What is an occupational hygienist?
This is possibly the most common question I am asked by people outside of industry. In simple terms, we are the scientists who keep workers safe from illness and disease in the workplace.
When you engage an occupational hygienist, you get a professional who is trained to anticipate, recognise, evaluate, and control workplace conditions that can cause injury or illness to workers. We use scientific and engineering principles to identify, measure and evaluate hazardous materials and physical agents in the workplace, and then develop and implement control measures to protect the health and safety of workers.
An occupational hygienist can work in many settings, such as manufacturing plants, construction sites, mining, and hospitals for example. In my case, I focus on construction, demolition and tunnelling, and while I consider myself a generalist, I do specialise in protecting workers from silicosis and other silica-related diseases caused by exposure to respirable crystalline silica (silica dust).
Our specific responsibilities can vary, but typical tasks of an occupational hygienist include:
Conducting air monitoring and sampling to measure exposure to hazardous materials (if you don’t measure it, you’re blind to the hazards)
Identifying and evaluating sources of workplace hazards such as chemicals, noise, vibration, and radiation
Developing and implementing control measures to reduce exposure to hazards (how we keep workers safe)
Evaluating the effectiveness of existing control measures (checking things are working as they’re supposed to)
Participating in incident investigations (re-creating scenario’s when they go wrong)
Providing expert testimony as an expert witness in legal proceedings (knowledge of the standards, practices and law at the time and the way that work was conducted)
Providing training to workers on how to recognise and protect themselves from hazards
Assessing the compliance with regulations related to occupational health and safety
Occupational hygienists usually hold a post-graduate degree in Occupational Hygiene as well as certification from the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists as a Certified Occupational Hygienist (COH).