Sarah Stibbe Damaskos
Where were you the first time that someone casually mentioned that they were a Certified Industrial Hygienist? Chances are you immediately pictured some type of space-suited dental hygienist flossing the world’s most horrific tooth grunge. Or maybe you heard the term “industrial hygiene” and the frightening image of super-sized Teflon underwear floated into your head? The good news is that you were almost right – conceptually.
Certified Industrial Hygienists (“CIH”) are cool. Sometimes they do get to wear Major Tom kind of protective clothing and poke around dirty places but most of the time they’re more like a squad of Super Safety People and their goal is to protect you. According to the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (www.ABIH.org) “Industrial hygiene is the science of protecting and enhancing the health and safety of people at work and in their communities.”
Industrial hygienists (rather than be called Super Safety People which is so much better for T-shirts) fall into a large group more commonly known as Environmental, Health and Safety experts but CIH focus exclusively on Health – Occupational Health and Environmental Health.
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (www.AIHA.org) has created this handy list of typical EHS roles:
- Investigate and examine the workplace for hazards and potential dangers
- Make recommendations on improving the safety of workers and the surrounding community
- Conduct scientific research to provide data on possible harmful conditions in the workplace
- Develop techniques to anticipate and control potentially dangerous situations in the workplace and the community
- Train and educate the community about job-related risks
- Advise government officials and participating in the development of regulations to ensure the health and safety of workers and their families
- Ensure that workers are properly following health and safety procedures
Essentially it means that a group of highly-trained, certified professional are able to prevent, investigate and address work and community safety issues so that you can live a longer, healthier life. Specifically, industrial hygienists are focused on
- Chemical, Biological, Physical and Other Hazardous Agent Exposure
- Emergency Response Planning
- Community Impact and Awareness
- Workplace Conditions / Occupational Safety
- Detection, Planning and Control
If you own a business and your operation has the potential to expose employees or subcontractors or neighbors to possible health hazards, you need an industrial hygienist to reduce your risk, save money and, of course, offer everyone peace of mind. If you would rather pretend that environmental, safety or health issues are not important, I suggest you purchase a pair of Teflon underwear and super-size it.
How do you feel about being called an Industrial Hygienist? What would be an improved or more descriptive job title?
Keep in mind that not all industrial hygienists are CIHs. To earn the title of CIH, an industrial hygienist must have a certain amount of professional IH experience and pass a rigorous, 7-hour exam.
My mother was confused about what an Certified Industrial Hygienist actually did for work! She would tell her friends that I was certified to scrub toilets … and then, after a great big chuckle, she would then tell them that I what I actually do is to help keep workers safe. Our professional name doesn’t provide for a good description of what a CIH does or is. Thanks for your fine explanation of what an IH “is” – but, be aware that I don’t own any teflon garments.
Certified Industrial Hygienists are in the workplaces of the world to anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control those hazards (seen and unseen)that can adversely impact the health of workers as they perform their daily ordinary and extraodinary tasks. The CIH is often supported by several non-certified Industrial Hygienists actually performing the measurements where the work takes place. Implementation of recommendations made by the CIH and enforcement of rules put in place to protect the worker are another piece of the worker health puzzle. And when the picture comes together, we find that all of the pieces must fit to hold together the vision of Occupational Health and Safety.