About Us

Midwest Chemical Safety, LLC (MCS) is a full-service Environmental, Health and Safety consulting company. MCS specializes in innovative solutions to complex EH&S challenges in chemical safety, industrial hygiene, chemical exposure control, chemical management and security, and regulatory compliance (OSHA, EPA, DOT and DHS).

Specialties:Chemical exposure monitoring and control, Reactive Chemical Management and Use, Laboratory Health and Safety, Environmental, Safety and Health regulatory compliance, environmental stewardship programs. Expert witnessing in exposure control, management, failure-to-warn, occupational health and safety.

Midwest Chemical Safety is a VA-verified Veteran Owned Small Business.

Harry Elston, PhD, CIH, PMP

Dr. Elston is a physical chemist and a former US Naval Nuclear Engineer. While in the navy, he specialized in chemical and radiological safety. Post navy and graduate school, he specialized in reactive chemical safety, chemical and radiological exposure control and general industrial hygiene. He has owned and operated Midwest Chemical Safety since 1996. He has many professional publications and has been the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Chemical Health & Safety since 1999. He has won the Howard Fawcett Chemical Health and Safety Award from the Division of Chemical Health and Safety of the American Chemical Society and is a Fellow of the American Chemical Society.

Professional Certifications

  • Certified Industrial Hygienist, American Board of Industrial Hygiene, 2002-Present (Certificate Number 8258, Comprehensive Practice)
  • Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute, 2019-Present (Certificate number 2644915)
  • Professional Societies

    • American Chemical Society (1990-Present)
      • Fellow, American Chemical Society (2015)
      • Division of Chemical Health & Safety (1995-Present; Division Chair, 2017)
      • Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Chemical Health & Safety (1999-2019)
      • Chair, Safety Solutions Sub-committee, Joint Board-Council Committee on Chemical Safety (2008-2017)
      • Member, Joint Board-Council Committee on Chemical Safety
      • Society Representative ANSI Z9.5 Sub Committee (Laboratory Ventilation)
      • Fellow, American Chemical Society (2015)
    • American Industrial Hygiene Association (2002-Present)
      • Publications Committee (2003-Present)

    Professional Experience

      • Radiation and Chemical Safety Officer, USS Theodore Roosevelt, CVN-71 (1982-1988)
      • Laboratory Manager and Chemical Hygiene Officer, IL Emergency Management Agency (1992-2013)
      • Principal, Midwest Chemical Safety (1996-Present)