According to the American Industrial Hygine Association, which I'm a member of :), Industrial Hygiene is the "Science and art devoted to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, prevention, and control of those environmental factors or stresses arising in or from the workplace which may cause sickness, impaired health and well being, or significant discomfort among workers or among citizens of the community." So essentially, my job is to look out for the health and safety of the workforce. I seek out hazards and try to remediate.
In my particular case, I work at a proving ground where research and development and testing, as well as various industrial operations, take place.
Some of the things I do:
-Indoor air quality assessments. This is my least favorite thing to do. I have people complain to me that something in the building is making them extremely sick. I come in and check to see if the the place is ripe for mold growth (there's certain conditions that will help spawn spontaneous mold). I look to see if the HVAC has been cleaned, which in my case, is the biggest culprit. One time, house plants were causing asthmatic symptoms in someone that sat across the room. Another time, people were complaining of this horrible odor and thought it was a gas leak. Turns out, a mouse died behind a copier and the decomposition was causing offgassing. Now you can kind of see why I don't like doing these.
-Ventilation assessments. You ever get a sleepy, lethargic feeling in the afternoon at work? Well, it could be for a couple of reasons. You didn't get enough sleep and you're on a caffiene crash. You had a huge lunch. Or there's too much carbon dioxide, which happens when there isn't decent air circulation. Either the HVAC isn't pulling enough fresh air or you just need to open a window. Machine shops, weld shops, auto shops, they all have to have certain ventialtion requirements. That's where I come in and actually measure the airflow. Chemical hoods in the laboratories also have certain airflow requirements that I have to check on.
-Exposure assessments. There's federal exposure limits for just about every workplace hazard out there. The biggest ones I deal with are noise, chemical and particulate hazards. I figure out how much noise someone is exposed to in a typical day by measuring decibels and then determine if hearing protection is required or if there's a way to reduce the noise hazard. Lead and silica are two of the biggest contaminates I assess. At the worksite, I pull air through a pump and onto a filter. Whatever is on the filter is then analyzed and from there, I know how much lead or silica people are being exposed to and try to remediate that. Exposure assessments are my favorite things to do. Because I'm at a proving ground, I get to see and do some not-so-typical stuff.
-Design and blueprint review. This is more of the technical stuff that I'm still getting used to. Blueprints are friggin hard to read and interpret, for me at least. But anyway, this is where I get a first look at construction projects. This is where I can see if ventilation is going to be sufficient. It's better to catch issues at this stage than pay all sorts of money later on.
-Risk assessments/program reviews. This is where I look at a process or program and seek out any hazards that can get mitigated.
-Respirator selection assessments. Obviously, certain contaminants you just can't get rid of and will have to work in it. Well, I have to figure out what kind respirators are appropriate for that.
-Confined space monitoring. Another fun one. There are federal guidelines regarding confined spaces. I have to make sure confined spaces meet those guidelines and are safe to enter. The coolest space I've worked with and have gone in was a submarine that was in development. It sucked because I was doing crazy overtime, but it was right by the water and provided an amazing view.
-Worker's comp claims. Every now and again, someone will try to put a workers compensation claim. If it involves possible past exposure to something, I then have to figure out if the claim is valid. I've gotten some angry responses out of this, usually because the outcome wasn't what was wanted.
The good thing about what I do, is I'm not "the bad guy." Prior to this job, I was a safety specialist and were the enforcers and were the "safety nazis." Well, not this time around. Industrial hygienists are seen more as consultants. People seem to understand that I'm there to help them. And besides, I have medical science and chemistry to back me up in an arguement if someone disagrees. I mean, it's hard to argue with science....
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| These are the air samples I pull, with the filters inside. These particular ones I was prepping to send out to our analysis lab. |
And it's not cleaning teeth, thank goodness...
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