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tential risks proactively—you don’t want a reactive strategy.
Begin by establishing a standardized process for industrial hygiene assessments across all site operations. Be sure to include all jobs, operations, and worker activities. Once you pinpoint risk points, assign cor- rective and preventative actions and track accordingly to closure. At this point, it is also important to communicate any ex- ceedances and notify your employees of identified hazards.
Evaluating and Controlling
Your Environment
According to OSHA, an effective indus- trial hygiene management program relies on recognizing that engineering, work practice, and administrative controls are the primary means of reducing employee exposure to occupational hazards. Here are OSHA’s recommendations for evaluat- ing and controlling your environment ac- cording to their industrial hygiene training materials:
Engineering controls minimize employee exposure by either reducing or removing the hazard at the source or isolating the worker from the hazard. Engineering controls include eliminat- ing toxic chemicals and substituting non-toxic chemicals, enclosing work processes or confining work operations, and the installation of general and local ventilation systems.
Work practice controls alter the manner in which a task is performed. Some fundamental and easily imple- mented work practice controls include (1) changing existing work practices to follow proper procedures that minimize exposures while operating production and control equipment; (2) inspecting and maintaining process and control equipment on a regular basis; (3) im- plementing good housekeeping proce- dures; (4) providing good supervision; and (5) mandating that eating, drink- ing, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, and applying cosmetics in regulated ar- eas be prohibited.
Administrative controls include controlling employees’ exposure by scheduling production and tasks, or both, in ways that minimize exposure levels. For example, the employer might
schedule operations with the high- est exposure potential during periods when the fewest employees are present.
When effective work practices or engineering controls are not feasible or while such controls are being instituted, appropriate personal protective equip- ment must be used. Examples of per- sonal protective equipment are gloves, safety goggles, helmets, safety shoes, protective clothing, and respirators. To be effective, personal protective equip- ment must be individually selected; properly fitted and periodically refit- ted; conscientiously and properly worn; regularly maintained; and replaced, as necessary.1
Implementing these controls in combi- nation with proper employee training will largely help to prevent incidents from oc- curring, putting into effect proactive indus- trial hygiene management.
Managing Your Occupational
Health and Safety Program
When it comes to managing your occupa- tional health and safety program, your job can be made easier if equipped with the right tools. This is where investing in in- dustrial hygiene software comes into play.
Effective industrial hygiene manage- ment requires recording and maintaining consistent and complete work site data. Using outdated methods, such as Excel spreadsheets or, worse, pen and paper methods, is in itself a serious risk. While these management systems do work, it requires more time and effort on your end and is prone inaccuracy and mis- communication.
One case where ineffective industrial hygiene management proved devastating was a series of explosions that resulted in 173 fatalities and hundreds of injuries at the Port of Tianjin on Aug. 12, 2015. Sadly, the explosions could have easily been pre- vented had industrial hygiene management been in place. Through investigation, it was discovered that many of the hazardous materials stored at Port of Tianjin were in- compatible with one another and were im- properly stored. The chemicals on site were not properly documented and were not ap- proved by the Chinese government. There was no buffer zone established between the site and the community, putting innocent
lives at risk. All were activities that should have been monitored and managed to pre- vent this incident from happening.
Industrial hygiene software helps you identify and communicate when some- thing is not safe, to keep your workers and the community sound. It provides the right capabilities to manage work site safety with ease and gives you the confidence you are protecting your employees. By using indus- trial hygiene management software, you have access to a platform that manages and maintains all necessary industrial hygiene activities, including establishing a stan- dardized assessment process, document- ing qualitative demographic surveys and exposure/control information, easily log- ging monitoring data, managing employee training, and assigning and tracking cor- rective actions. Choosing to digitize your industrial hygiene solution can also include integrated analytics to evaluate and enable continuous improvement over time, char- acterize new hazards related to change, and provide exclusive features, such as multi- lingual and offline mobile capabilities to be used anywhere and at any time.
When it comes to industrial hygiene, the risk of ineffective management is too great. You can’t afford to use a system that doesn’t do its job. Deploying industrial hy- giene software is the best way to anticipate, evaluate, and manage occupational health and safety risks, enabling you to prioritize the health and safety of your employees and the community.
Ma Joelle Lingat is Marketing & Public Relations Specialist for Gensuite, a cloud- based compliance and management soft- ware solutions provider for occupational health and safety and beyond. She has cov- ered topics in EHS, sustainability, industri- al hygiene, and responsible sourcing across a variety of channels.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.osha.gov/dte/library/indus- trial_hygiene/industrial_hygiene.pdf
2. https://www.aiha.org/government-affairs/ PositionStatements/whitepaper01_Sweatshops- GlobalEconomy.pdf
3. https://www.osha.gov/dte/library/indus- trial_hygiene/industrial_hygiene.pdf
4. http://www.ehstoday.com/industrial_hy- giene/ehs_imp_38050
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