The plaintiff operated thermal remediation equipment to clean soils contaminated with coal tar residues containing polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and other chemicals. Site workers did not have appropriate personal protective equipment or access to adequate decontamination facilities, resulting in dermal exposure to site contaminants. The plaintiff claimed that his exposure was due to the failure of the former site owner and its prime contractor to fulfill their health and safety responsibilities at the site.

He critically reviewed depositions, site plans and other documents, and integrated previous hazardous waste experience and detailed knowledge of OSHA requirements to develop an expert opinion supporting the plaintiff’s claim. He developed insightful lines of questioning to guide the plaintiff’s attorney when deposing key witnesses. A critical contribution he provided was an argument based on OSHA’s multi-employer worksite policy. Based on this policy, the former owner and its prime contractor were the “creating” (created the hazard) and “controlling” employers (had responsibility for health and safety conditions at the worksite and authority for ensuring hazardous conditions were corrected) and thus had ultimate responsibility for health and safety at the site. He developed and supported a compelling argument that these companies had failed in their duty to provide a safe and healthful worksite, thus causing hazardous exposures to the plaintiff.

Expert developed/revised over 600 material safety data sheets (MSDSs) in the past 20-years, for products ranging from pharmaceutical intermediates and active pharmaceutical ingredients to specialty chemicals. The work included researching the toxicology and hazards of ingredients, developing nuanced language to address different target audiences, including employees and downstream users. His final work product was complete, specific and technically accurate, and meets OSHA requirements (29 CFR 1910.1200(g)) and the most recent ANSI Z400.1 guidelines, while integrating elements from the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), a United Nations initiative for global hazard communication. These high quality MSDSs helped to protect employees and downstream users, meet regulatory requirements and reduce future product liability.

Education

Year Degree Subject Institution
Year: 1977 Degree: BA Subject: Biology Institution: Cornell University, College of Arts and Sciences
Year: 1981 Degree: MS Subject: Environmental Sciences/Toxicology Institution: The University of Texas School of Public Health
Year: 1985 Degree: MPH Subject: Occupational Health/Industrial Hygiene Institution: The University of Texas School of Public Health

Work History

Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1992 to Present Employer: Undisclosed Title: President/Owner Department:
Responsibilities:
For the past 15 years, Expert has run an industrial hygiene consulting company. He has conducted many detailed compliance evaluations/inspections and has developed helpful code interpretations for research clients. He continues to provide comprehensive industrial hygiene services including air sampling, program development, and writing MSDSs.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1990 to 1992 Employer: ENVIRON Corporation Title: Senior Associate Department:
Responsibilities:
He prepared expert reports on health and safety concerns based on an audit of a precision machining company. This included: investigating electroplating and machining operations, and hazardous chemical handling procedures; summarizing findings; and making recommendations for OSHA compliance. Expert also conducted health and safety liability evaluations of several operating industrial facilities representing potential buyers in real estate transactions.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1986 to 1990 Employer: ICF Consulting Group Title: Senior Associate Department:
Responsibilities:
He developed and reviewed numerous health and safety plans for hazardous waste sites for private and public sectors as the Regional Health and Safety Manager. Additionally, he designed, conducted, and prepared reports based on ambient air monitoring for lead during a large lead removal project, and conducted compound specific monitoring for phenol, cresols, and polyaromatic hydrocarbons during a wood tar removal project, at two EPA Superfund sites.
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1978 to 1983 Employer: MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX Title: Research Associate and Senior Research Associate Department: Developmental Therapeutics and Tumor Biology
Responsibilities:
He conducted cell toxicity and flow cytometric studies using human cells and cancer chemotherapeutic agents to better predict the efficiency and toxicity of treatment protocols for leukemia and lymphoma patients.
-He conducted cell biology and biochemical studies to elucidate sugar sequences of glycoproteins on tumor cell membrane surfaces to better understand cell-to-cell interactions in tumor cells, which is critical to an understanding of metastases.
(Note: He worked at MD Anderson for 2 periods July 1978 to September 1979 and from 1982 through 1983. In between he was pursuing his MS and after 1983, he was pursuing his MPH.)
Years Employer Title Department
Years: 1984 to 1984 Employer: ARCO Petroleum Products Company, Houston, Texas Title: Industrial Hygiene Internship Department: EHS Department
Responsibilities:
He monitored airborne chemical levels to determine compliance with OSHA exposure limits and performed noise monitoring of employees and respiratory fit-testing of new employees. He developed a familiarity with the chemicals and associated safety concerns at a large petroleum refinery.

Government Experience

Years Agency Role Description
Years: 1986 to 1988 Agency: U.S. EPA Role: Contractor Description: He contracted to US EPA Region III as part of the Technical Assistance Team. He provided services primarily on SARA Title III and Superfund health and safety issues..
Years: 2007 to 2008 Agency: Department of Energy Role: Industrial Hygiene Consultant Description: He provided onsite laboratory safety related services for Brookhaven National Labs in Upton, New York. In this time period, Expert managed 3-contracts for DOE. These services included exposure assessments for numerous laboratory activities involving chemical handling. He also conducted air sampling and wipe sampling for chemicals, as well as sampling/monitoring for physical agents including noise and non-ionizing radiation.

International Experience

Years Country / Region Summary
Years: 2006 to 2006 Country / Region: Canada/British Columbia Summary: He performed a health and safety audit and developed report as part of a team looking at issues for an R&D biotech company.
Years: 2006 to 2006 Country / Region: Puerto Rico Summary: He performed a health and safety audit and developed report as part of a team looking at issues for at a biotech manufacturing facility.

Career Accomplishments

Associations / Societies
Full Member, American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). Associate Member, Society of Toxicology (SOT). Member, AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee
- Vice-Chair; Chair
Professional Member, American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).
Member, AIHA, New Jersey Section.
- Past-President, New Jersey AIHA
- President-Elect and President, New Jersey AIHA
- Secretary, New Jersey AIHA
- Instructor, Associate Director, Director of New Jersey AIHA Summer Industrial Hygiene Review Course
- Chairperson, Northeast Industrial Hygiene Conference in Princeton, NJ
Member, ASSE, Penn-New Jersey Chapter.
Licenses / Certifications
Certified Industrial Hygienist
Certified Safety Professional
Professional Appointments
Chair, AIHA Laboratory Health and Safety Committee.
President, New Jersey AIHA.
Elected Member of the New Jersey State Industrial Safety Council.
Publications and Patents Summary
He has 3-peer reviewed scientific articles.

Additional Experience

Expert Witness Experience
Provided expert health and safety litigation support to manufacturer of lead material that was used in an occupational setting and alleged to have played a role in birth defects in child of employee; provided expert health and safety testimony for respondent on worker’s compensation case involving alleged asthma from exposure to chemicals in corrugated container plant (deposition); provided expert health and safety testimony for plaintiff exposed to coal tar residue from gas manufacturing plant (deposition); provided expert health and safety support for manufacturer of ortho-toluidine
Training / Seminars
- Presented a number of seminars, talks and Professional Development Courses on laboratory safety over past 10-years.
- Enhancing safety of research laboratories in a pharmaceutical facility through application of a chemical hazard exposure assessment tool, at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition.
- Hazardous exhaust systems in research laboratories- the need for a code change, at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition.
- Empirical data and modeling of a flammable spill in a chemical fume hood do not support the need for fire suppression within the ductwork of the chemical fume hood. Platform presentation, at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition.
- Derivation of acceptable quantities of hazardous chemicals for use and storage in research laboratories. Platform presentation, at the American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition.
- Lead toxicity in adults from an industrial hygienist's perspective. Presentation to the New Jersey American Industrial Hygiene Association.
- Air sampling and uptake biokinetic modeling as tools to assist the On-Scene Coordinator in prioritization of cleanup of lead contaminated sites. Platform presentation, at the Annual Conference of Chemistry for the Protection of the Environment, Egypt.
- Lead air sampling and uptake biokinetic modeling as support for remedial actions at a Superfund site. Paper presented at Air and Waste Management Association Conference in Kansas City, MO.
Vendor Selection
Experience with vendor selection for personal protective equipment (PPE); respirator selections for biological and chemical concerns; chemical fume hoods; and, chemical inventory systems for laboratories
Marketing Experience
Health and safety consulting services
Other Relevant Experience
Significant experience with multiple companies developing specialized material safety data sheets for pharmaceutical products, consumer products, dyes, chemicals.

Significant experience performing health and safety audits of scientific laboratories, biotech manufacturing plants, and pharmaceutical R&D facilities.

Language Skills

Language Proficiency
French Some knowledge. Married to a French woman, 6-years of French during schooling.

Fields of Expertise

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