Industrial Hygiene Training

Course Overview:

Industrial hygiene is the science of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace conditions that may cause workers' injury or illness.

There has been an awareness of industrial hygiene since antiquity. The environment and its relation to worker health was recognized as early as the fourth century BC when Hippocrates noted lead toxicity in the mining industry

At about the same time, U.S. federal and state agencies began investigating health conditions in the industry. In 1908, the public's awareness of occupationally related diseases stimulated the passage of compensation acts for certain city employees. States passed the first workers' compensation laws in 1911. And in 1913, the New York Department of Labor and the Ohio Department of Health established the first state industrial hygiene programs. All states enacted such legislation by 1948. In most states, there is some compensation coverage for workers contracting occupational diseases.

Why take this training?

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.

training on-the-job
self-study
relevant prior experience

4 Steps:

Learning Objectives:

Upon completion of Industrial Hygiene Training, participants will understand the following:

Define industrial hygiene and the role of the industrial hygienist in protecting employees.
Describe the worksite analysis process.
Identify the hazard and exposure control strategies within the "Hierarchy of Controls."
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of hazard and exposure control strategies.
Describe the factors affecting indoor and outdoor air quality.
List at least five air contaminants common in the workplace.
Define "toxic," and describe the factors that cause chemicals to be considered toxic.
List and describe the four primary routes of chemical exposure.