Industrial Hygiene in the simplest terms is the health part of occupational safety. Industrial hygienists attempt to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and control hazards that affect employee health.
- They have knowledge of toxicology, epidemiology, safety, and other disciplines.
- They are familiar with various workplaces and are knowledgeable of health hazards they present.
- They survey each work process to recognize the hazards, look at Safety Data Sheets and other information, and evaluate the controls in place.
- They test for employee exposures from those hazards using OSHA, and NIOSH methods.
- They compare results with recognized occupational exposure standards.
- They suggest and implement controls based upon the results which may include engineering, employee work practices, medical monitoring, training, and personal protective equipment.
- They re-evaluate work processes on a periodic basis or whenever there is a significant change in the work environment.
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