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Report from the meeting of the IOHA Board 

 

08 October 2009, Bilbao, Spain 

1. The meeting was held in Bilbao, Spain, chaired by Dr Danilo Cottica (President) and attended 
by representatives of AIHA, the Australian, British, Canadian, Dutch, French, Japanese, 
Norwegian, Southern African, Swiss and Taiwanese organisations, with Sandi Atkinson and 
Pamela Blythe from the Secretariat in attendance and two representatives from the newly 
formed Spanish Society as observers. Apologies for absence had been received from ACGIH, 
the Brazilian, German, Irish, Hong Kong, Korean and Swedish organisations. 
2. The IOHA Board was very kindly hosted by the European Agency for Safety and Health at 
Work. The Agency’s Director Dr Jukka Takala joined part of the meeting as an observer and 
to explore the synergies between the two organisations. On the morning of 9 October, the 
Board heard four presentations from Agency staff on aspects of its work. 
3. The President Dr Danilo Cottica delivered a presentation on behalf of the Italian 
Association’s Organising Committee on the progress of the 8th International Scientific 
Conference, to be held in Rome, Italy, 28 September – 2 October 2010. The deadline for 
abstracts is 1 December 2010 and they can be submitted via the conference website 
www.ioha2010.org 
4. A progress report on the 9th International Scientific Conference was submitted by the 
Malaysian Association who were unable to attend the meeting. The conference will mark 
the 25th anniversary of IOHA and will be held at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) 
Convention Centre, Malaysia on 5 – 7 March 2012. The Conference will be preceded by 
Professional Development Courses on 3 & 4 March 2012. 
5. The Certification Schemes of the Swiss Society and the Norwegian Association were formally 
recognised by IOHA, and both organisations were congratulated by the Board . In addition 
the British Society’s accreditation was renewed for a further five years. 
6. For a long time now, IOHA has been actively collaborating with the group of people who 
have been working towards the development of international occupational hygiene training 
and qualifications. That group has now established itself under English Law into the 
Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) and IOHA has formally signed a 
Memorandum of Understanding with OHTA and agreed to contribute some funds for the 
development of OHTA’s website. More information on this project will appear in the 
newsletter in due course. 
7. At this meeting the Board began the process of reviewing the strategy for IOHA. The current 
strategy began in 2007 and runs until 2010, with the majority of its objectives now complete. 
In consultation with the Member Organisations a new strategy will be developed for 2011 to 
2014. 
8. A new page has been created on the IOHA website entitled ‘International OEL Issues and 
Activities’ where we hope to provide information on the issues and stimulate the discussion 
of approaches and solutions to the issues before the profession. If you wish to add 
information to this space please contact admin@ioha.net 
9. The next meeting of the Board will be held on 23 May 2010 in Denver, Colorado, USA at the 
AIHce 2010.