CIH study guide
CIH · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) credential is a professional certification for practitioners who anticipate, recognize, evaluate, and control workplace and environmental health hazards. It is used by industrial hygienists, EHS managers, safety professionals, occupational health specialists, consultants, and regulators whose work involves exposure assessment, air sampling strategy, ventilation and other engineering controls, toxicology and risk characterization, community exposure, and program management. The CIH study guide has 7 sections and about 2,255 words.
01Exposure Assessment
Exposure assessment begins with basic characterization : gather process, agent, and workforce information, then group workers into similar exposure groups (SEGs) - workers whose exposures should be alike because tasks, materials, and controls are alike. The deliverable is an exposure profile for each SEG, not a perfect number for one individual.
307 words, about 2 min02Control
Controls follow the hierarchy : elimination, substitution, engineering controls, administrative controls, then PPE as the last line. Engineering controls include local exhaust ventilation (LEV) - hood, duct, air cleaner, fan, discharge - and dilution/general ventilation , which relies on mixing and is unsuitable for highly toxic or high-generation-rate agents.
324 words, about 2 min03Health Risk Assessment and Management
The classic four-step risk assessment is hazard identification, dose–response assessment, exposure assessment, and risk characterization. Noncancer effects use a reference dose/concentration (RfD/RfC) and a hazard quotient : HQ = exposure ÷ RfD.
311 words, about 2 min04Community Exposure
Community exposure assessment differs from occupational work in three ways: receptors (children, elderly, sensitive subgroups), timing (continuous, 24 hours/day, year-round rather than 8-hour workdays), and pathways (air, soil, dust, water, homegrown food, vapor intrusion). Multiple pathways must be aggregated for a single receptor, and background sources must be separated from the facility's contribution.
311 words, about 2 min05Management and Leadership
Management questions test whether you can run EHS as a system , not a series of reactions. Know the Plan–Do–Check–Act cycle and frameworks such as ISO 45001 and ANSI Z10 : policy, planning, implementation, evaluation, and management review.
310 words, about 2 min06Emergency Preparedness and Response
Emergency preparedness is all-hazards : the same plan, roles, and resources flex across fire, chemical release, severe weather, and security events. Start with a hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) to rank probability and consequence, then build an emergency action plan with alarm, evacuation, shelter-in-place, accountability, and communication elements.
340 words, about 2 min07Ethics and Professional Conduct
Professional ethics codes for industrial hygienists converge on a few duties: hold paramount the health and safety of workers and the public ; practice only within your competence ; report data and conclusions accurately and completely ; protect confidentiality ; disclose and manage conflicts of interest ; avoid misrepresentation of credentials or results; and maintain competence through continuing education. In practice, the hard cases are structural.
352 words, about 2 min