Industrial Hygiene: Definition, Purpose, and Operation

Are you looking to find out what industrial hygiene is and why it’s so important?

Industrial hygiene is an old concept that is becoming more and more important in the modern world. It’s not just about keeping dirt out of industrial worksites. It’s actually now fundamental to many industrial operations.

Since large employers are looking to fill growing industry gaps, there are a lot of industrial hygiene jobs on the market. Before you start thinking about receiving an industrial hygiene certification, let us tell you what it’s all about!

Industrial Hygiene Virtual Conference

Industrial Hygiene Definition

Industrial hygiene means what you think it would mean—making sure industrial workplaces are clean. But, ‘clean’ can mean a few different things in an industrial workplace.

With this in mind, we can refer to OSHA for a quality definition:

“Industrial hygiene is the science of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace conditions that may cause workers’ injury or illness.”

This seems quite straightforward, but what does it mean in practice? How do we perform industrial hygiene?

The Purpose of Industrial Hygiene

As our definition shows, industrial hygiene is quite a simple idea, but its processes are more complex. The purpose of it is not just to clean up the workplace.

These days, the industry seeks to predict and identify any hazards and mitigate their effects before becoming an issue. They also work to put strategies in place to avoid them.

Another purpose of industrial hygiene is to improve industrial efficiency and performance. Since hazards cause facilities to shut down for periods, industrial hygiene is critical to keeping operations going.

To learn more about the topic, you can attend this Industrial Hygiene Virtual Conference.

Industrial Hygiene Operation

Given the objectives of industrial hygiene are quite advanced, its operations need to be too. Like so many tasks in the modern era, industrial hygiene often relies on data analytics to get the best results.

Industrial hygienists look for trends in data for all types of hazards. They’re not simply looking at statistics for illness and injury. They are trying to find out exactly what processes need to be followed for optimal results.

But, once these issues have been identified, the industrial hygienist’s job is just beginning. After that, they must strategize processes to help avoid or mitigate negative outcomes. For many industrial hygienists, this may mean engaging in engineering projects, chemical experimentation, and workflow management.

Another big part of industrial hygiene is the process of constant monitoring. Industrial hygiene monitoring means having all of the right systems in place for gathering data from every stage of the workflow.

A New Job for a New Era

As you now know, industrial hygiene is at the center of what big corporations do these days. It’s all about being in full control of your operations.

This not only leads to better safety for employees, but it also contributes to a much more efficient and performance-driven work environment.

Read Also: How to Start Your Own Mechanic Business

If you’ve found this information useful, be sure to check out some of our other great articles on business and industry topics.