What is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH)?
And How Do They Make Buildings Safer?
An Industrial Hygienist is an often overlooked role—when in fact, Industrial Hygienists and Certified Industrial Hygienists (CIHs) play a crucial role in building safety and public health.
Watch the short video below to see how CIHs can help protect your people, business, and built environment.
What Is a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH)?
Industrial hygienists are “professionals who protect and enhance the health, safety, and environment of people at work and in their communities,” according to the Board for Global EHS Credentialing (BGC)—formerly known as the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH). The BGC is the world's largest organization for certifying professionals in the practice of industrial hygiene.
In other words, an Industrial Hygienist (IH) assesses your facility for any hazards that could impact the health and safety of your building occupants.
As GHP’s Certified Industrial Hygienist Ken Garza explained, “We try to prevent people from experiencing any occupational health and safety issues inside a building. We are here as occupational health and safety specialists to protect people and make sure they are living and working within a safe environment.”
When assessing your facility, an Industrial Hygienist seeks to evaluate indoor air quality, ventilation/air circulation, environmental stressors, and risk of human exposure to biological, chemical, physical, and other hazardous contaminants. They can also help facility managers with emergency response planning, health and safety planning, feasibility studies, property risk assessments, OSHA compliance, job hazard analysis, soil analysis, and more.
Health Hazards in the Built Environment
If people are experiencing negative health symptoms in a building such as headaches, hearing loss, difficulty breathing, or other signs of illness or Sick Building Syndrome, Industrial Hygienists can investigate your facility for contributing factors or causes.
The EPA defines Sick Building Syndrome as “situations in which building occupants experience acute health and comfort effects that appear to be linked to time spent in a building, but no specific illness or cause can be identified.”
In line with the Board for Global EHS Credentialing’s standards, a Certified Industrial Hygienist specifically provides expertise in the following areas:
Air Sampling and Instrumentation
Analytical Chemistry
Basic Science
Biohazards
Biostatistics and Epidemiology
Community Exposure
Engineering Controls/Ventilation
Ergonomics
Health Risk Analysis and Hazard Communication
Industrial Hygiene/OEHS Program Management
Noise
Non-Engineering Controls
Radiation—Ionizing and Non-ionizing
Thermal Stressors
Toxicology
Work Environments and Industrial Processes
What is the Difference Between an Industrial Hygienist and a Certified Industrial Hygienist?
Industrial Hygienists typically have a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering, environmental health, chemistry, biology, or another related scientific or technical expertise. Many IHs also possess a master’s degree in a similar field for enhanced expertise.
However, the term “Industrial Hygienist” is not regulated. In fact, anyone can call themselves an “Industrial Hygienist,” regardless of knowledge and competency. That is why many clients prefer to work with companies whose teams include a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH).
CIHs are certified by the Board of Global EHS Credentialing, ensuring they possess the required level of knowledge and skills to provide trusted industrial hygiene services. The BGC was established as this third-party, certifying organization in 1960.
To earn a CIH certification, Industrial Hygienists must meet the BGC’s standards related to college education requirements, professional-level work experience, rigorous examination, ongoing professional development, and their code of ethics.
In many states, the CIH designation is recognized as the mark of a credible industrial hygiene professional. With only 6,849 active CIHs in good standing worldwide with the BGC—according to the most recent annual statistics report published in 2019—it is important to look for the presence of a CIH on a company’s team before utilizing their services. In GHP’s case, we have two Certified Industrial Hygienists on staff who manage the quality of our industrial hygiene work nationwide.
Who Can Benefit from a Certified Industrial Hygienist?
The short answer is anyone who is responsible for the wellness and safety of building occupants. This could be a business owner, facility manager, property owner, or the like.
When people spend over eight hours a day in a building, that environment can have a profound effect on their well-being and safety. Building owners and managers can often be held liable for this impact, if not managed properly.
Additionally, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have established regulations for health and safety that apply to millions of U.S. businesses, and Industrial Hygienists can help assess and achieve compliance.
The below list from the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) demonstrates a fraction of the industries which Certified Industrial Hygienists serve:
Public Utilities
Colleges and Universities
Government
Insurance Companies
Labor Unions
Agricultural Companies
Chemical Companies
Research Laboratories
Hospitals
Manufacturing Companies
Hazardous Waste Companies
Military Bases
Construction Sites
Specific to workplaces, any work environment that has the potential for hazards—which, in reality, can be any work environment—will benefit from an Industrial Hygienist analyzing the health and safety of their space.
Beyond that, people who occupy older buildings often benefit from industrial hygiene services. Within the layers of an older building, there is a higher probability of finding hazardous materials such as asbestos, mold, lead-based paint, radon, and other harmful substances. If handled improperly, these substances can result in illnesses ranging from impaired breathing to cancer to Sick Building Syndrome, and your business could be held liable. Industrial Hygienists help minimize and securely manage these risk factors to protect your people and your business.
What to Expect When Working with a CIH
A Certified Industrial Hygienist practices the scientific art of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling hazards in built environments.
Anticipate
In this initial stage, a CIH will listen to you and develop a full understanding of your needs. Before stepping on-site, they want to have a solid grasp of any issues you might be facing, your goals, and your facility. Based on the details you provide, a CIH develops a recommended plan of action, identifying which tests to conduct in your facility.
Recognize
On-site, the CIH will observe for any physical signs of stressors and/or hazards. They will then conduct tests to verify physical observations.
Evaluate
Test samples will be sent to a trusted lab partner. The lab results will be evaluated to determine if the hypotheses are correct. The CIH will create a customized report that includes all findings, photo evidence, lab results, and recommended solutions for you.
Control
The CIH will walk you through the final report and explain any issues and proposed solutions in clear terms. Once a solution has been mutually decided upon, the CIH can help facilitate the mitigation or remediation of any issues—providing specialty consultant recommendations, on-site quality management, and supervising consultants as needed. During this process, the CIH’s assessments and recommendations can play a significant role in securing insurance coverage of repair costs. At the end, you will be equipped with a fully serviced built environment that supports the health of your people, facility, and business.
Proactive vs. Reactive: Preventing Illness, Injury, and Expense
In the past, Certified Industrial Hygienists have often been called upon as a reactionary resource. You experience an issue in your building, and you call a CIH to help you identify and fix that issue.
However, this trend is changing.
GHP’s CIH Ken Garza notes, “When I first started, industrial hygiene was considered reactionary. An issue would happen, and we would get called in to look at it. Now, Industrial Hygienists are called in ahead of time—to anticipate and control potential hazards before they become issues.”
We advise many clients not to wait to call a CIH until you need them.
Instead, if you seek precautionary risk assessments from a CIH for your facility and/or any construction, property selection, renovation, or zoning projects, you can more easily identify early warning signs. This early action can save your community from experiencing preventable illness, injury, and expense.
For example, let’s say you own an office building and are looking to update the interiors. You are considering interior improvements, including refreshing the walls with new, durable, easily cleaned vinyl wallpaper. One of your initiatives is to create a work environment that supports employee well-being and productivity, so you involve a CIH to review your plans and anticipate problem areas. They help you see that your building’s humidity levels combined with the new vinyl wallpaper would quickly lead to mold issues. The nonporous wallpaper would serve as a vapor barrier that could trap moisture behind it, trigger extensive mold growth, and negatively impact indoor air quality. Had you not involved the CIH, you could have faced expensive repairs down the road and negative health issues related to mold. The cost of involving the CIH on the front end would have been outweighed by the cost of the missed environmental issues.
To learn more about the benefits and cost savings of proactive indoor air quality, check out GHP's feature on IAQ Radio.
Interested in Becoming a CIH?
If you are interested in becoming a Certified Industrial Hygienist, the BGC explains the path to certification here. If you are a CIH and interested in joining the GHP team, we are always looking for a trusted expert partner. Please click here to explore opportunities with GHP.