I. S. Shereshevskaya (Moscow)

Conference on the Standardization of Research Methods in Industrial Hygiene Chemistry

From June 9 to 13, 1939, an All-Union conference of industrial hygiene chemists was held at the Obukh All-Union Scientific Research Institute. It was devoted primarily to developing standardized methods for investigating harmful vapors and gases in the air.

Participants included not only the industrial hygiene laboratories of the People’s Commissariat of Health, but also occupational safety institutes and laboratories within the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.

A total of 110 representatives were delegated to the conference from hygiene institutes, laboratories, and industrial sanitary stations at the largest enterprises in industry and transport, including 75 delegates from outside the city.

Professors Z. B. Smelyansky and A. V. Stepanov presented papers on the objectives of industrial hygiene chemistry and the paths for its development.

The conference considered and adopted a number of standardized instructions on methods for investigating the ambient air.

A number of theoretical papers were then presented, as well as reports on pressing issues in industrial hygiene chemistry: rapid analytical methods that provide sanitary inspectors with a convenient and simple means of assessing workplace air contamination; the use of physicochemical research methods in industrial hygiene chemistry; and, in particular, the automation of recording warning devices.

The conference also addressed the training of industrial hygiene chemists and laboratory technicians and the improvement of their qualifications.

Among the recommendations reflected in the conference resolution, considerable attention was devoted to supplying outlying regions with pure reagents and equipment. The conference resolved to petition the People’s Commissariat of Health of the USSR to expand production of both specialized equipment and chemical reagents.

A permanent methodological commission was elected to continue work on standardizing methods for investigating the ambient air, coordinating and planning the work of institutes and laboratories, and facilitating the exchange of information.

The proceedings of the conference are being prepared for publication.