Fundamentals of Industrial Hygiene

6th Edition

Chapter 1:Overview of Industrial Hygiene

Compiled by Allen Sullivan,

Assistant Professor, Safety and Health ManagementCentral Washington University

The Profession

• Industrial Hygiene“The science and art devoted to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and control of those environmental factors that may cause sickness, impaired health and well-being, or significant discomfort among workers or among citizens of the community.”

• Industrial Hygienist• Occupational health professionals concerned primarily with the control of environmental stresses or occupational health hazards that arise as a result of or during the course of work.

• American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH)

Code of Ethics

• morals v. ethics

Federal Regulations

• Occupational Health and Safety Act of 1970 (OSHAct)• purpose• general duty clause• Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA)• National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH)

• Mine Safety & Health Amendments Act of 1977 (MSHA)• Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA)• Resource Recovery & Conservation Act of 1976 (RCRA)

Federal Regulations (cont.)

• Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, & Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA)• Superfund Amendment & Reauthorization Act of 1986 (SARA)

• Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, & Rodenticide Act of 1972 (FIFRA)

• Federal Facility Compliance Act of 1992

Environmental Factors and Stresses

• Chemical Hazards• Types of chemical hazards• Hazard determination• Safety Data Sheets (SDS) (formerly MSDS)• Toxicity v. Hazard

• Physical Hazards• Noise

• threshold limit value (TLV)• permissible exposure level (PEL)

• Extremes of Temperature

Environmental Factors and Stresses(cont.)

• Ionizing Radiation• ionizing radiation hazards

• Non-ionizing Radiation• non-ionizing radiation hazards

• Pressure Extremes

• Biological Hazards

Routes of Entry

• Routes of Entry• Inhalation• Dermal Absorption• Ingestion

Airborne Contaminants

• Types of Airborne Contaminants• particulate matter (PM)• fumes• smoke• aerosols• mists• gases• vapors

Respiratory Hazards

• Oxygen Deficiency• biologically active gases• biologically inert gases

• Airborne Contaminant

Threshold Limit Values (TLV)

• © American Conference on Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH)• not mandatory

• Categories of TLVs• time-weighted averages (TWA)• short-term exposure limit (TLV-STEL)• ceiling (TLV-C)

Hazard Control

• Control Methods• engineering controls• administrative controls• personal protection equipment (PPE)