What is Industrial Hygiene?
Industrial hygiene, often called occupational hygiene, is concerned with the discovery, assessment, and control of actual or prospective environmental stresses or hazards in the workplace that may affect the health and safety of employees and members of the community. The main focus is on ensuring a safe working environment for all employees by identifying potential risks.
Importance
The UN estimates that 2.78 million workers die on the job and an additional 374 million get injuries that do not progress to death due to occupational diseases and accidents. The use of proper industrial hygiene procedures can enhance working conditions while decreasing dangers. This strategy protects workers from a wide variety of risks, including poisoning, nonfatal infections, skin illnesses, respiratory disorders, hearing loss, and repetitive stress injuries.
Requiring workers to wear personal protective equipment (PPE) is a typical way to enforce industrial hygiene. This preserves employees' lungs, makes the workplace safer, and shelters them from possible dangers. Another is following sector safety standards to provide a safe workplace and enough training for personnel, especially in high-risk sectors like construction and manufacturing.
Hygiene and Safety ( H&S ) in the Workplace vs. Industrial Hygiene
"Occupational Health and Safety" (OHS) is shorthand for measures taken to ensure that workers are not put at risk while on the job, including screening potential employees for health problems, administering medications to alleviate or prevent such problems, and performing pre- and post-employment physicals. An effective occupational health and safety (OHS) program isn't just about following the rules; it's also a sign that a firm cares about its employees and wants to stay in business for a long time. Occupational health is the study of how to keep workers safe and healthy on the job. It means finding and controlling dangers that can come from things like chemicals, biology, and social factors. In the end, it's not only the right thing to do to keep them safe, healthy, and productive; it's also a smart business move. In simple terms, occupational health ensures that individuals can do their work in places that are safe, helpful, and good for their long-term health. Occupational health is an important part of public health that looks at the physical, mental, and social health of workers in all fields. OHS wants to know what kinds of occupational disorders are possible so that employees can receive continuous medical treatment.
On the other hand, industrial hygiene tries to lower or get rid of workers' exposure to hazards by putting in place a number of controls and procedures to maintain the working environment is hygienic, devoid of hazards, and secure.
Its Fundamental Principles
To anticipate potential hazards to workers' health and safety, industrial hygienists conduct risk assessments. Then they can figure out how to stay away from them. It is essential to have a basic understanding of industrial hygiene before conducting evaluations. Its five key points are as follows:
1. Expectation
This stage requires a complete record of the workplace's design, operations, processes, specialized work tasks, resources, and people who work there. The use of Safety Data Sheets (SDS) as an example of how to anticipate industrial hygiene problems.
SDSs give you critical information on each chemical's qualities, the many dangers, how to protect yourself, and how to safely handle, store, and move the chemical. Employers must make sure that all employees have easy access to SDSs so they may learn how to handle dangerous substances at work.
2. Acknowledgment
An important part of spotting hazards is having a way to ask each worker how they execute their job. Close proximity of workers, frequently referred to as simultaneous operations, might increase their risk of injury, thus it is imperative that employers assess the physical layout of the workplace.
3. The evaluation
Evaluation of exposure comes into play here. Finding out the exposure risk and the who, what, where, when, and how depends on the work environment and the industrial hygiene instruments that are needed. This procedure is only done by qualified specialists like industrial hygienists.
4. Control
OSHA says that there are three basic strategies to lower the risk of workers being harmed on the job:
Engineering controls : These try to lower or get rid of the hazard at its source or keep the worker away from it. Reducing the scope of operations, establishing general and local ventilation systems, and removing or substituting hazardous compounds with safer ones are all part of these measures.
Work practice controls: These change the way jobs are done to make sure employees take the right steps to limit their exposure. Clear standards for monitoring and appropriate housekeeping procedures in the workplace are two examples.
Management oversight : Making sure tasks and output are scheduled correctly is crucial for worker safety. Businesses may plan for high-exposure performances when there are few employees.
5. Confirmation
The last step is to check how well what was put in place works once the measures and controls have been put in place. Proactive confirmation also means looking into problems that are happening now or could happen in the future and taking steps to fix them that work with your industrial hygiene program.
OSHA Standards
Some examples of OSHA requirements that employers must follow under the OSH Act of 1970 are:
- Keep personnel away from toxins and viruses that can spread.
- Make sure that people who work in tight places are safe.
- Give people fall protection, enough training for dangerous occupations, and safety gear like PPE.
Why Industrial Hygiene Matters:
Advantages for Employers
Employers can benefit greatly from strong industrial hygiene practices:
Less Absenteeism and Turnover: A healthier workplace means fewer people missing work and fewer people leaving their jobs, which directly helps keep operations running smoothly.
Higher productivity: A staff that isn't hurt or sick is naturally more productive, which leads to economic success.
Lower Healthcare expenditures: By using good industrial hygiene practices to keep people from getting sick or hurt at work, you can save a lot of money on healthcare expenditures.
Regulatory Compliance: Following health and safety rules not only keeps you from getting in trouble, but it also helps you create a reputation for being a responsible leader.
