Occupational Hygiene Society of Ireland (OHSI)

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The Occupational Hygiene Society of Ireland (OHSI) was formed in 1986. Its membership comprises broad interest group including occupational hygienists, occupational physicians, scientists and occupational health and safety practitioners.

The Society provides a consultative forum for the exchange of information and ideas for the control of occupational ill health.

The OHSI is a member of the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) whose function is to promote and develop occupational hygiene through out the world, to promote the exchange of occupational hygiene information, to encourage the development of occupational hygiene and to ensure a high ethical standard in occupational hygiene. The IOHA has members in 23 countries worldwide.

What is Occupational Hygiene?

Occupational Hygiene is a specialised discipline within the broad area of Occupational Safety and Health and is concerned with the prevention of ill health caused by exposures to poor work environments. It takes a quantitative and scientific approach to the interaction of workers and their environment.

The role of the hygienist is to:

• Identify hazardous agents of a chemical, physical
  or biological nature in the workplace
• Quantify exposure levels and assess the risk to employees
• Recommend control measures to minimise exposure

Occupational hygienists usually operate as part of a multi-disciplinary team that includes managers, safety practitioners, occupational physicians and employees.

The routine work of a hygienist is to ensure that a workers' environment does not cause ill health and that levels of exposure are in compliance with the statutory Occupational Exposure Limits (OELs) (also known in the U.S. as Threshold Limit Values (TLVs), for chemical, physical and biological agents.

Typical examples include assessing the hazards and risks associated with the handling of certain chemicals (e.g. acute toxins, carcinogens), physical agents (e.g. noise, radiation, thermal environment) or biological agents (e.g. infectious material, toxins).

This would include a study of existing plant, equipment, materials used, products and by-products, production processes and general working conditions.

Any problems identified should then be rectified, bearing in mind the hierarchy of the most practicable controls, through substitution or isolation of the offending agent or as a last resort the supply of suitable personal protective equipment (PPE).

PPE has its own inherent problems of isolation and discomfort, the effects of which should be considered in terms of the workers' health and welfare.