EOH Student Rob Gresser was recently added as a graduate public health student member to the PA Occupational Safety and Health Surveillance (OSHS) Advisory Board.
Gresser previously served on a state advisory board (1998-2004) in AZ called the DUI Abatement Council that oversaw extra fine money for certain DUI offenses (a law that he wrote and was able to get passed in 1998) that help law enforcement cover the costs with certifying/recertifying drug recognition expert officer and paying the costs for checkpoints or saturation patrols during high DUI periods during the year. The council presently manages between $1.5M to $3M per year. Gresser is working on a draft of a similar law for PA that would raise up to $13M per state for those efforts across the state.
At the Allegheny-Erie Regional Chapter of the Society of Toxicology meeting in Pittsburgh in April, Gresser will present research from his essay on first responders and the toxic exposures they face everyday, namely if EMS and police officers are facing inadvertent exposures from entering a burning building and/or treating burn patients since police/EMS and patients aren't decontaminated like firefighters are after a fire.