About IOHA

Frequently Asked Questions - FAQ's

What is Occupational Hygiene?
What is an Occupational Hygienist?
What does an Occupational Hygienist do?
How can you become an Occupational Hygienist?
What is the difference between Industrial and Occupational Hygiene?
Why Hygiene?

What is Occupational Hygiene?

The definition used by IOHA is:
'Occupational Hygiene is the discipline of anticipating, recognising, evaluating and controlling health hazards in the working environment with the objective of protecting worker health and well-being and safeguarding the community at large.'

Occupational Hygiene has also been defined as the practice of identifying of hazardous agents; chemical, physical and biological; in the workplace that could cause disease or discomfort, evaluating the extent of the risk due to exposure to these hazardous agents, and the control of those risks to prevent ill-health in the long or short term.

What is an Occupational Hygienist?

Occuptational hygienists are committed to protecting the health and safety of people in the workplace and the community.

Some occupational hygenists work in manufacturing, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, steel, mining and other industries.  Others work in national governments, hospitals and public utilities.  Some are employed as consultants or in research or academia.

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What does an Occupational Hygienist do?

Occupational hygienists keeps workers, and the communities surrounding surrounding workplaces, healthly and safe.  They also ensure compliance with laws and regulations in the work environment.

Occupational hygienists assess health risks in a workplace; sample air to determine if there are harmful substances present; measure noise levels in factories; supervise the safe removal from asbestos from buildings; and provide practical advice on how workers can be protected from job-related health and safety risks.

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How can you become an Occupational Hygienist?

Education, training and experience are all important aspects of an occupational hygienist's career.

Education can be obtained through formal undergraduate or postgraduate degrees, training can be gained by taking specialised courses, and experience can be achieved by working in the field.

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What is the difference between Industrial and Occupational Hygiene?

None really. The term Industrial Hygiene originated in the USA while in other parts of the world it is known as Occupational Hygiene. In some ways the term Occupational is a better description as health risks occur in all places that people work such as offices, shops, hospitals and farms, not just in places you would think of as industrial.

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Why Hygiene?

The word hygiene is derived from the name of the Greek goddess of health known as Hygeia. She was the daughter of Asklepios and sister to Panacea. While her father and sister were connected with the treatment of existing disease Hygeia was regarded as being concerned with the preservation of good health and the prevention of disease.

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