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The voice of the welding industry in Canada
November 2001, Issue No. 2
BOARD OF DIRECTORS OF THE CANADIAN WELDING ASSOCIATION
The second and third board of directors meetings of the Canadian Welding Association were held as conference calls on October 26 and November 8, 2001. The new board of directors addressed both administrative issues and issues related to the ongoing delivery of service to members.
A few of the highlights of the two meetings were:
- An executive committee, consisting of Luc Doyon, Dave Fink, Bruce James and David Jordan, was chosen from the board. Dave Fink was chosen as president; the executive committee will assign the positions of vice-president, treasurer and secretary among themselves.
- The positions on the executive committee are interim ones and will be in effect only until the Annual General Meeting in October 2002. Its mandate is to facilitate the merger of the two associations and ensure proper systems are in place to provide members with the value they expect.
 The board chose the new logo for the Canadian Welding Association. It incorporates elements of the two parent associations and remains a simple and recognizable symbol of the association. The upper logo is the logo of the Canadian Welding Association, while the lower one shows the logo with the association name added. Graphic files have been circulated to all chapters in formats suitable for both print and electronic use.
- Bank accounts are in the process of being transferred from the Canadian Welding Society and the Welding Products Manufacturers Association of Canada to the CWA.
- The spring meeting of the CWA will be held in Halifax. It will include the seminar on welding in the Canadian offshore industry originally scheduled for October 2001. Tony Rose and the Nova Scotia chapter will host the event.
TECHNICAL COMMITTEE
The Technical Committee met on October 5 to discuss a response to the Ontario Ministry of Labour’s proposed regulations regarding airborne contaminants.
- The proceedings from the Manganese Symposium at INFACON NINE (The Ferroalloys Association’s conference in Quebec City in June 2001) will be available in late 2001 or early 2002. These are necessary in the ongoing discussions with Ontario’s Ministry of Labour.
- CWA met with the Ministry of Labour on October 11. The Ministry’s position is that it is updating approximately 200 Occupational Exposure Levels (OEL) in Ontario to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists’ (ACGIH) Threshold Limit Values (TLVs). Nine substances (of which manganese was one) were deferred for future consultation. This places the OEL for elemental manganese at 0.2 mg/m_ in welding fumes. The Ministry felt that this level should be achievable, with overall fume levels of 5.0 mg/m_. The Technical Committee undertook the task of gathering data from users to determine actual fume levels in Ontario’s welding community. IF YOUR COMPANY HAS ANY DATA ON FUME LEVELS, PLEASE LET US KNOW. ANY DATA SUBMITTED WILL BE KEPT CONFIDENTIAL AS TO ITS SOURCE.
- A meeting was scheduled for December 6 with the Ministry of Environment to discuss airborne contaminants and levels of manganese in welding fume discharged from plants.
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