Photo: IHCC representative, Don Harvey, CIH (right), presenting the 2000 DOE Industrial Hygiene Award to Richard E. Johanson of PNNL.

The 2000 DOE Industrial Hygiene (“Don Ross”) Award was presented to Richard E. Johanson of the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) on May 24, 2000 at the annual DOE and DOE Contractor Industrial Hygiene Workshop, held in conjunction with the 2000 American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition in Orlando, Florida. Mr. Johanson is an Industrial Hygienist and Senior Development Engineer in the PNNL Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Safety Group.

The Don Ross Award is presented annually by the DOE Industrial Hygiene Coordinating Committee (IHCC) to recognize a DOE or DOE contractor employee who has provided exceptional service and contributions to industrial hygiene programs, or an industrial hygienist who has demonstrated outstanding dedication to the protection of worker health. The award is named for Don Ross, the first industrial hygienist hired as a federal employee by the Atomic Energy Commission, the predecessor of DOE.

Mr. Johanson was recognized for his role in the development of the PNNL award-winning Chemical Management System (CMS). The CMS is considered a major step forward in the integrated management of chemical materials in a complex research and development (R&D) environment. The system provides user-friendly functionality for procurement, administration of material safety data sheets (MSDS), inventory control, compliance verification, pollution prevention, and waste minimization. In addition, Richard has led efforts to transfer the CMS to other DOE sites including Brookhaven National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The CMS, which has been recognized by several local and national DOE awards, has recently been awarded a U.S. Patent and has been licensed to a private firm for commercialization.

Mr. Johanson has worked as an Industrial Hygienist with PNNL since 1989. He began his career in industrial hygiene as an intern with the Hanford Industrial Health Foundation in 1981.