Industrial Hygiene

Yesterday was my last day of final exams.This morning for the first time in three months I waked up not murmuring facts to myself .This was one of the toughest semester.No more will I carp and carp on how awful my industrial hygiene class was or how I had to turn a forty pages risk assessment paper in two weeks.Despite the late night calculations of how the employees get overexposed; I still didn’t enjoy the class.The class wasn’t that challenging but when you have an instructor who thinks his students must know things without an instructor making it clear; it sure would be a difficult one.I don’t see myself as being an engineer calculating employee overexposure in some manufacturing plant someday.I must admit though there is something i learned that is ineffaceable;I did learn a lot of engineering control teachniques that will be helpful in my life someday(if I happen to own a plant).


Industrial hygiene is the art and science of anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of environmental hazards.If you look around your job areas; there must be atleast one hazard on your way.This hazard may be an immediate dangerous to life and health .Industrial hygiene wants you to anticipate the hazard that may harm you as an employee/employer.Lets assume you are a trained industrial expert, could you recognize the hazard as a threat?.Is there any chances that the computer key board you are typing on is infected with a bacteria? Do you ever take the chance to wipe your keyboard after someone else used it? It is simple stuff like this that may help you avoid the trip to the doctors office; don’t forget the countless doctors visit fees you have to cough.Your life is an inestimable value.One of the things I learned in this class was noise.Everyday we are exposed to noise whether we are driving in the interstate or watching television.Exposure to a loud noise can cause permanent hearing damage.The rule of thumb is that if you could not hear your partner who is two feets away then you are most definately deafening.Do not despair; you can take an action today and reduce the noise level in your environ.This is where engineering comes handy; you need to apply some engineering control.You can make some physical changes or by even modifying your habits;for example you can reduce the car radio volume.According to NIOSH(National Institute of safety and Health) 48% of US adults have suffered some hearing loss including 35 % of that number being people in the age range of 18-29 years.It feels good when you are cruising on the freeway with a noise attenuation greater than the normal healthy level.This intermittent or continuos noise exposure would one day kill your hair cells in the ear drum.Asymetrical noise induced from sirens and gunshots also do contribute to hearing loss.

Have a Noise free day !