Introduction :
Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) experts are changing their jobs quicker than ever. As workplaces use more modern technologies and new methods of doing things, workers are exposed to new dangers that aren't always easy to see. The safety of the workplace is getting more complicated every day. There are more and more concerns from chemicals, radiation, biological hazards, and noise pollution. This is where Industrial Hygiene (IH) becomes an important area of study for EHS practitioners. Industrial Hygiene is the science and practice of keeping workers healthy and safe on the job. Industrial Hygiene lessons work-related illnesses and missed days of work. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) says that industrial hygiene includes several different fields that all work together to keep workers
Industrial hygiene is the study of predicting, identifying, assessing, and controlling environmental conditions that could have an impact on workers health and well-being. EHS professionals not only improve their capacity to protect workers by taking Industrial Hygiene training, but they also greatly improve their own job chances.
Knowledge is Power
Safety training gives workers the skills they need to spot, prevent, and remedy dangers they could face at work every day. The more your staff know about the risks and how to protect themselves, the better off they will be.
For instance, if workers don't know how dangerous it is to work at heights, they could not give this lethal risk the respect it deserves. Because of this, individuals might not know that they are putting themselves at risk for a working mishap that could change their lives.
But being aware is only half the battle. Employees also need to know how to use safety gear correctly and what the best practices are. Users can feel safe when they don't fully understand fall protection, much like with most safety ideas and tools. They put on fall protection and think they're safe, yet they can still get hurt or killed in a fall because they're not using it correctly.
Workers who don't know how to figure out the distance of a fall can pick fall protection parts that are too long for the job. Because of this, they may still hit the earth if they fell.
OSHA Training Requirements
The relevant OSHA standard itself lists any specific training needs.
OSHA has said that all OSHA training must be given in a way that the employee can understand, even if the words used are "training" or "instruction."
Generally, When employers need to talk to their workers, they need to be able to do so in a language other than English or with a vocabulary level that matches. This also needs to be reflected in the safety training tools that they give to their employees.
Remember that OSHA training is not comprehensive. Completing training shows the employee has been made aware of potential safety hazards and understands what to do in a dangerous situation. Employees should still receive on-the-job training for a particular role and for the company to ensure they can perform necessary job functions.
Strong Demand for Industrial Hygienists Worldwide
The need for qualified industrial hygienists is always growing because of:
- More strict rules about health at work
- People and workers are becoming more mindful of workplace safety.
- Fast expansion of infrastructure and industry
- After the pandemic, a focus on health and cleanliness at work
Essential Workplace Safety Skills for EHS Professionals
People who work in environmental, health, and safety (EHS) have a lot of responsibility for the company and its workers. EHS experts play a key role in figuring out and controlling health and safety issues at work. They also make and put into place safety rules and procedures to lower such hazards.
EHS professionals use their particular abilities in workplace safety to improve their employer's record of health and safety at work and protect the lives and health of their coworkers. They do this through a mix of education, training, and professional certification.
Every EHS professional should have these four important abilities.
1. Knowledge and insight about the industry
An EHS professional who is good at their job knows a lot about the safety standards that are already in place at work, whether they come from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or state and industry regulators. They also stay up to date on changes, revisions, and updates to workplace safety skills.
To keep corporate safety records, such as incident and violation records, training records, remediation paperwork, and other relevant files, EHS personnel need to be good at organizing things. They often use what they know to undertake workplace safety investigations as appropriate, write down the results, and tell management about the conclusions and their suggestions.
EHS personnel also often have basic first aid training so they can help right away and in person when urgent incident response help is needed.
2. Help from the organization
EHS specialists help workers by teaching them how to stay safe at work. They know what basic health and safety skills people need to have, based on the specific dangers at their company. They are in charge of the whole occupational safety and health program, which aims to lower those hazards.
EHS professionals use their knowledge of workplace safety to do safety and compliance inspections. They look for problems that need to be fixed right away and make a note of where more or better staff training is needed.
3. Analyzing Data
EHS experts give management important feedback and analysis. Their evaluation of the level of workplace safety skills can help companies find areas where training is needed, as well as any risks and problems that could come up with safety issues.
EHS workers need to be able to read, evaluate, understand, and talk about different safety measurements, trends, and other data points. This vital set of skills can assist the department and the whole company make better choices and lower the risk at work.
Safety officers need to know how to make sure that all of a company's safety rules include important parts, such as how to deal with certain types of safety accidents, like chemical spills, slips and falls, and basic first aid.
