The John J. Bloomfield Award is presented to a young industrial hygienist who pursues the problem of occupational health hazards primarily by doing fieldwork, and who demonstrates significant contribution to the profession. This year's Bloomfield Award recipient is Aubrey Grimes.
Ms. Grimes is currently an Occupational Safety and Health Specialist assigned to the Health Division of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard as the Workplace Monitoring Program Manager. As coordinator of workplace monitoring, she oversees the collection of samples for the industrial trades at the shipyard, primarily for work done on nuclear submarines. The data collected from Pearl Harbor have been instrumental in maintaining Naval Sea Systems Command efforts to coordinate actions to protect personnel against hexavalent chromium since the standard was lowered. All four Naval shipyards are working toward consolidating monitoring procedures, and developing a shared database for collected data.
The Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard Safety Department earned a "STAR" rating in the OSHA Voluntary Protection Program (VPP) in 2007 and recently was awarded the Chief of Naval Operations Safety Award for 2008 for Large Facilities. The industrial hygiene and workplace monitoring programs are a part of the overall evaluation, and Ms. Grimes's efforts and participation helped the Department achieve this award.
Prior to Pearl Harbor, Ms. Grimes began her career at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, working with U.S. Navy nuclear submarines and surface vessels. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Safety Studies from Keene State College in New Hampshire.
Ms. Grimes will receive the Bloomfield Award at the ACGIH® Membership Reception and Annual Meeting of the Membership at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 1, 2008 in the Duluth Room on the 3rd floor of the Hilton Minneapolis.
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