During the ICOH Congress in London in 1948, nurses participated on the advisory committee for the Congress and during the Congress sessions. At the meeting in Helsinki in 1957, three nurses from Finland, the United Kingdom, and United States were elected as members of the Permanent Commission. 'The Nursing Committee' was formally established at the XV Congress held in Vienne in 1966. In 1987 the name Scientific Committee on Occupational Health Nursing (SCOHN) was adopted.

PURPOSE

SCOHN aims to foster the scientific progress, knowledge and development of occupational health nursing on an international basis. In particular, the committee:

• Establishment of a research working group to identify nursing research being conducted by OHN's throughout the world and facilitate active research among nurses.
• Seminars convened in various countries by the SCOHN in the interim years between Congresses. These relate to selected themes with local ICOH nurse members invited to present papers.
• Conduct sessions on occupational health nursing topics at each ICOH Congress. These include free papers as well as Mini-Symposia. Nurse members and non-nurse members of the ICOH may submit abstracts for presentation at these sessions. Nurses are also free to present papers at other sessions held during the Congress. A group meeting of all nurses attending Congresses. These are convened by the SCOHN for the purpose of discussing relevant global nursing issues and may not be convened at every Congress. Convening of a forum of Nursing Associations at the ICOH Congresses to foster collaboration on OHN issues.
• Meets to share and discuss progress in occupational health nursing practice, education, research and management.
• Publishes documents relating to occupational health nursing.

MEMBERSHIP OF THE SCOHN

• Members of the Committee should be nurse members of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) in good standing, and be actively engaged in occupational health nursing, practice, administration, consultation, research or education. There are about 80 members of SCOHN around the world.

THE EXECUTIVE 2009 - 2012
The Executive consist of the following:

Title	Person
Chairman	Louwna Pretorius South Africa
Vice-Chairman	Maria Rautio Finland
Secretary	Susan Randolph USA
Treasurer	Kazuko Nishida Japan Marjatta Peurala Finland (co-opted)
Nurse member of the board of ICOH (ex-office)	Bonnie Rogers USA

Nominations for election of SCOHN executive for the triennium 2009 - 2012 took place in the end of October 2008. Three members were nominated, and thus they were also elected to serve in executive. They are: Maria Rautio from Finland, Susan Randolph from USA and Kazuko Nishida from Japan.

All members of the Executive must be from different countries except the ex-office members. The intent is to assure global representation.

Minutes of business meeting in Cape Town 25.3.2009

SCOHN Research Project

SCOHN established in Milan Congress 2006 a research group for investigating the role of occupational health nurse in the multidisciplinary working group. The main responsibility for planning and organizing the research lies on Prof. Bonnie Rogers from USA. The Finnish members of the group are Maria Rautio and Anne Boström. Other members are Jennifer Radford UK, Maria Helena Marziale Brazil, Katie Slaven USA, Keiko Kono Japan. As a vice-chair of SCOHN executive Louwna Pretorius was co-ordinator of this research.

Bonnie Rogers provided some preliminary findings of the SCOHN Survey. A questionnaire was developed, pilot tested, approved by SCOHN, and put into an electronic format (Survey Monkey). It was distributed to OHNs in February 2009. While preliminary data were shared at Cape Town meeting, the findings have not been finalized and the analysis will continue; it is anticipated that one outcome will be a publication.

Working Groups

History: SCOHN had its 40th anniversary in Milan. The history of SCOHN needs to be included in the ICOH book. Marjatta Peurala agreed to chair this group.

Award Criteria: Susan Randolph agreed to chair this group. She will take the lead on drafting criteria for the best abstract presented at ICOH meeting, to be awarded with the Yukiko Fund.

Research: It was agreed to wait until the survey data are complete to see what the recommendations are for further research.

General
The 3rd International Conference on Occupational Health Nursing and 2nd Asia Conference on Occupational Health Nursing entitled, ICOHN & ACOHN Joint Conference 2010: Global Challenges in Occupational Health Nursing: How Can We Contribute to Worker’s Health, Safety, and Quality of Work Life? It will be held August 3-6, 2010 in Tokyo, Japan.

SCOHN chair Louwna Pretorius thanked everyone who participated in the SCOHN workshop on Saturday, March 21, 2009; and those who spoke during the special sessions held Wednesday, March 25, 2009. She gave a special thank you to SASOHN, a sponsor to the events. Louwna recognized Bonnie Rogers (USA) as the new Vice President of ICOH.


LINKS:

ICOHN & ACOHN Joint Conference 2010
http://icohn-acohn2010.com/index.html

CIS International Occupational Safety and Health Information Centre
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/safework/cis/intro/

EU European Agency for Safety and Health at Work
http://fi.osha.eu.int/

ICOH http://www.icohweb.org

ILO http://www.ilo.org/

Finnish Institute of Occupational Health
http://www.ttl.fi/en/Pages/default.aspx
http://www.ttl.fi/fi/sivut/default.aspx

WHO
http://www.who.int/occupational_health/en/

WHO Collaborating Centres
http://www.ttl.fi/Internet/partner/tf13