Seven Attributes that Every Occupational Hygienist Needs to have

Occupational Hygienists are very important members of an occupational health and safety team. They bring specialized knowledge and scientific methods of assessing health hazards in workplaces. My job as an Occupational Hygienist is to protect the health and safety of employees at various workplaces. I achieve this by identifying workplace health hazards, evaluating the level of health risks that these hazards pose to employee health, and suggesting control measures that will mitigate and or minimize the impact of these health hazards on employee health. The workplace health hazards that I identify, evaluate, and control can be categorized into five main categories as shown below.

1.     Chemical hazards

Chemical hazards are many and diverse. Chemical hazards are present in almost all workplaces, be it offices or manufacturing environments. Of course, the level of harm inherent to the chemicals is not the same. For example, there are industrial chemicals and household chemicals. My job as an Occupational Hygienist is to identify all these chemicals in a workplace, measure the concentration that employees are exposed to, evaluate their associated level of risk to health, and recommend control measures to prevent employee ill-health.

2.     Physical hazards

Physical hazards include noise at work, lighting, radiation, extreme temperature (heat and cold), and vibration. We use specialized equipment to measure employee exposure to physical hazards.

3.     Ergonomic hazards

Ergonomic hazards are present in all environments. If they are not monitored and controlled, they may pose short term and or long-term ill-health effect on the health of employees. Ill-health that is associated with ergonomic hazards include back problems, musculoskeletal disorders, and disorders of the spine.

4.     Psychosocial hazards

In many workplaces there is work pressure and at times unrealistic and conflicting job demands. There may also be bullying, shouting, and fear. The source of fear may include fear of loss of one’s job, fear of making mistakes, fear of experiencing accidents, and fear of not meeting work expectation. These pressures may have a negative impact on the mental health of the employee who is experiencing psychosocial hazards.

5.     Biological hazards

Biological hazards are mainly present in environments, such as laboratories, where biological specimens may be present. These include biohazards laboratories and abattoirs. They include fungi, bacteria, and viruses.

As an Occupational Hygienist, I work in diverse work environments. For example, one day I may be working in a very contaminated factory environment and the next day in a very clean bank environment. One day I may be wearing all sorts of personal protective equipment such as respiratory protection, hearing protection, acid and heat resistant work overalls, and safety boots. The next day I may be wearing my private decent work clothes. I need to adapt to each work situation and environment. Whether I am working in a commercial bank environment or factory environment, the common goal is to protect employee health. The occupational hygiene profession requires that the Occupational Hygienist must be passionate about his or her work.

Working in these widely diverse work environments requires that the Occupational Hygienist must possess some good attributes and qualities related to working with people of diverse backgrounds and personalities. These qualities in addition to passion, include good interpersonal and people skills, leadership, honesty, patience, a level of trustworthiness, ethics, and maturity.

1.     Good interpersonal and people skills

It is important that I possess relational skills. These include good interpersonal and people skills. My job involves working with people. I need to understand their viewpoints and appreciate their time and opinions. I must show them respect, understand, and listen to their needs and concerns.

2.     Leadership

One of the important qualities of good leadership is decision making and decisiveness. Daily, an Occupational Hygienist is faced with challenges that require him or her to take decisions. Leadership requires empathy. I must be empathetic to the feelings of employers and employees. I must listen to both and not be biased in my judgement and assessment. This is where the level of impartiality also becomes important.

3.     Honesty

An Occupational Hygienist gains access to employees’ and companies’ assets and confidential information. I must be honest about my knowledge, skills, and competence. I must not mislead employees and clients. I must admit when I made mistakes and take corrective action to rectify such mistakes.

4.     Patience

An Occupational Hygienist faces difficult situations that may test his or her quality of being patient. As an Occupational Hygienist, I spend a significant amount of my time explaining what I do, how I do it, and why I am doing it. People do not understand the same way. I must be tolerant to everybody.

5.     Trustworthiness

My clients must be assured that I am trustworthy. My occupational hygiene assessment results must be beyond reproach. Occupational Hygienists come across people’s items and belongings. In. most cases they are left to work alone in offices where there are important items. My conduct must assure both the employer and employees that I can be trusted. Managers and employees may share with me some confidential information. It is my duty and responsibility to keep such information confidential and not use it against anyone. The information that they share with me is only to enable me to conduct my work properly and be able to make informed decisions. In the execution of my job and interaction with clients, I come across confidential information. I also take a lot of pictures which may contain confidential information. I must keep all the information safe and confidential.

6.     Ethical

I must be ethical in my conduct. I must be professional and not mislead employees and clients. In my work I face many dilemmas that may not have a straightforward answer. I need to assess each situation and take ethical decisions. I need to assess the consequences of all my choices and not cause harm to anyone.

7.     Maturity

Maturity requires that I must understand people’s perspectives and be objective in my analysis of various situations.

As I meet and get to work with different personalities, it is important that I always remain professional. Not everyone that I meet and must work with is cooperative or willing to provide the necessary support. Despite all that, I need to be very goal focused.

My job requires that I work with various professionals such as facilities managers, occupational health nurses, occupational health doctors, safety managers, emergency responders, and safety officers. I also work with company executives. Most of the time I work and interact with ordinary factory floor employees.

As an Occupational Hygienist, I work for the good of employees and the company that employees work for. It is important for me to be always ethical and honest. The professional body that I am affiliated to requires that all members sign a code of ethics. The real test of being ethical however, lies in how I conduct myself in the execution of my daily occupational hygiene duties. It is also critical for me to be impartial in the execution of my duties. Employees rely on the reports that we compile and the recommendations that we make.

Conclusion

The job of an Occupational Hygienist is demanding and rewarding. It is demanding because I need to balance between the employers’ needs and employees’ needs. Although these needs may seem conflicting. In reality, they are not. Employers provide employment and contribute the fight against unemployment. However, employees require work environments that are safe, and which will not hare their health and safety. As an occupational Hygienist, I need to understand and respect all stakeholders needs whilst making sure that I contribute the protection of the health of employees. Understating the seven attributes that every Occupational Hygienist needs to have is important in the execution of my duties as Occupational Hygienist. I hope this is important to you too.