Page 32 - OHS, September 2020

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
How Does Industrial Hygiene Relate to Risk-Based Safety Management?
Did you know that the ANSI/ASSP Z10.0 Standard provides a framework for OHS management and industrial hygiene? Here are some tips on how to leverage this standard to better safeguard your workers.
BY GREG ZIGULIS
Readers who have been involved in occupational health, safety and environmental matters for a while have probably had an exposure to the concept of
risk-based management systems. Many organizations have procedures that are aligned with risk-based approaches consistent with the concepts contained in standards like ISO 14001 (Environmental Management Systems) and ISO 45001 (Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems [OHSMSs]).
Significantly, the American Society of Safety Professionals published a revision to the ANSI/ASSP Z10 standard in late 2019 (now referred to as ANSI/ ASSP Z10.0), which includes new requirements that pertain to occupational health and industrial hygiene. This risk-based management system is a national
standard on the topic of Occupational Health and Safety Management Systems. It is a consensus standard (as opposed to a regulatory requirement). At a high level, it provides a framework for OHS management that includes several requirements for processes that work together to create a sustainable safety management system.
The standard essentially requires organizations to implement processes in a way that accounts for some real-world business dynamics and pressures—the failure of which to consider could result in the failure to achieve OHS goals. (For a broader overview of the standard, see The New ANSI/ASSP Z10.0 Standard and Its Implementation, in the June 2020 edition of OH&S on ohsonline.com.)
While the ANSI/ASSP Z10.0 standard requires the
28 Occupational Health & Safety | SEPTEMBER 2020
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