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may have a greater negative effect on workers' health than do their on‐the‐job stresses or may increase the effects or risks associated with workplace exposures alone.
3 CURRENT STATUS OF PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN OCCUPATIONAL AND INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
The IOHA is an association of occupational hygiene organizations from across the world. All of these are dedicated to the discipline and application of the inherent principles of occupational hygiene. The goal of IOHA is to enhance the international network of occupational hygiene associations that promotes, develops, and improves occupational hygiene worldwide, providing a safe and healthy working environment for all. There are approximately 34 organizations in IOHA representing nearly as many countries. IOHA operates a National Accreditation Recognition (NAR) Scheme and there are some 15 certification schemes currently recognized.
As of 2017, 11,475 people have been certified in industrial hygiene practice by the ABIH, with over 6800 in active practice. The BOHS is the only professional society representing qualified occupational hygienists in the United Kingdom, and, in 2018, has over 1800 members in 57 countries. BOHS is the only occupational hygiene organization to be awarded a Royal Charter by Queen Elizabeth the Second: this was granted in April 2013 in recognition of BOHS' unique and pre‐eminent role as the leading authority in occupational disease prevention.
The number of AIHA members has declined in the first decade of the twenty‐first century, as seen in Figure 2. The presentations and activities at the AIHCE, in which professional industrial hygienists participate, have changed from scientific and technical research presentations to be dominated by roundtables and other discussion‐based activities.
FIGURE 2 AIHA membership since 1940.
3.1 Laboratory Accreditation Programs
The AIHA administers a laboratory accreditation program with the objective of assisting those laboratories engaged in analyses of industrial hygiene samples in achieving and maintaining performance levels within acceptable ranges. Internationally, laboratories performing occupational hygiene sample analyses come under a national accreditation scheme covering a wide range of products and industries, such as compliance with International Standard Organization ISO 17025. This includes the European Union, South Africa, and Japan. In Australia, this is the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA) which is Australia's national accreditation body for the accreditation of laboratories, inspection bodies, calibration services, producers of certified reference materials, and proficiency testing (PT) scheme providers throughout Australia. In the United Kingdom, the Health and Safety Laboratory (HSL) operates PT schemes in support of workplace and environmental asbestos assessments, again particularly in the area of asbestos identification and counting.
4 IMPORTANT CURRENT AND EMERGING TOPICS IN THE PRACTICE OF INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
There are a number of current and emerging topics of importance in the practice of industrial hygiene. This section lists some of the more significant topics to include product stewardship, exposure assessment methodologies, training, TWH and exposure concepts, management systems, indoor air quality, emergency preparedness, and ethics. The product stewardship section follows.
4.1 Product Stewardship
Product Stewardship generally means responsibly managing the health, safety, and environmental aspects of products throughout their life cycle and across the value chain in order to prevent or minimize negative impacts and maximize value. Many industrial hygienists through their traditional work have become increasingly involved in this affiliated area of professional practice.
Product Stewardship is a significant regulatory, health, and environmental protection activity increasingly required for all commercial entities that create, market, transport, import, or dispose of commercial products of all types. Many of the major chemical manufacturing, processing, and distribution companies are committed to performance programs through their various trade associations. All of these programs define elements and expectations for Product Stewardship. The number and complexity of Product Stewardship related regulations continue to grow globally with the implementation of Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labeling of Chemicals (GHS), expanded Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Chemical Data Reporting requirements and a growing list of participating countries implementing chemical control regulations impacting global commerce. The typical qualifications and capabilities of a professional industrial hygienist compare well with the competency requirements for the practice of Product Stewardship.
In general, there are no specific or consensus definitions of Product Stewardship. In fact, some use the term product safety to describe the same set of activities and principles. However, an analysis of publicly available documents can give a clear sense of the common elements and lead one to an understanding of the principals involved. The Product Stewardship Society uses the following definition:
Responsibly managing the health, safety and environmental aspects of raw materials, intermediate and consumer products throughout their life cycled across the value chaining order to prevent and minimize negative impacts and maximize value.
Product Stewardship has certain basic activities which are rooted in regulatory requirements:
hazard assessment
hazard communication
product exposure assessments
risk management
product development.
Whether defined as a set of principles, a program, a tool, a policy, or a process, the focus is a safe product of acceptable risk. The risk management of products throughout their life cycle requires an integrated organizational approach. This means a close relationships with customers and others involved in the supply chain are required to make Product Stewardship principles happen in the real world. Drivers for these activities are regulatory, moral, and ethical in nature.
It is clear that implementing Product Stewardship takes a cross‐functional approach and affects many departments or functions in a company. This requires significant effort in a company to maintain an understanding of each function's role and to assure each function is performing the activities needed. Furthermore, the Product Stewardship function itself can be comprised of several distinct disciplines including Toxicology, Occupational Medicine, Industrial Hygiene, and Regulatory Affairs. If specialists in these fields are not within the Product Stewardship function of an organization, the different forms of expertise will need to be available, or those doing Product Stewardship will need to develop a working proficiency in the mentioned areas. This is a challenge which with Occupational Hygienists are familiar. It is quite normal for a hygienist to bring together engineering, management, hourly, and union personnel to solve a problem or implement a solution. These skills and experience translate well to working in a Product Stewardship program.
IH professionals practice health protection and regulatory compliance in a framework which is different from, yet closely related to, Product Stewardship. Many of the technical and experiential competencies required for Product Stewardship are commonly possessed by Occupational Hygienists.
4.2 Advances in Exposure Assessment Methodologies and Technologies
Recent years have seen significant advances in the technologies and methodologies used for exposure assessment. Both the measurement and analysis of exposure data have been substantially innovated and improved. Both statistical approaches and modeling approaches to exposure assessment have continued to advance with the publication of the AIHA's exposure assessment strategies