Organizational Solutions for Industrial Hygiene

Industrial Hygiene The American Industrial Hygiene Association publishes a number of different resources regarding the practice of industrial hygiene. Sometimes these resources are available only for the organization's membership, such as the Synergist, and an academic journal; however, a practitioner of industrial hygiene should be a member. That said, there are still publications available for those who are not members. One such free publication is the report "Demonstrating the business value of industrial hygiene." This report, which was published in 2008, makes the business case for industrial hygiene.

In doing so, it highlights that industrial hygiene is something that affects the entire business and therefore is the responsibility of everybody involved in the business. One of the issues that the report intends to deal with is the competition from other countries where worker safety protections maybe are not that good. The business case that is often made is that such protections needlessly increase the cost of doing business, and therefore make American workplaces less competitive in the global marketplace. The authors point out a few counterarguments.

First, that business leaders making such claims do not really understand the value that industrial hygiene contributes. Second, that the industrial hygiene profession needs to increase its ability to make such a case -- it often fails to counter such claims because its people are not economists or accountants, and do not always have the right information to refute claims. Going along with this is a general lack of data.

Thus, there is a problem where business leaders make the case, publicly, against industrial hygiene and the industry lacks effective counters. The industrial hygiene field has long argued -- and this is something that comes in this course as well -- that industrial hygiene is something that cuts across the entire business. All elements of management, human resources and the workers themselves need to be involved, not just the industrial hygienists.

When business leaders are not on board, and other elements of the business are not engaged, then the reality is that the business will suffer. Industrial hygiene is essential for things like reducing liability and risk, and reducing injuries that put the best workers on the shelf. These are things that maybe can be quantified, but it is worth bearing in mind that other workers in other countries are not necessarily better, and ultimately are not necessarily cheaper if they are always injured or otherwise taken out of action.

So this particular article is valuable for the contribution that it makes for industrial hygienists to put their profession in the context of the big picture with business. The have a better sense of what they contribute to the business, and a better sense of how they make a business better. But this report also helps to improve and define the relationship between industrial hygienists and managers. There is sometimes a disconnect with business leaders, when in fact business leaders are key partners.

This report provides a better framing for the value of industrial hygiene and its practitioners to the organization. The website, AIHA.org, overall, has several areas where it contributes. Some of these are available to members and thus are behind a paywall for the general public, but for those who are in.