Industrial Hygiene and OSHA
How are OSHA and Industrial Hygiene Related?
Under the Act, OSHA develops and sets mandatory occupational safety and health requirements applicable to the more than 6 million workplaces in the U.S. OSHA relies on, among many others, industrial hygienists, or "IHs," to evaluate jobs for potential health hazards. More than 40% of OSHA's compliance officers are IHs.
What is Industrial Hygiene
Developing and setting mandatory occupational safety and health standards involves determining the extent of employee exposure to hazards and deciding what is needed to control these hazards, thereby protecting the workers.
Industrial hygienists are trained to anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and recommend controls for environmental and physical hazards that can affect the health and well-being of workers. Important IH responsibilities include:
- Identifying, measuring and analyzing workplace health hazards and exposures (chemical, physical, biological, ergonomic) that can cause sickness, impaired health, or significant discomfort.
- Recommending hazard control strategies to eliminate/reduce hazards and employee exposure to hazards.
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-1. More than _____ of the OSHA compliance officers who inspect America's workplaces are industrial hygienists?
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