Page 10 - OHS, April/May 2025

I N D U S T R I A L H Y G I E N E
A Risk-Based Approach for Driving Excellence in Industrial
Hygiene Program Management
How integrating soft ware and management of change processes can improve chemical
oversight, SEGs, exposure assessments, and sampling plans.
BY GREG DUNCAN, MELP, CSP AND KRISTI HAMES, CIH, CSP
Andrey Popov/stock.adobe.com
Boomers retire and long-held IH roles are increasingly
The fi eld of industrial hygiene (IH) is evolving. As Baby
being restructured, outsourced, or integrated into broader
OH&S programs, many organizations are rethinking how
they manage IH. One way organizations are navigating this chang-
ing landscape is by shift ing from a compliance-focused strategy to
a more risk-based approach. Th is approach is creating new oppor-
tunities for businesses to take a more proactive stance on exposure
assessment and control while simultaneously helping to structure
the IH program in a way that is more responsive to changing risks.
Let’s explore how a risk-based approach to IH, incorporating
eff ective management of change (MOC) principles, can enhance
core IH program functions such as chemical inventory manage-
ment, defi ning and maintaining similar exposure groups (SEGs),
qualitative exposure assessment (QEA), and sampling plan de-
velopment. Along the way, we’ll also discuss how IH soft ware can
support implementation of a risk-based approach, improving pro-
gram performance and better protecting worker health.
Chemical Inventory Management
Many chemicals are subject to substance-specifi c exposure stan-
dards, and compliance with these standards has long been viewed
as the benchmark for IH program performance. Unfortunately,
this compliance-based approach oft en fails to fully recognize and
control risks from chemicals that are not specifi cally regulated.
By contrast, a risk-based approach expands the scope of the
IH program to assess the risks of all hazardous chemicals in the
workplace. Th is might sound like a huge undertaking but having
detailed, real-time visibility into workplace chemical inventory is
a huge step toward ensuring that you’re identifying and control-
ling all chemical hazards. With a detailed understanding of your
chemical inventory in hand, you can then apply MOC processes
to ensure that chemical exposure risks are systematically evaluated
as early as possible, implement appropriate exposure controls, and
even restrict chemicals from your inventory to eliminate risks be-
fore workers are ever impacted.
Chemical management soft ware allows users to centralize
chemical inventory control and provide ready access to safety data
sheet (SDS) information so that exposure risks can be reviewed
and controlled as early as possible in the procurement and design
processes. Chemical management soft ware can even provide the
ability to fl ag chemicals in your inventory based on selected health
hazards, OELs, applicable regulatory requirements, and other cri-
teria to automatically trigger exposure risk assessments and MOC
approvals before those chemicals ever come through the door.
Defi ning & Maintaining Similar Exposure Groups (SEGs)
SEGs are a tried-and-true IH management tool based on the prin-
8 Occupational Health & Safety | APRIL/MAY 2025 www.ohsonline.com