Industrial hygiene control phase

Industrial hygiene is a science devoted to the identification, evaluation, and control of occupational conditions that cause sickness and injury. Industrial hygienists are also responsible for selecting and using instrumentation to monitor the workplace during the identification and control phases of industrial hygiene projects. 

The three phases in any industrial hygiene project are identification, evaluation, and control ... 

The health and environmental data collected in the laboratory becomes the basis for defining operating controls and practices auid for manufacture and use. Typically, the chemical manufacturer, and many users, initiate industrial hygiene monitoring auid medical surveillance programs in the commercial phase. 

Following the evaluation phase of the industrial hygiene and medical surveillance programs, one should have an excellent picture of where the problems are and a good handle on their significance. After clearly explaining the hazards to the miners, the operator needs to make available appropriate protective equipment to those employees working with exposures at or above the estabUshed lower control levels. Personal protective equipment (PPE) must be viewed as a temporary or interim step until a permanent solution to the exposure problem is implemented. 

As with evaluation, control efforts must first be targeted on the worst as determined through the three previous phases of the industrial hygiene process. In the profession of industrial hygiene, a hierarchy of controls is recognized. In order of priority, these are engineering controls, administrative controls (work practices), and as a last resort for routine or daily exposure control, use of PPE. A complete list of all controls for aU potential hazards encountered in mining is beyond the scope of this chapter however, some basic control concepts and examples of different controls follow. 

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