Occupational Health, Industrial Hygiene and Occupational Disease
Domain scope
This domain tests industrial hygiene and occupational health: exposure routes, limits, monitoring, health surveillance and occupational disease recognition.
Core rules and concepts
- Industrial hygiene follows anticipation, recognition, evaluation and control of workplace stressors.
- Routes of exposure are inhalation, ingestion, skin absorption and injection. Dermal exposure is often underestimated.
- Occupational exposure limits include TLVs, PELs and national OELs; they are advisory or legal depending on the source and are not a safe or unsafe boundary.
- Evaluate with personal air sampling, area sampling, wipe sampling and biological monitoring. Compare results with the correct averaging time.
- Health surveillance includes pre-placement, periodic and exit assessments; audiometry, spirometry, skin checks and biological monitoring as relevant.
- Occupational diseases include silicosis, asbestosis, lead poisoning, occupational asthma, dermatitis, noise-induced hearing loss and hand-arm vibration syndrome.
Worked example
A spray painter uses an isocyanate paint. Personal sampling shows exposure above the 8-hour OEL, and the worker reports wheezing. Controls: substitute a less hazardous coating, enclose the process and use local exhaust ventilation, add respiratory protection with fit testing, introduce health surveillance and record the exposure. The worker is referred for medical assessment; the process is not restarted until controls are verified.
Traps
Relying on smell to judge exposure; using PPE as the only control; ignoring skin absorption; taking a sample without matching the averaging time; and failing to link health surveillance to exposure records.