Organizations are accountable for the overall health and safety of the workers they recruit, from storehouse employees to the administrative suite at their desks. Keeping workers safe and healthy necessitates information on industrial hygiene. This is the science devoted to recognizing, anticipating, communicating, evaluating, and controlling environmental stressors in the workplace that may result in illness, injury, impairment, or affect workers’ and community members’ safety.
Enhanced workplace efficiency with increased productivity and technological improvements
Reduced workers’ who leave job from illness or injury
Improved employee health and increased life expectancy
Components of Industrial Hygiene
Industrial hygiene includes a vast range of health and safety concerns in the place of work. As a manager, you must be well-known with the fundamentals of most of them. Here are some of the critical components of industrial hygiene.
Noise: Exposure to noise in the long-term can result in hearing loss for workers. Noise problems can be addressed in many ways, including designing a facility to reduce noise, separating workers from loud machinery as much as possible, and using devices, such as earplugs or earmuffs, to protect workers.
Indoor air quality: This can be impacted by several factors, including pollution from machines or tools within the building, dust from mechanical processes, highway pollution outside the building, or gases. Bad air quality can cause problems ranging from nausea to chronic coughs to severe headaches. As per industrial hygiene air monitoring, appropriate ventilation is vital to ensure that fresh air is brought into the work area. Air filtering in an HVAC system can eliminate pollutants from the air.
Biological risks: Living organisms such as viruses, fungi, and bacteria, can get into the body and cause chronic and acute infections. Workers who handle animals or plants and laboratory or medical workers are mainly exposed for biological hazards. Still, all workers can be susceptible to threats such as bacteria and mold that lead to Legionnaire’s disease. Appropriate hygiene, for instance, ventilation, hand washing, personal protective equipment like respirators or gloves, and in some cases, separation of the hazard, can all reduce the risks related to biological threats.
Temperature: High and low temperatures can cause issues for workers. If temperatures are too high, workers are exposed to heat exhaustion or heatstroke. Heatstroke is a medical emergency that necessitates immediate attention. Workers must be allowed to adapt to the heat slowly and drink little water often, and air should be cooled whenever doable. Long exposure to low temperatures can result in frostbite or hypothermia. Workers should be allowed to wear woolen clothing and takeoffs in warmer climates when possible.
Controlling or Eliminating Hazards: After risky conditions have been identified, there is a systematic approach to minimizing or eliminating the potential hazard. This begins with designing the threat out of the process or operation, offering local exhaust ventilation, setting up appropriate work practices, offering proper personal protective equipment (PPE) and applicable executive measures.
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