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Alberta Local Section Awards
In 1996 the Executive at the time felt that it would be worthwhile to present an annual award to someone within the Local Section that, in some form or another, had contributed to the Local Section or towards the field of industrial hygiene in Alberta.
The Local Section Award of Recognition was created that year, with the first award presented at the annual general meeting in March of 1997.
The following represents all of the award recipients to date. You will note that in some cases there is more information than others. If you have information on a past award winner and would like to pass it along, please the Webmaster. Please check back often, or, if you have information, or photos, of the recipient, please send them in.
If you would like to nominate someone for the award, please download this
Nomination
Form (
45.8 KB)and mail it in to a member of the executive.
- 2006 - Mr. Dave Keenan
- 2005 - Dr. Ian Wheeler
- 2004 - Dan Clarke
- 2003 - Chuck Middleton
- 2002 - Joanne Garton
- 2001 - Jim McLean 2000 - Ian Drummond
- 1999 - Larry Serbin
- 1998 - Maurice Taylor
- 1997 - Nasrin Dhanani
2006 - Mr. Dave Keenan
The
Alberta Local Section is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2006
Award of Excellence is Mr. Dave Keenan. The Alberta Local Section Executive
approved Dave's nomination because of his active enthusiasm and willingness
to participate and enhance the profession of industrial hygiene within Alberta.
He has accomplished this by volunteering to provide presentations on timely
topics, represent industrial hygiene issues on various industry and government
committees, promote occupational health within the community and mentor new
people interested in the profession.
2005 - Dr. Ian Wheeler
The
Alberta Local Section is pleased to announce that the recipient of the 2005
Award of Excellence is Dr. Ian Wheeler. As nominated by member Roy Clough,
Ian was given the award because of his efforts in advancing the profession;
his dedication to, and love for, the field of occupational hygiene and his
mentorship of new professionals.
2004 - Dan Clarke
Dan
was the recipient of the award in 2004. Dan has served as Project Manager for
the Alberta Government Work Safe 2.0 project. He has been very active within
the Local Section serving a variety of roles, including serving as a Past President.
2003 - Chuck Middleton
The
AIHA Alberta Local Section is please to announce that the recipient of the
2003 Award of Excellence is Chuck Middleton CIHT, ROHT.
Chuck has worked in the field of occupational hygiene in Alberta for almost 30 years; previously with government and now in industry. He is a certified and a registered industrial hygiene technologist (OSHT) (ROHT).
He graduated from the Biological Science program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in 1970. After graduating from NAIT, he worked for a short stint in a food processing quality control laboratory before taking a job with the Alberta Government in 1973. After starting in the dust lab, his specialized expertise in particulates grew with experience in governments coal dust program for underground and surface mines. He then worked to become the department's resident asbestos expert helping to set up the first asbestos fiber identification and count methods done in the Province. He also worked to establish asbestos abatement techniques to address the issues associated with the indiscriminate use of the magic mineral. The "Asbestos Control-Sprayed on Applications " booklet that he co-authored established the original standard for asbestos abatement for over two decades. Completing numerous hygiene related courses from various institutions in the U.S., at the U of A and at Grant McEwen College as well as working with professionals, including Dr. Dave Verma, have contributed to his professional development. He has also learned from, supervised and mentored many individuals currently practising Occupational Hygiene in Canada. The publications he produced and edited to provide guidance to others still stand the test of time and continue to be distributed by the government.
After 17 years with Alberta OH&S, Chuck moved to the private sector taking a job with Petro-Canada. He has hygiene responsibilities for downstream facilities in/p>
Western Canada including those at the Edmonton Refinery and numerous Terminals and Lubricant Warehouses across the Prairies and BC. He has worked on committees for the Canadian Petroleum Products Institute to address common industry problems.
In his real life, Chuck has been married to Barbara for the past many years and they have two great adult boys. Chuck is also a proud Grandfather of Tyler and (another on the way). He loves the outdoors activities including fishing, canoeing, camping, skiing and single malt.
2002 - Joanne Garton
Joanne has worked in the field of health and safety for more than twenty years with government and industry. She is certified as an occupational hygienist by the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists (ROH) and the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (CIH). In addition, she obtained her certification as a safety professional (CRSP) in Canada.
In 1974, Joanne graduated as an honours student from the Biological Sciences program at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). After graduating, she worked for the Grande Prairie Regional College, for the RCMP Forensic Laboratory and in the field of pollution control. Then twenty-three years ago, a previous NAIT classmate and good friend, Dwight Bowhay, encouraged her to apply for a job with Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (AOH&S). Joanne landed a position as a health and safety officer with AOH&S, which marked the beginning of her career in occupational hygiene. She continued with her on-the-job training by attending numerous industrial hygiene courses in the United States and by applying her knowledge and acquired hygiene skills in the field.
Following 13 years of service with AOH&S, Joanne decided to take the plunge into the private sector, where for six years she operated her own occupational hygiene consulting business, HyFit Consulting Ltd. She then moved on and worked as the Occupational Hygiene Health, Safety and Environment Coordinator for NAIT, and eventually rejoined the Alberta Government, where she currently works as an Occupational Health and Safety Officer for Alberta Human Resources & Employment–Workplace Health and Safety.
Her career was supplemented by serving as a resource lecturer for the Occupational Health and Safety Certificate Program offered through the University of Alberta, Faculty of Extension. She coordinated and co-instructed the Occupational Hygiene 1 course for twelve years and co-instructed the Occupational Hygiene 2 course for two years.
From 1994 to 1996, she served as the Education Director for the Alberta Section–AIHA and in 2000/01 as the President of our association. For several years, she has been a member of the Registered Occupational Hygiene Technologist (ROHT) Examination Committee, which is responsible for the development and annual review of the examination question bank and the marking of examinations submitted by approved candidates.
Outside of hygiene activities, Joanne continually pursues the game of golf. Although she is not a strong player, she perseveres, because her family plays golf and she doesn't want to be left behind. She also runs on a routine basis and is currently training for a half marathon. Her intentions are to run in the Adidas International Marathon, which was recently held in Vancouver this year.
Joanne has worked in the field of health and safety for more than twenty years with government and industry. She is certified as an occupational hygienist by the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists (ROH) and the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (CIH). In addition, she obtained her certification as a safety professional (CRSP) in Canada.
2001 - Jim McLean
Jim
McLean was the 2001 recipient of the Award of Excellence. For those who missed
the presentation, this provides you with a biographical sketch of Jim, an
occupational hygienist who has contributed significantly to the Alberta Section
of the AIHA and the industrial hygiene community in Canada.
After graduating from Queens' University in Environmental Science in 1976, Jim landed a position with Shell Canada in Toronto working as an Environmental Biologist. He completed his Masters of Engineering degree in Industrial Hygiene part-time at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Chemical Engineering, graduating in 1983. In 1981 an Industrial Hygiene position became available with Shell Canada Resources Ltd. in Calgary. Jim as the successful candidate made the trek to Western Canada, where he settled. Jim has worked for Shell Canada in the area of Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Health for over twenty-five years.
Jim is currently the Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) Advisor for the Chemicals Manufacturing Division of Shell Chemicals Canada. He provides the chemicals management group and staff with expertise and advice on HSE issues that may impact on Shell's current and future activities. In addition, Jim serves as the Team Leader for HSE in Canada and co-ordinates the HSE Management System and Audit Programs.
Throughout his career, Jim has been extremely active in the profession of occupational hygiene, specifically the Alberta Section of AIHA. Believe it or not, Jim is one of the seven founding members of the Alberta Section and has served in several executive positions for our association – Secretary, President-Elect and President. During the years of 1993 to 1998, Jim also worked with our local section in the area of licensing and title recognition.
Besides devoting time to our local section, Jim was involved nationally in the profession of occupational hygiene. He was a member of the pan-canadian steering group that lead to the formation of the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists (CRBOH) in 1987. He supported the CRBOH by serving as the Treasurer and Western Board Director, and as a committee member for the development of the examination and registration maintenance process. Once again, Jim is one of the western directors for CRBOH.
In his spare time, Jim is heavily involved with Scouts Canada serving as a Scout leader and Regional Group Scouter in the Chinook region of Southern Alberta. Jim also enjoys skiing, gardening, and is a bit of a computer geek.
2000 - Ian Drummond
Ian
Drummond is currently the senior industrial hygienist with Imperial Oil Limited
in western Canada; to get there the route was not particularly straightforward.
He obtained his undergraduate degree at Churchill College, Cambridge in the
UK. You may judge when this was by the content of his biochemistry courses.
The triplet code of DNA was being broken and the lecturer would come in to
the lecture hall and announce the triplet and the amino acid it coded for,
which had been discovered that week! Francis Crick was a fellow of the College,
George Gamov would join undergraduates in the bar, and Sir John Cockcroft
threw the occasional party! A truly exciting place.
Ian then came to Canada on vacation, but stayed to obtain a PhD in Chemistry from McMaster University. His thesis was on germanium hydrides. One small reference book on the chemistry of germanium claimed that germanium had no properties that were not exhibited better and cheaper by silicon or tin! This appears to be true, even after the results of Ian's thesis were published. Post-doctoral work at the University of Calgary followed on sulfur and sulfur/nitrogen anions, a whole class of compounds that were predicted to not exist. Fortunately this was not true, and many new, stable compounds were prepared and characterized.
The Alberta Government was Ian's next employer. He worked in the Food Laboratory of the Dept of Agriculture, testing honey and potatoes, and looking for adulteration of butter and margarine. After 2 years in that job, he moved to the OH&S laboratory in the Dept of Labour in 1975. Job orientation was with Maurice Taylor (who was leaving to take his MSc in London, UK). There was a constant stream of people coming to the lab, looking for help in identification of workplace materials, measurement of air-borne substances, calibration of instruments, accident investigations and such. There was plenty of opportunity to develop methods, ideas, and help with new projects.
The AIHA Laboratory Accreditation Program was still fairly new at that time, but the program provided an excellent guide on how to run a good laboratory. It proved beneficial not only to the Alberta Government lab, but to Ian, who obtained his CIH in 1978, as part of the accreditation process. He took the exams in Richland, Washington, travelling there in a small commuter plane that flew spectacularly below the snowy summit of Mount Rainier, where Ian had stood a few years previously.
The CIH opened other opportunities, and Ian moved from the Alberta Government to become an industrial hygienist for Imperial Oil in 1982. He found himself working to understand petroleum refining and distribution, and fertilizer manufacture. In fact he found himself working on some of the same problems that had generated samples for the Alberta Government Laboratory! Over the years Ian travelled to a copper mine on the BC/Alaska border, ice islands in the Beaufort Sea, and gas plants across western Canada. He travelled by tanker off the west coast of BC, by helicopter, by Lear jet and by foot. He has been inside distillation towers where people were welding, inside furnaces lined with ceramic fibre, and in a cherry-picker to sample gas emissions. He has written about 500 IH survey reports. Remember that it doesn't count if you don't tell people what you found!
Indeed, Imperial Oil has been very supportive in publication of new findings. Ian has written articles on the toxicology of hydrocarbon gases, a code of practice for hydrocarbon/H2S mixtures, ventilation of compressor buildings, natural radioactivity in the oilpatch, and development of instrumentation.
Professionally, Ian supports the Canadian Registration Board of Occupational Hygienists by acting as the chief examiner for the oral exams. In his spare time he goes cave exploring, builds low frequency radios, and recently obtained a private pilot's license.
1999 - Larry Serbin
We'll
have lots more to say about Larry soon, but in the meantime, Larry currently
works as Manager, Industrial Hygiene for Envirotest Laboratories, a position
he has held for many years.
Larry has been a very active supporter of the Local Section, serving in a variety of capacities including as a Past President.
1998 - Maurice Taylor
Maurice
has three decades of occupational health and safety experience combining
laboratory, field occupational hygiene and managerial responsibilities within
the Alberta Government along with extensive experience in private consulting.
In his managerial roles, he has been closely involved with regulation review and development as well as occupational health and safety standard setting. He has been the Government of Alberta representative on several Federal/Provincial committees and is well acquainted with the health and safety requirements of other jurisdictions such as the Canadian Standards Association, NIOSH and OSHA.
He has been active in professional societies and has been a board member of the Alberta Occupational Health Society and the American Industrial Hygiene Association, Alberta Section where he was Past President.
1997 - Nasrin Dhanani
Nasrin
is a Certified Industrial Hygienist with the American Board of Industrial
Hygiene, and is a Registered Occupational Hygienist through the Canadian
Registration Board for Occupational Hygienists. Nasrin worked as a corporate
Occupational Hygienist for the Government of Alberta for 18 years prior to
joining the Office of Environmental Health & Safety in January 2002.
Nasrin was our first Award of Excellence winner and has served several roles within the organization, including as Past President. Please check back soon for more information!