What does an industrial hygienist do?
An Industrial Hygienist plans and conducts health programs to educate employees about cleanliness, safety, and sanitation in the workplace. They investigate adequacy of ventilation, exhaust equipment, lighting, and other conditions that can affect employees' health, comfort, or efficiency.
Industrial hygienist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real industrial hygienist resumes:
- Manage hazardous and special waste programs and profiles including audits/inspections, vendor compliance, documentation and recordkeeping.
- Perform laboratory analysis of radiological product in support of company QA/QC protocol.
- Conduct IAQ investigations for office buildings.
- Perform internal audits for safety and ISO.
- Escort MSHA compliance inspectors in the mine and help answer questions.
- Conduct IAQ studies resulting in successful remediation by diagnosing HVAC deficiencies and developing moisture control strategies.
- Support health and safety team through operator safety training, respirator fit testing, and SDS distribution.
- Update all SDS according to the new GHS rules of all the chemicals used in the different areas of the plant.
- Perform lead and asbestos surveys and inspections, including lead toxicity investigations.
- Provide contract-requir CIH oversight for AST decommissioning with permit-requir confined space entries.
- Direct and perform surveys to detect and identify chemical, biological and radiological contaminants.
- Write comprehensive reports describing occupational health problems, interpreting OSHA standards and recommending administrative an engineering control methods.
- Conduct many OSHA safety audits, exposure evaluation studies and indoor air quality investigations for industrial and commercial facilities.
- Develop and coordinate departmental ergonomics project that contribute to equipment design changes, business system modifications and revise employee work habits.
- Test benzene, hydrogen sulfide and lead levels on MPC employees/contractors to ensure exposure is within governmental and MPC requirements.
Industrial hygienist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 10% of Industrial Hygienists are proficient in OSHA, Environmental Health, and Indoor Air Quality. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Communication skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Industrial Hygienists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- OSHA, 10%
Provided annual ventilation surveys to ensure safety of laboratory technicians and compliance to OSHA laboratory standard.
- Environmental Health, 8%
Prepared and conducted in-service presentations on a variety of Industrial Hygiene monitoring and environmental health programs.
- Indoor Air Quality, 5%
Performed Indoor Air Quality investigations and testing and conducted Indoor Environmental Quality testing for LEED USGBC Certification on newly constructed buildings.
- Ventilation, 5%
Performed extensive air sampling to evaluate and determine adequate ventilation needed to maintain acceptable air quality according to ASHRAE standards.
- Respirators, 4%
Serve as the installation respiratory specialist, designating proper respirators and cartridges for operations being conducted.
- Corrective Action, 4%
Reviewed occupational accident and incident reports and data to determine trends; made recommendations and corrective actions to address safety issues.
"osha," "environmental health," and "indoor air quality" are among the most common skills that industrial hygienists use at work. You can find even more industrial hygienist responsibilities below, including:
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for an industrial hygienist to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what industrial hygienists do because "health and safety engineers produce designs showing potential problems and remedies for them." Additionally, an industrial hygienist resume shows how industrial hygienists use creativity: "conducted air samples, noise surveys, noise dosimetry, and chemical inventories. "
Communication skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling industrial hygienist duties is communication skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "health and safety engineers must be able to interpret federal and state regulations and their intent so that they can propose proper designs for specific work environments." According to an industrial hygienist resume, here's how industrial hygienists can utilize communication skills in their job responsibilities: "conducted health and safety training, focusing on hazardous materials and hazard communication for the automotive industry. "
Problem-solving skills. industrial hygienists are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to industrial hygienist responsibilities, because "in designing solutions for entire organizational operations, health and safety engineers must take into account processes from more than one system at the same time." An industrial hygienist resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "increased indoor quality at several doe facilities by identifying issues and overseeing resolution. "
The three companies that hire the most industrial hygienists are:
- CyberCoders15 industrial hygienists jobs
- RGA Environmental, A Terracon Company12 industrial hygienists jobs
- Chubb9 industrial hygienists jobs
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Compare different industrial hygienists
Industrial hygienist vs. Project safety manager
Project Safety Managers are responsible for ensuring the project workplace environment adheres to health and safety standards. Their duties include coordinating safety meetings, conducting audits, performing site inspections, implementing corrective action, and coordinating compliance training sessions. They are responsible for creating an emergency action plan, becoming primary contact for any site injuries and case management, and maintains an inspection log. Project Safety Managers also administer project budgeting, coordinate invoices, reporting project status, and attends team meetings.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, industrial hygienist responsibilities require skills like "environmental health," "indoor air quality," "ventilation," and "occupational health hazards." Meanwhile a typical project safety manager has skills in areas such as "project safety," "site safety," "safety reports," and "project site." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
On average, project safety managers reach lower levels of education than industrial hygienists. Project safety managers are 6.6% less likely to earn a Master's Degree and 0.2% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Industrial hygienist vs. Program safety manager
A program safety manager is someone who manages and provides oversight of an organization's safety program. Program safety managers plan, enforce, and conduct preventive care, safety, and compliance training programs. The managers manage and maintain comprehensive environmental health and safety programs at project site locations or premises. They oversee all the aspects of industrial and safety hygiene for compliance with the NFPA, API, and OSHA standards. Also, they conduct hyperbaric chamber fire safety drills for staff response improvement.
Each career also uses different skills, according to real industrial hygienist resumes. While industrial hygienist responsibilities can utilize skills like "environmental health," "indoor air quality," "ventilation," and "respirators," program safety managers use skills like "oversight," "safety procedures," "patient safety," and "project management."
Program safety managers may earn a higher salary than industrial hygienists, but program safety managers earn the most pay in the technology industry with an average salary of $94,253. On the other hand, industrial hygienists receive higher pay in the energy industry, where they earn an average salary of $93,692.Average education levels between the two professions vary. Program safety managers tend to reach similar levels of education than industrial hygienists. In fact, they're 1.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.2% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Industrial hygienist vs. Site safety manager
A site safety manager oversees the safety of the area for the workforce. Safety managers enforce compliance with government and industry regulations. They review the safety and health standards to lessen injuries. Their duties include the provision of a great safety benefit for the workers in the area and the whole company. It is also their job to establish policies to create and maintain workplace safety.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, industrial hygienists are more likely to have skills like "environmental health," "indoor air quality," "ventilation," and "occupational health hazards." But a site safety manager is more likely to have skills like "safety procedures," "safety regulations," "safety culture," and "cpr."
When it comes to education, site safety managers tend to earn lower degree levels compared to industrial hygienists. In fact, they're 7.3% less likely to earn a Master's Degree, and 0.6% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Industrial hygienist vs. Safety manager
A safety manager is someone who ensures that a company is compliant and adhering to Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) guidelines. Safety managers are responsible for planning and implementing OHS policies and programs. They regularly prepare educational seminars and educate employees on various safety-related topics. They conduct enforcement of preventative measures as well as risk assessment. Also, they prepare reports on accidents and violations and determine what caused them. Safety managers must have excellent attention to detail to find the hazards, discover ways to improve conditions, and execute safety programs.
Types of industrial hygienist
Updated January 8, 2025
