The Industrial Hygiene Program
The employer's Industrial Hygiene Program (IHP) gives guidance to keep workplaces safe by identifying, evaluating, and controlling health hazards such as chemicals, noise, dust, or poor air quality. It aims to protect workers from risks that could lead to illnesses or injuries, ensuring a healthy work environment. The elements of a IHP include:
- Purpose: The program’s main goal is to prevent work-related health issues by proactively addressing hazards before they cause harm.
- Application: This program applies to various workplaces, including manufacturing plants, construction sites, offices, or hospitals, where health risks are present.
- Roles: Different people, such as industrial hygienists, safety officers, managers, and workers, collaborate to maintain safety. IHs assess risks, while others help implement safety measures.
- Responsibilities: Company or third-party IHs identify and evaluate hazards, recommend solutions, and monitor conditions. Managers enforce safety policies and provide resources. Workers follow safety rules and report issues.
- Positions: Key roles include industrial hygienists (experts in hazard assessment), safety coordinators (who organize safety efforts), and supervisors (who ensure rules are followed).
- Inspections: Regular workplace checks are conducted to identify hazards and verify that safety measures are effective.
- Hazard Identification and Control: This involves identifying risks and implementing solutions to eliminate or reduce them. Using the Hierarchy of Controls (HOC) approach, methods include engineering controls (like ventilation), administrative controls (like limiting exposure time), or personal protective equipment (PPE).
- Training: Workers and managers receive education on recognizing hazards, using safety equipment, and following protocols to stay safe.
This Industrial Hygiene Program is a structured system designed to keep our workplace safe by anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling health hazards such as chemicals, noise, dust, or poor air quality.
- Purpose: The IHP goal is to prevent work-related health issues by proactively addressing hazards before they cause harm.
- Application: This program applies to our various workplaces and departments where health risks are present.
- Roles: Those responsible for implementing and maintaining this program will include industrial hygienists, safety officers, managers, supervisors, and workers.
- Responsibilities: Industrial hygienists, safety officers, supervisors, and managers are responsible for anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling IH risks. they will also recommend solutions, and monitor health conditions. Supervisors and managers enforce safety policies and provide physical resources and psychosocial support. Workers will follow safety rules and report hazards and any other safety and health issues.
- Inspections: Regular workplace industrial hygiene inspection will be conducted to identify hazards and verify that safety measures are effective. Inspectors in our manufacturing worksites will test air quality to ensure dust levels are safe.
- Hazard Identification and Control: IHs and safety managers will identify and implement solutions to eliminate or reduce health hazards methods in the Hierarchy of Controls. Below are suggested methods.
- Enclosure/Isolation. Process or equipment enclosure can be used to isolate the source of exposure. This completely eliminates the routine exposure of workers. For example, handling of radioactive materials is often done by mechanical arms or robots.
- Substitution. Substitution of hazardous substances with less hazardous substances.
- Ventilation. Local exhaust ventilation to capture or draw contaminated air from its source before it spreads into the room and into your breathing zone.
- Personal Protective Equipment. Personal protective equipment (respirators, gloves, googles, aprons) will be used when other controls are not possible or are not sufficient to reduce exposure.
- Respiratory Protective Equipment. Respiratory protection equipment to prevent substances in the air from being inhaled.
- Protective Clothing. Protective clothing (gloves, aprons, goggles, boots, face shields, and any other materials) worn to protect from exposure.
- Barrier Creams. Barrier creams to coat the skin and prevent chemicals from reaching it.
- Training: Workers and managers will receive education on recognizing health hazards, using safety equipment, and following rules and work practices to stay safe. To reduce exposures to hazardous chemicals, all affected employees who work with toxic substances will receive training on the names, the toxicity, chemical composition, and physical characteristics. The primary reference for this training will be obtained from Safety Data Sheets (SDSs).
Knowledge Check Choose the best answer for the question.
1-5. Which hazard control solutions would completely eliminate routine exposure to hazards?
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