Federal officials and researchers spoke on a webinar this week about the hazards of allergens to workers in the cannabis industry, part of a regional Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) program to reduce the risk of occupational injury, illness and death at marijuana businesses.
Speakers for the webinar from OSHA included compliance assistant specialist Meredith Post and industrial hygienist Jason Furlow, who's based out of the agency's Denver regional office. Other presenters were Bradley King, an industrial hygienist at the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), and Tess Eidem, a research scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder whose work investigates molds, allergens and other pathogens in cannabis environments.
The event was held as part of a local emphasis program aimed at identifying and addressing workplace hazards in Colorado's legal cannabis industry. In September, OSHA announced it would be offering free inspections of cannabis businesses to help operators identify and remediate dangers as part of the program.
"We wanted to do this emphasis program to reduce injury and illness rates in the cannabis industry," Post said at Tuesday's webinar. "The areas we're going to be looking at are cannabis processing, growing, cultivating and product manufacturing facilities."
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