Labor advocate seeks CSB post

Before the year is out, the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) will have at least one vacancy, and Mark Griffon, a current member of the Federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health, wants to be appointed to it.  Current CSB member Gary L. Visscher's term expires in November.  Appointment on the CSB requires a Presidential nomination and U.S. Senate confirmation.

Groups supporting Mr. Griffon for the slot include the United Steelworkers, United Auto Workers, Chemical Workers of America, AFL-CIO, Change to Win Alliance, the Public Health Institute, New Jersey Work Environment Council, the Blue Green Alliance, and the University of California Centers for Occupational and Environmental Health.  He has more than 20 years of experience in environmental and occupational health in both the public and private sector, including overseeing large chemical clean-up contracts and several large radioactive waste characterization and remediation projects.  Griffon worked previously with the former Paper, Allied-Industrial, Chemical and Energy union (PACE) and Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers Union (OCAW) in the development and implementation of a number of worker health and safety programs.   He also worked with the University of Massachusetts Lowell where he was part of their initial hazardous waste training program as well as the Toxic Use Reduction Institute.  He developed and delivered professional training for industry toxics use reduction planners and assisted corporations with their planning. 

Mr. Griffon has been a member of the Federal Advisory Board on Radiation and Worker Health for seven years (2002-present).   He has also served as a member of the Federal Advisory Committee on External Regulation of Department of Energy Nuclear Safety.  Mark Griffon earned a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Masters of Radiological Sciences from the University of Massachusetts Lowell.