What can a CIH do for me?
By the DuPont Personal Protection CIH Team: Mark Tartaglia, CIH; Damien Hammond, CIH, CSP; and Kay Dietrich, CIH, CSP
Industrial hygiene is the anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of workplace hazards. It’s an interdisciplinary practice blending the sciences of chemistry, biology, physics, toxicology, math and engineering, and their application to solve worker health and safety challenges. Industrial hygienists typically possess a college bachelor's degree and, in many cases, an advanced degree.
Certification in industrial hygiene is one of several certifications within the field of occupational and environmental health and safety (OEHS) professional disciplines. An individual who achieves the certification is referred to as a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH). To qualify as a CIH, the individual must meet certain educational and experience requirements, as well as pass a comprehensive exam.
CIHs practice in a wide variety of workplace settings, including in industry, government, academia and environmental services, and are subject matter experts in health and safety risk assessment. They develop and implement solutions for worker protection by applying the hierarchy of exposure controls – hazard elimination/substitution, engineering controls, administrative/work practice controls and personal protective equipment (PPE).
DuPont Personal Protection (DPP) retains a team of CIHs supporting the DuPont™ Tyvek® and DuPont™ Tychem® product lines. This support takes the form of several types of assistance for end users of these products:
- Providing technical support related to the proper selection of product solutions
- Developing technical guidance documents
- Developing and delivering training content
- Direct CIH-to-CIH peer interactions
- Targeted on-site hazard risk assessments
What does a support engagement with a DPP CIH look like?
A typical engagement to assist with product selection involves contact between an end user and a CIH team member via telephone or email. The end user needs to provide critical information regarding the details of their exposure application so the CIH can offer suitable solution options. Included among the information needed for a comprehensive evaluation is:
- Detailed description of the task(s) involved with the exposure application
- List of the hazard(s) and the concentration(s) and physical state(s) involved with the application; for chemicals, safety data sheets (SDSs) should be provided
- Intensity, duration, direction and temperature associated with contact exposure to the PPE
- Current PPE being used, if any, and any associated issues with its use
Based on the information provided, the CIH will complete an analysis against product performance data in order to offer solution options for the end user to consider. The more complete the information provided is, the more useful the guidance offered.
Be aware that the suggested options are only options – not recommendations – for the end user to choose from. It is the end user’s legal responsibility to select appropriate PPE that matches the exposure hazards for their employees.
How can a CIH assist with PPE selection for emergency responders?
Emergency responders can take advantage of CIH support services during their pre-planning process, based on items identified during routine inspections (e.g., fire marshals), or based on factors like bulk goods transportation observations. Based on the pre-planning results, a DPP CIH can help identify PPE product options for potential scenarios faced by industrial or public emergency responders.
Additionally, a DPP CIH team member can provide training in how to search our extensive product permeation testing database and the product selector tools available in SafeSPEC™, our web-based, mobile-friendly product information resource. SafeSPEC™ helps emergency responders to self-identify product solutions and appropriate applications in the event that a CIH team member is not readily available. To learn more, visit SafeSPEC™.
Learn more about the DuPont Personal Protection Certified Industrial Hygienist services by contacting Allie Fletcher here.