Meet our Alumni: Drew Lichty, Occupational Hygienist

I work closely with the BC Wildfire Service Research & Innovation Business area to facilitate health-related research initiatives and bridge the gap between research outcomes and actionable OHS programming. I am responsible for developing and carrying out air sampling campaigns and OHS programming to assess and mitigate exposure to wildfire smoke, ash, dust, and engine exhaust for BCWS personnel on the fireline and at fire camps. I use the data I collect in the field to support and guide the development of exposure control plans and safe work procedures. Additionally, I played a pivotal role in implementing respiratory protection for wildland firefighters as one tool to help mitigate exposures at work.

I was lucky to be placed directly with BCWS during my practicum placement in the summer of 2022, where I first met the Research & Innovation Business Area and learned about their ambitious health-related research outlined in their program’s roadmap.

As a student hygienist, I took what was initially a small-scope equipment trial of CO monitors and turned it into a comprehensive exposure assessment program, which culminated in my Practicum Report. To this day, the findings from that report still inform exposure assessments and program development at BCWS.

I was extremely fortunate to begin working with Canada Wildfire and the British Columbia Wildfire Service immediately upon graduating from the MSC OEH Program. I was initially hired just for that summer to help collect and manage biological samples as part of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon exposure assessment, which BCWS was collaborating with the University of Alberta to complete. My services were retained as BCWS identified the importance of in-house occupational hygiene expertise as the Research & Innovation Business Area collaborates with health researchers.

I am positioned within Canada Wildfire, with whom BCWS maintains a strong partnership to fund health-related research. I love my job and the unique challenges and opportunities it presents me. Best of all, I get to apply the knowledge and skills I obtained during the OEH program to protect the health of wildland firefighters who risk so much to protect British Columbia. My job places me around the province while conducting fieldwork in breathtaking environments. When not in the field, I work from my home office in Vancouver, BC.

During my Human Kinetics Bachelor’s degree, I took an ergonomics course, and we picked a local business to study and conduct a hands-on ergonomic risk assessment. I enjoyed this process and getting out of the classroom and into a unique workplace setting where we could apply the tools we learned to a real-world environment and create creative solutions for the workplace. When I came across the MSc OEH program, it clicked for me that this entire program was everything I loved about that ergonomic risk assessment, but extended towards all corners of human physiology and could be applied to any workplaces across Canada. I was interested in a career that was dynamic and diverse and challenged me on a day-to-day basis. I did not want to sit behind a desk all day and do the same thing repeatedly, and the MSC OEH Program offered that.

The UBC MSc OEH Program has been invaluable in setting me up for success in my career. I am currently the subject matter expert at my workplace regarding Occupational Hygiene principles. While this is a daunting position to be in so early in my career,  I would be completely lost without the background in hygiene and sampling principles I learned during my two years at UBC. Whether designing sampling campaigns, outlining OHS programming, or interpreting exposure datasets, I routinely employ the hygiene principles that guide the UBC MSc OEH curriculum. I also use the same equipment I familiarized myself within the OEH lab. To this day, I still frequently reach out to the OEH Lab coordinator, Matty Jeronimo, for his opinions and guidance on equipment-related questions and even rent equipment from the OEH lab. One of the best outcomes of the UBC MSc OEH Program is the network of continued support that you can build within this tight-knit community.

My best advice to students is to make the most of your short time with the UBC OEH faculty and lab. Two years go by incredibly quickly, and while it may be tempting only to put in what effort is necessary to succeed, your future self will thank you for taking every opportunity you can to soak up as much knowledge, experience, and connections that the program offers. Spend extra time in the lab, take the equipment out and use it purely for self-interest, go to your professor’s office hours, ask them about their careers and experience in occupational hygiene, ask them about their research projects, go to AIHA meetings and network. This will be invaluable for when you’re out “on your own” in the early stages of your career, and you’ll be able to fall back on these experiences and connections. Occupational hygiene requires you always to continue learning and keeping up-to-date with the best practices and knowledge available. There is no better environment to do so than during your time at the UBC MSc OEH Program.