Industrial Hygiene in Construction Health & Safety
Industrial Hygiene probably isn’t the first term that comes to mind when talking about workplace safety. People tend to categorize employee safety into individual topics like fall protection, proper lifting techniques or personal protective equipment. While that is correct, these topics are collectively known as industrial hygiene, the science of determining and forecasting any and all workplace hazards.
This science is typically divided into categories of physical risk, biological, chemical, and ergonomic. We’ll take a high-level view and discuss 3 pillars of industrial hygiene that encompass all categories.
Engineering Controls
This pillar of industrial hygiene has safety protocols built into the work process. The process itself include steps that mitigate known hazards while keeping safety a fresh topic. For example, pre-shift safety meetings (PSSM) not only teach workers about safe procedures, done consistently, they drive a culture of safety that permeates the entire job site. Engineering controls make PSSM a formal step in the actual process of completing the work. Consider the modern surgical suite and the PSSM that doctors and nurses take together before they open a patient. As a medical team completes final preparation for a procedure, everyone suddenly stops. A form of PSSM begins with a) do we have the right patient? b) do we all agree on the procedure we’re doing today, and c) do we have the correct side (right or left)? In other words, since safety precautions are a part of the process itself, engineering controls ensure that the process cannot be properly completed without adhering to prescribed safety instructions.
Workplace Practice
The second pillar of industrial hygiene focuses on approaching work with thoughtful practices that reduce dangerous situations by adding mindfulness to the task. Toolbox Talks are a less formal opportunity to focus on a specific safety issue. For example, it is the holiday season and winter for much of us. More foot traffic due to people being off work, in addition to more challenging site conditions due to weather. Toolbox Talks give us a platform where important, yet less formalized protocols can be discussed. These types of talks alert us to small, sometimes seasonal details that are often overlooked and can lead to injury or damage to personnel, equipment, or the environment. Have your safety discussions been adapted for the season?
Administrative Controls
The third and final pillar is administrative controls. Using job hazard analysis to avoid peak danger times, these controls limit exposure to potential danger administratively by scheduling
tasks at optimal times. For instance, for some construction tasks, it is better to schedule around heavy foot traffic times to limit the likelihood of safety incidents. This can be a project management challenge but done well, is an easy way to avoid potential accidents. This is a bit like saying if you want to avoid sunburn, schedule your beach time at night. Obviously, a large job site can be more complex than a trip to the beach, nonetheless, the concept is the same. Administratively controlling and therefore avoiding instead of fixing workplace hazards is a priceless pillar to consider in IH.
Job safety is everyone’s responsibility and we all have a part in keeping ourselves and those around us as aware and educated as possible. These 3 pillars of Industrial Hygiene are imperative to a comprehensive workplace safety culture and should be considered in all your projects.
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