NIOSH - SHO - 04-Overview of Industrial Hygiene

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
OVERVIEW
Safety and Health Officer Course
1
Objectives
• Explain in general the historical
development of Industrial Hygiene in
Malaysia
• State two roles of Industrial Hygiene
practitioners
• State the definition of Industrial Hygiene
• Explain the principles of Industrial
Hygiene
2 © 2014 NIOSH Malaysia. All rights reserved. No part of this document shall be
reproduced without written consent of NIOSH Malaysia.
Scope
• Role of Industrial Hygiene

practitioners
• Definition of Industrial Hygiene
• Principles of Industrial Hygiene
Development of Industrial
Hygiene in Malaysia
• Industrial Hygiene activities in Malaysia
began in the 1970s when DOSH started to
conduct factory inspections to identify health
hazards.
• Four regulations related to the practice of
Industrial Hygiene were gazetted under the
FMA 1967.
• Two regulations related to the practice of
Industrial Hygiene were gazetted under
OSHA 1994.
Role of Industrial Hygiene
Practitioners
• Prevention of exposure to or contact
with health hazards and control of
health risks in the workplace
environment.
• Address the source of problems by
identifying the hazard and method of
contact and how to prevent or minimise
exposure and/or its effects.
PREVENTION TREATMENT
INDUSTRIAL HYGIENIST
HAZARD DISEASE
WORKER
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH DOCTOR

© 2014 NIOSH Malaysia. All rights reserved. No part of this document shall be reproduced
6 without written consent of NIOSH Malaysia.
Industrial Hygiene:
AIHA Definition
• American Industrial Hygiene Association

“That science and art devoted to the
anticipation, recognition, evaluation, and
control of those environmental factors and
stresses arising in or from the workplace,
which may cause sickness, impaired health
and well-being, or significant discomfort among
workers or among citizens of the community”
© 2014 NIOSH Malaysia. All rights reserved. No part of this document shall be
7 reproduced without written consent of NIOSH Malaysia.
Principles of Industrial
Hygiene
• Anticipation of Hazard
• Hazard Identification
• Risk Assessment
• Risk Control
of chemical hazards, physical and biological

agents from work activities with the objective
to prevent or reduce the risks to health
Health Hazards
PSYCHOSOCIAL
CHEMICAL
PHYSICAL
ERGONOMIC
BIOLOGICAL
Chemical Hazards
• General
– Dust, particles and smoke
– Liquid and mists
– Gas and vapour
• Solvents
• Metals
• Acids and Bases
• Pesticides
Physical Hazards
– Noise
– Vibration
– Ionising radiation
– Non-ionising radiation
– Lighting
– Extreme high/low temperature
– Extreme high/low air pressure
Biological Hazards
• Micro organisms
- Bacteria, virus
• Insects
• Plants
- Fungus, yeast, mold
Hazard Identification
 Information sources
 Chemical inventory, Chemical Safety Data
Sheet (CSDS), product specification
 Process flow and description
 Factory layout plan
 Observation and Inspection
 Related Feedback
 Medical Records
Information on Plant,
Process and Material
– Layout plan of machinery and equipment
– Process flow chart
– Equipment inventory
– Chemical inventory including raw material,
end product, by-product and waste
– Process inventory including process flow,
materials used, conditions, standard
operating procedures, potential hazards
and control systems.
Employee Information
– Number of employees
– Employee name list by department/unit
• Gender
• Total working hours
• Work shift
• Position
• Age
Observation and Inspection
Objective:
• Identification of hazards to health at the
workplace
• Ensure that occupational safety and
health procedures are implemented
Workplace Observation
3 Approaches
• Geographical approach
– By location or work division
– Suitable to simple processes / various processes
in the same location
• Hazard tracking
– Track specific hazards such as noise
– Used to evaluate compliance to specific
Regulations.
• Process flow
– By following the work activity or process
– Suitable for complex work processes
Workplace Observation
• Identify all health hazards
– From both planned and unplanned activities
• Communication with operators or workers
who handle the process or control the
equipment
• Measurement of hazard using equipments
– Direct reading equipment
Employee Feedback
• Ask about symptoms/discomfort

– Example
Headache, skin irritation, vomiting
• Look into complaints
– Example
No provision of Personal Protective
Equipment
Medical Records
• Poisoning cases and work related

diseases
• Employee health complaints
• Health surveillance and occupational
medicine programmes
Objective of Risk
Assessment
• To enable decisions on the necessity of
exposure controls and measures.
• To determine the level of exposure and
its relationship the risk of disease.
Exposure Standards
 The limit of worker exposure to a hazard

without risk of adverse health effects.
 Useful in determining the necessity of risk
controls and measures.
 Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL)
Risk Assessment
 To know the properties of the hazard
and its risk to health
 Characteristics of exposure
 Level of exposure:
 Frequency of exposure
 Duration of exposure
 Intensity of exposure
 Analysis of results
Risk Assessment
 Characteristics of exposure
 Who is exposed?
 How many are exposed?
 What are they exposed to?
 How are they exposed?
 Inhalation
 Skin Absorption
 Ingestion
 Are there any existing control measures?

Risk Assessment
 Level of Exposure
 Frequency of exposure
 daily, weekly, monthly?
 Duration of exposure
 by seconds, minutes, hours?
 Intensity of exposure
 high, medium, low?
Risk Assessment
 Level of Exposure
 Exposure intensity - Quantitative
 Using equipment to measure the intensity or
magnitude of exposure
 Exposure intensity - Qualitative

 Using observation and professional opinion
Risk Assessment
Dust and Smoke Sampling
 Respirable Dust
 May enter the lungs
 Less than 10 micrometer in diameter
 Adversely affects the lungs
 Inhalable Dust
 May be inhaled into the respiratory system
 May come up to 100 micrometer in diameter
 Adversely affects the systemic and
respiratory systems
Risk Assessment
Gas and Vapour Sampling
 Gases and Vapours
 Are easily inhaled
 Use reagent which can absorb gas
or vapour
 Use container fill with reagent
 Use of direct reading equipments
 Use of integrated sampling
equipments
Risk Assessment
Noise Sampling
 Area Measurement
 Measurements taken at various
locations
 Noise Mapping
 Noisy zones
 Noise contours
 Measurement of worker exposure
 Measure at worker areas
Risk Assessment
Heat Stress
 Area measurement
 Measurement of various identified
locations at the workplace
 Measurement of worker exposure
 Measurements at location of worker
Quantitative Assessment
Sampling Technique
• Personal Sampling
– Equipment to measure the exposure level
at the worker breathing zone
– Equipment is attached to the worker
• Area Sampling
– Equipment to measure the level of
contaminants in the work environment
– Equipment is placed at various identified
locations in the workplace
Sampling Strategy
• Why should sampling be conducted?
• What is sampled?
• Who is sampled?
• When will sampling take place?
• Duration of sampling?
• How many samples are required?
Assessment of Results
• Comparison with Exposure Standards

Example: Permissible Exposure Limits
• Based on the rate of hazard/agent
production, its existence in the
workplace, and its level of
absorption/contact
• Sufficiency of control measures
Occupational Exposure
Standards
 Levels of controls for exposure exceeding the
permissible limits need to be monitored to
ensure the protection of worker health
 Permissible Exposure Limits (PEL)
 Threshold Limit Value (TLV) - ACGIH
 Workplace Exposure Standard (WES) -
Australia
Permissible Exposure Limits
under FMA 1967
• LEAD : 0.15 mg/meter3
• ASBESTOS : 1 fibre/millilitre air
• NOISE
– 90 dBA for 8 hours; 115dBA maximum
– 140 dB for impulse noise
• MINERAL DUST:
– 5 mg/m3 for respirable dust;
– 10 mg/m3 for total dust
– 0.1 mg/m3 for respirable quartz
Permissible Exposure Limits under
OSHA 1994
• CEILING LIMIT
– May not be exceeded at any time
• 8-HOUR TIME WEIGHTED AVERAGE (8-hour TWA)
– May not be exceeded after average for a duration of 8
hours
• MAXIMUM EXPOSURE LIMIT (15 MINUTE AVERAGE)
– May not be exceeded at any 15 minute average
– The value is three times the 8-hour TWA
TWA or Maximum Exposure
Concentration intensity
 3 x PEL Extremely high
 PEL, <3 x PEL High
 0.5 x PEL, < PEL Medium
 0.1 x PEL, <0.5 x PEL Low
<0.1 x PEL Extremely low
Qualitative Assessment
LEVEL OF Level of absorption/contact
EXPOSURE
Low Medium High
Low Extremely Low Mediun

Reaction level
low
Medium Low Medium High
High Medium High Extremely

high
38
© 2014 NIOSH Malaysia. All rights reserved. No
part of this document shall be reproduced
Principle of Risk Control
 Prioritise the control measures at the source, not the
worker
 Prioritise the elimination of hazards, not the reduction of
exposure
 Controls should target below the permissible exposure
limits
 Controls should be as low as practicable, especially in
cases where there is no data on the permissible
exposure limit
 Use of personal protective equipment (PPE) as a last
resort
1. Prioritise the control measures at the
source, not the worker
• Controlled source means controlled exposure
• Controlled source means a hazard free
environment
• It is easier to control processes, machinery and
equipment than to control workers
2.Prioritise the elimination of hazards,
not the reduction of exposure
 No hazard means no exposure
 Elimination of hazards is more effective
 Reduction of exposure is only recommended
where it is not possible to eliminate or isolate
the hazard
3.Controls should target below the
permissible exposure limits
 Risk is reduced if worker exposure is below
the permissible limits
 Exposure beyond the permissible limits is
detrimental to worker health
 Violation of regulations
4.Controls should be as low as
practicable, especially in cases where
there is no data on the permissible
exposure limit
 The risk of cancer or allergy exists even at low
exposure levels
 Hazard free environment is still the best
working environment
 Many chemicals do not have permissible
exposure limits
5.Use of personal protective equipment
(PPE) as a last resort
 Successful use of PPE depends on worker
cooperation
 To be effective, PPE needs to be worn at all
times
 Use of PPE is:
 A temporary measure
 An addition to other control measures
 When other methods are not practicable
Hierarchy of Risk Controls
• Elimination
• Substitution
• Isolation
• Reduced exposure through
– Engineering controls
– Safe work practices and procedures
– Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
1.Hazard Elimination
• Prohibition of use
– Prohibition of the use of benzene as a grease
remover or use of crosidolite in asbestos production
process
• Employment of other methods
– Benzene as grease remover is eliminated by using
physical controls such as the use of ultrasonic
technology
2. Substitution
• Substituting the hazard with a less hazardous
material/process
– n-hexane is toxic to the nervous system and may be
substituted with a water-based cleaning agent as a
grease remover
– Sand is substituted with glass beads in the blasting

and abrasive process
3.Isolation
• Distance
– Distance the hazard from
the workers
• Cover/Guard
– Cover the hazard
– Place guarding to prevent
unwanted entry/access to
hazard
4.Reduction of exposure
– Engineering controls
– Safe work practices and procedures
– Personal protective equipment (PPE)
Methods of Risk Control
Engineering Measures
• Chemical
– Ventilation, wet process
• Noise
– Noise absorption, soundproofing, damping,
isolating vibration
• Heat stress
– Automation, local temperature control
Work Practices and Procedures
• Chemical
– Safe operating Procedures (SOP), limiting
duration of exposure
• Noise
– Shift work, scheduling of heavy machinery
operations
• Heat stress
– Hourly rests in cooler temperatures, increasing
water intake, acclimatisation
Personal Protective Equipment
• Chemical
– Face shield
– Goggle
– Respirators / face masks
– Apron
– Gloves
– Protective clothing
– Protective shoes
• Noise
– Ear muffs
– Ear plugs
• Disposable
• Reusable
• Heat stress
– Face Shield
– Ventilated protective clothing
– Apron
– Heat resistant gloves
– Protective shoes
Other Control Measures
 Information, orders and training
 Exposure monitoring
 Health surveillance
 First aid and emergency facilities
 Warning signages

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INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE

Safety and Health Officer Course

• Role of Industrial Hygiene

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH DOCTOR

• American Industrial Hygiene Association

of chemical hazards, physical and biological

• Ask about symptoms/discomfort

• Poisoning cases and work related

 The limit of worker exposure to a hazard

 Are there any existing control measures?

 Exposure intensity - Qualitative

• Comparison with Exposure Standards

Low Extremely Low Mediun

High Medium High Extremely

– Sand is substituted with glass beads in the blasting

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