Industrial Hygienist Role

The learning objective I chose to further explore was “Explain the role of the industrial hygienist in anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace environments that may affect the health of the worker.”

The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) website has a breadth articles on the specific functions of an Industrial Hygienist. The “Informational Booklet on Industrial Hygiene” has been made public for reproduction and serves as a good overview to explain the role of the industrial hygienist. (Herman & Jeffress, 1998)

The article touches on the history of industrial hygiene from ancient Greek times through modern day times. Even in ancient times employers and employees have struggled to identify health hazards and mitigate them. Over the years the federal and state governments have highly regulated the conditions of which employees are allowed to work. These regulations are what the industrial hygienists work towards.

Many different processes produce air contaminants. Dust and fiber are two types of solid particles that may be of concern depending on their nature. Chemical hazards can have several methods of exposure either through skin contact, ingestion, absorption by the skin, and/or by breathing them in. Due to their hazardousness, chemical substances are identified by Safety Data Sheets (SDS) and are required in the workplace for reference. Biological hazards are living organisms and enter the worker which can cause infection and disease. These organisms might be fungus, viruses, or bacteria. Physical hazards are a broad range of hazards and include noise, vibration, temperature and more. There are multitudes of controls for physical hazards. The final hazard encompasses ergonomic hazards. Ergonomics includes repetitious movements, poorly set up work stations, and over using of body parts. This might be the most complex of the hazards to identify and