Occupational hygiene
The discipline of anticipating, recognising, evaluating and controlling health hazards in the work environment, with the aim of protecting worker health and preventing occupational disease.
Also known as
By jurisdiction
UK HSE
“occupational hygiene”SharedOccupational hygiene is the applied science underpinning COSHH assessments, exposure monitoring and health surveillance under COSHH 2002. In GB, occupational hygienists are typically accredited by the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS). The discipline covers all routes of exposure: inhalation, skin absorption, ingestion and injection.
Irish HSA
“occupational hygiene”SharedOccupational hygiene is the scientific discipline supporting chemical agents risk assessment under the Chemical Agents Regulations 2001. The Irish Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and the Faculty of Occupational Medicine provide professional frameworks.
US OSHA
“industrial hygiene”SharedOSHA uses industrial hygiene as the parallel professional term. Industrial hygiene underpins OSHA sampling strategies for air contaminants, biological monitoring and the development of substance-specific standards. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and ACGIH are the leading US professional bodies.
Practitioner note: A professional discipline rather than a statutory term. Anticipate, recognise, evaluate, control is the working sequence, and evaluate is the step most often skipped.