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Industrial Hygienist
It’s the responsibility of all organizations to ensure safer and healthier working conditions at all times. This means that every employer must anticipate, recognize, evaluate and control workplace conditions and illnesses. Industrial hygienists best execute any of these tasks. These professionals play a critical role in identifying specific health hazards within the workplace, such as noise, lead, asbestos, infectious diseases and pesticides.
Whether you’re on the hunt for industrial hygienist jobs or looking to hire these professionals, Safe T Professionals can help you. As a staffing company that specializes in only safety, we take away the worry in all your EHS job search or staffing needs. On top of that, we offer valuable resources to help job seekers find employment opportunities and scale the career ladder.
Here’s everything you need to know about the job description of an industrial hygienist. Before you dive in too deep, take a moment first to understand this profession.
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What is an Industrial Hygienist?
In simplest terms, an industrial hygienist is a scientist or engineer who ensures the health and safety of everyone in a work environment. These professionals assess and control physical, environmental, chemical and biological hazards that could cause accidents or illness at the workplace. They also advise the organizations they work for on ways to reduce or control the worker’s exposure to hazardous materials and harmful conditions. Generally, their responsibilities revolve around making sure that state and federal regulations and standards are met.
What Does an Industrial Hygienist Job Entail?
You may understand the objective of an industrial hygienist, but you still want to ask what the job entails. Usually, the job description of these professionals varies based on the work environment and industry. However, most duties and responsibilities remain the same in most jobs.
The job of an industrial hygienist is to ensure a safe work environment for all, including workers and the local community. The hygienist may be required to check all automatic systems, including ventilation, to mitigate risks to workers in case of an accident.
The job also requires the hygienist to address all pre-existing risks at the workplace. For instance, professionals may be tasked with all safety protocols that are observed when using toxic or dangerous chemicals. In some cases, the job will include identifying potential dangers in the workplace.
In new organizations, their job will mainly involve developing safety protocols. Others duties of an industrial hygienist include:
- Offering up-to-date education in line with occupational health and safety legislation
- Educating various parties on workers’/insurance claims relating to exposure at the workplace
- Implementing corrective measures and suspending operations when there’s need
- Conducting training and presentations to ensure employee awareness of occupational health and safety regulations, programs and concerns
- Auditing programs regularly
- Proposing and implementing programs and ergonomics that help protect workers’ health
- To assess and analyze research data, summarize statistics and compile reports
- Oversee biological monitoring programs
- Advise and collaborate with management to resolve occupational health issues
- Create and execute studies to monitor and assess the exposure of employees to health risks
- Measure the effectiveness of occupational health procedures, policies and programs
In sum, the job description of these hygienists closely ties to that of an environmental health and safety specialist. It primarily includes evaluating, assessing and improving safety procedures.
Education and Performance Requirements
A high school diploma is sometimes sufficient for some entry-level jobs. In such cases, a good background in biology, physics, mathematics and chemistry comes in handy. However, most employers often hire college graduates. That means you need a bachelor’s degree in engineering or science to qualify for this job.
Many colleges and universities offer programs in industrial hygiene. Most bachelor’s degree programs will take four years, while a master’s degree will take an additional 1-2 years. Individuals who qualify to work as statisticians, toxicologists, nurses, physicians, chemists and engineers can easily switch careers to work as industrial hygienists.
In some cases, organizations will have high regard for applicants who qualify to work as a certified industrial hygienist jobs. That’s why it’s critical to pursue all relevant certifications. ABIH, better known as the American Board of Industrial Hygiene, is among the institutions that offer certification to practicing hygienists. Those who qualify for this include individuals who already have a bachelor’s degree in biology, medicine, sanitary engineering, mechanical, chemical, physics or even chemistry.
A certified industrial hygienist (CIH) will often have better employment prospects and even more than those without certifications.
Upon successful employment, your organizations may sometimes take you through short on-the-job training to understand more about specific practices and procedures in the company. Many industrial hygienists who wish to scale the career ladder will have to pursue the relevant OHS courses and training continuously.
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What important skills & Traits do you need to succeed?
Working as a certified industrial hygienist, CIH requires a strong eye for details and excellent organizational skills. Because the job can sometimes become very demanding, some organizations will need potential candidates to have the ability to multitask as well as stress and pressure management skills.
Essential skills, such as resilient interpersonal skills, patience and excellent communication skills will become useful when interacting with other teams. Also, the ability to work to tight deadlines with minimum or no supervision is vital. Other desirable skills include analytical, critical-thinking, investigative and problem-solving skills. Applicants with the ability to convey complex details in a simple way to non-technical individuals are likely to emerge victors in an interview.
Work Location and Environments
A reputable industrial staffing agency like Safe T Professionals can place industrial hygienists in a wide range of sectors. These include manufacturing plants, power plants, satellite facilities, hospitals, companies that install and service equipment, chemical, research facilities as well as construction companies. In most cases however, these work environments pose high risks of accidents, injuries and illnesses. At Safe T Professionals, we can place you all over the US and beyond, including industrial hygienists, Maryland.
Work Details & Schedule
Typically, these professionals spend a significant amount of their time at busy (and sometimes noisy) work sites. Although they sometimes work in laboratories and offices, their jobs and employers may sometimes require them to travel a great deal. Regardless of their work station, they often work Mon-Fri, usually 9-5. They may, however, be required to work on weekends or nightshifts. That’s usually if their companies operate round the clock or when there’s an emergency.
Getting the Job
If you just finished school, the placement office, your professor or department noticeboard at the university can be resourceful places to go when searching for a job. On top of that, you can directly apply to random companies, those that you worked with during your school years, or those that have advertised hygienist jobs. Places with higher chances of offering you a job include public health agencies, consulting firms, insurance companies and large corporations.
Other good sources for employment leads include internet job websites, newspaper classifieds, professional journals and your state employment agency. The annual American Industrial Hygiene Association conference also offers employment services for those looking for jobs.
If none of the above options sounds appealing, a local industrial staffing agency like Safe T Professionals may come in handy. Here, we have plenty of job listings to help you find a job that matches your qualifications and needs.
Salary Potential for an industry hygienist, Denver
Industrial hygiene is one of the best paying industries nationwide. An industrial hygienist, Seattle, can make $73,010 at entry-level and up to $100,000 if they qualify to work as a certified industrial hygienist.
Nevertheless, an industrial hygienist salary is often determined by many factors. These include work location, industry, place of work, qualification and even experience.
Organizations in scientific services, management, manufacturing and engineering for instance, pay the highest salaries – sometimes up to $115,000.
Job Outlook
Individuals with EHS training are among the top professionals in demand. In fact, hygienist jobs are expected to grow by up to 6% between 2018 and 2028, according to BLS. That’s almost the same rate as that of health and safety technicians or specialists.
That means you will most definitely find work if you are looking for hygienist jobs. Individuals with advanced degrees or certifications have even better opportunities, and most will not struggle in their search for work.
Companies in the manufacturing and engineering sectors will most likely have the most job openings. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean that opportunities will not exist in other industries like FMCG.
Where to find a job as a certified industrial hygienist near me?
Does working as an industrial hygienist consultant sound like something you want to do for a living? If your answer is in the affirmative, Safe T Professionals can be of great help. Here, we partner with a wide range of organizations, including Fortune 100 companies, with job openings for CIH, certified industrial hygienist.
Browse our website to see our current job listings. Feel free to contact if you have any concerns or need help. Our customer care reps will be more than happy to help.
