ACGIH Members Approve Bylaws Change
ACGIH®'s members have approved an amendment to the association's bylaws that creates a single category of membership -– a voting member -– who must be employed at least 50 percent of his or her time in occupational or environmental health and safety. The change takes effect Jan. 1, 2013. Currently there are two categories of membership, regular and associate, defined based on professional affiliation, and only regular members are eligible to vote on bylaws amendments, serve as officers on the board, chair committees, and serve on the Nominating Committee.
According to ACGIH's announcement, 94 percent of eligible voting members voted to approve the amendment.
The amendment also makes changes in the composition of the board and Nominating Committee. The board's eight members have been seven regular members and one associate member, but the new bylaws provide for a board with nine members, six of whom are voting members employed by academic or government institutions and three of whom are voting members employed by labor or industry. The Nominating Committee has consisted of one appointed and four elected individuals, all of whom must be regular members, and it, too, will have greater diversity, according to ACGIH.
The amendment also defines a scientific committee, adding a new section that defines a scientific committee as one that develops scientific products and services for the organization. Members of a scientific committee do not have to be voting members, but their chairs and vice chairs must be.
"I am pleased to say that the hard work of the board was evident by the approval of over 94 percent of the voting members to amend the bylaws. This could not have been done without their support and the hard work of each and every board member -– current as well as former members -– who have been working on this for some time," said ACGIH Board Chair Bill McArthur.