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Howard Berkes was an NPR correspondent for 38 years. He spent 20 years covering the American West and a decade focused on rural America. Berkes also covered eight Olympic Games, and retired in 2019 after eight years as an NPR Investigations correspondent. He earned more than 40 journalism awards for investigative, science, business, sports, breaking news, health, rural and feature reporting, and was awarded a Nieman Foundation Journalism Fellowship at Harvard University in 1997. Berkes’ award-winning investigations included Coal’s Deadly Dust, a film for Frontline and a radio series for NPR, that exposed the failure of federal regulators to protect coal miners from toxic silica dust. In 1986, Berkes and his NPR colleague Daniel Zwerdling, provided the first detailed account of the 11th hour effort by Morton Thiokol booster rocket engineers to stop the fatal launch of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Other investigations documented Olympic corruption, states slashing Workers’ Compensation benefits, the failure to regulate air pollution, a spike in preventable and horrific worker deaths in grain bins, the resurgence of black lung disease among coal miners, and the regulatory and company failures that preceded the deadliest coal mine explosion in the U.S. in 40 years. In 2020, Berkes helped create Public Health Watch, an independent investigative reporting nonprofit focused on public, environmental and occupational health. Berkes has also served as a member of the guest faculty at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, and has trained hundreds of journalists in audio production and investigative reporting workshops.
Members - Free
Non-Members - $15
This annual conference will feature a variety of the latest topics in occupational health and will be held in Washington, DC at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center. There will be pre-conference activities and multiple networking opportunities.
Friday, Oct 24: Virtual, 1:00 - 3:45 PM
Saturday, Oct 25: 8:30 AM - 4:45 PM
Sunday, Oct 26: 9:00 AM - 1:15 PM
Visit their website to register or find more information
https://publichealth.jhu.edu/johns-hopkins-education-and-research-center-for-occupational-safety-and-health/2025-marcoem-mwcoem-joint-conference
The Potomac Local Section of the American Industrial Hygiene Association, the Washington Conservation Guild, the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Safety, Health and Environmental Management and the Smithsonian National Collections Program will once again collaborate with the Lunder Conservation Center to host a Professional Development Seminar with the theme of Control of Health and Safety Hazards in Museums, Historic Sites, Conservation Treatment and Collection Care.
Workshop (11/6): Ready to get up close and personal with archive, library, and museum stunt-double collection items? The Preparedness and Response In Collections Emergencies (PRICE) team will introduce specific methods for handling collection items during normal operations and in emergencies. Information will also be shared by the Smithsonian Cultural Rescue Initiative on their Save Your Family Treasures program.
Main Conference (11/7): Click here for the list of presentations.
Register for In-Person (workshop and/or conference) by October 22, 2025 – NO ON-SITE REGISTRATION
Virtual Conference Registration by November 3, 2025
Questions? Email SafetyCulturalHeritageSummit@si.edu
Photo Disclaimer: Please note that photographs may be taken during this event for posting to the AIHA Potomac Section and the Washington Conservation Guild webpages. Attendance assumes we have consent to post any photos you may appear in unless you notify us electronically or in writing.
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