The industrial hygiene audit: purposes and implementation

The increased implementation of industrial hygiene programs in industry, with the associated increase in funds allocated to safety and health programs, has introduced the concept of evaluative measures for program performance. The audit is a frequently used and valuable tool for the safety specialist, but it has been infrequently used by the hygienist. We differentiate the audit from 1) program guidelines and 2) program evaluation. The latter implies relating program activities to articulated measures of effectiveness. The audit, in contrast, utilizes widely accepted industrial hygiene program structural elements. In an audit a qualitative or numerical rating scale is assigned each audit program element to indicate the extent to which the element is present. The audit is an essential tool for the manager of an industrial hygiene program. Audits are not a substitute for program evaluation, but program evaluation is a very uncertain matter because the industrial hygiene profession has yet to focus on measures of program progress in terms similar to those of the safety field, i.e. accident frequencies and severities. Program elements and qualitative and quantitative rating scales are described. Preparation, conduct and reporting of the audit are discussed.     

Ergonomics and industrial hygiene: a complementary relationship

This paper examines the nature and scope of ergonomics in relation to the practice of industrial hygiene. It demonstrates that ergonomics is an independent and broadly based discipline, the work of which is complementary to industrial hygiene and not in competition with it. Whereas the industrial hygienist is primarily concerned with the habitability of the working environment and its compatibility with the health and safety of the worker, the ergonomist is primarily concerned with design for human use and the optimization of human performance at work and in adverse environments.     

From industrial hygiene and toxicology to environmental hygiene and toxicology: problems and prospects

BACKGROUND: Low-dose exposures to mixtures of substances have received increasing interest and they involve many different occupational and environmental situations. The presence in the population (working and general) of groups of susceptible individuals is an important public health issue that poses new challenges to science and society. OBJECTIVES: To discuss the evolution from traditional occupational hygiene and toxicology to the new environmental (general and occupational) hygiene and toxicology. RESULTS: Environmental hygiene and toxicology have remarkably improved analytical tools available to solve most of the analytical issues posed by the present exposure scenario. Biomarkers of low-dose exposure, early effects and individual susceptibility are being intensively investigated. CONCLUSIONS: The challenge in this field for the coming years appears to be not the analytical but the medical and ethical implications.     

Retrospective industrial hygiene surveys.

The true test of the long-term response of workers exposed to a hazardous agent is usually the epidemiological studies performed on same. This necessitates the long-term knowledge of exposure levels. Usually, the extent to which the exposures measured during recent experiences are representative of past exposures is difficult to assess as only limited historic measurements are available, and oftentimes the limited data are difficult to relate to today's measurement techniques. It is fallacious to assume that the conditions were worse in the past as it is fallacious to assume that they were better. The methodology of estimating past exposures to an agent based on industry-wide survey techniques is discussed.     

Linking industrial hygiene and health records.

This report presents methodology used in a large chemical company for linking historical industrial hygiene sampling data and employee health data through the personnel record system. The problems encountered are described to alert investigators to the need for careful planning of systems for linking the three data bases.