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Industrial Hygiene Services

THE IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE Testing in Los Angeles

Industrial hygiene is the science of protecting and enhancing the health and safety of people at work and in their communities by anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, preventing, and controlling environmental factors or stressors. These job health hazards can cause sickness, impaired health and well-being, or significant discomfort for workers which can lead to poor job performance and a lack of productivity.

Every business, whether public or private, is required by law to have some measures of health and safety for their workers. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) is the governing body for these laws and enforces standards to provide a healthy and safe environment in the workplace. Currently, OSHA regulates both private and some public sector industries. They rely on Industrial Hygienists who use investigative techniques to assess, measure, and amend workplace stressors and environmental contributors in compliance with OSHA regulations.

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE

The practice of industrial hygiene is both an art and a science, requiring a strategy that enables you to proactively recognize, evaluate, and control workplace health and safety risks.

Our industrial hygiene services in Los Angeles aim to reduce business and compliance risks and keep employees healthy, comfortable, and productive by evaluating and improving key workplace exposures. That’s why we provide a range of industrial hygiene assessment options.

From common allergens like dust, pollen, and animal dander to more significant health concerns such as carbon monoxide and chemical off-gassing, indoor air quality issues can have a significant impact on employee health, safety, and productivity. But air impurities are nearly impossible to detect without careful measurement and monitoring, making workplace air quality assessments a valuable tool.

Our team of CIHs uses a practical approach to identify concerns and deploys advanced technical instruments to identify air quality concerns in and around your offices or facilities. Once the testing is complete, our team will analyze the results and provide you with strategic recommendations to help you mitigate and control pollutants – and more importantly, to provide improved comfort to your employees.

Noisy workplace environments are par for the course at any company. But too much nuisance noise can impair alertness, productivity, and awareness of potential safety hazards. In addition, prolonged exposure to high levels of noise can also cause hearing impairment or ear damage. And let’s face it, no one wants to work in a noisy environment each day.

With our trained industrial hygiene professionals, we can conduct detailed sound surveys of your workplace to evaluate for unwanted noise sources that impede workplace productivity or health. Based upon the survey results, we determine if particular processes, tasks, or equipment are contributing to nuisance noise levels – or if additional detailed sampling is warranted to ensure compliance with applicable regulatory requirements. Then, we provide recommendations to guide sound reduction and bring noise below applicable regulatory limits.

Unfortunately, a sound survey only provides high-level information on noise at a workplace. To determine actual employee exposures to noise and evaluate the need for a hearing conservation program, Home BioTesting can develop and implement a more thorough workplace noise exposure assessment using dosimetry.

Our industrial hygiene team and CIHs use dosimeters to record and monitor personal noise exposure of the duration of a work shift, to determine compliance with applicable federal standards. This data allows Home BioTesting’s team to evaluate and recommend appropriate strategies to manage both risk and compliance, and to provide guidance on specific control measures that you can implement in the workplace.

Employers are required to protect workers from inorganic lead exposure by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA). Lead can be found in the air and on surfaces in many commercial and industrial buildings, and once ingested or inhaled, it can cause harm to many of the body’s organs.

To help employers meet these requirements and keep workers healthy, our lead testing team in LA performs air sampling to determine personal exposure levels, as well as wipe sampling to measure the contamination levels of various work surfaces.

In addition to lead, other metals and potentially harmful contaminants can be present in the workplace that pose a threat to employee health and safety. To identify and ensure these contaminants are within exposure limits established by OSHA, our industrial hygiene consultants use targeted air sampling and monitoring. Our CIHs can do this type of sampling for any industrial process where metals are used frequently, including welding, painting, electroplating, and more.

Mold is everywhere in our environment, but the negative stigma around mold can make it a difficult situation to remedy in the workplace. Mold growth, generally a sign of water intrusion or inadequate HVAC controls, can have a negative impact on both worker health and building integrity.

Home BioTesting provides 3rd party assessment, inspection and sampling services for suspected and/or confirmed mold cases. This includes evaluation of both readily visible potential molds and “hidden mold,” sources of water damage, or water intrusion. Our mold inspection company in Los Angeles can provide an evaluation of remediation options and associated costs as needed, in addition to post‐remediation inspections and sampling. We do not provide mold remediation services directly, but can work with our extensive network of partners to support any complex mold remediation needs.