What is Occupational Hygiene & Why is it Important in Stopping the Spread of COVID-19 in Workplaces?
calendar icon September 4th, 2020
author icon Jackie Sam & Maryam Khan
What is Occupational Hygiene & Why is it Important in Stopping the Spread of COVID-19 in Workplaces?

Occupational Hygiene is the science of identifying, anticipating, evaluating and controlling health hazards in the work environment. Adverse health outcomes such as cancers, noise-induced hearing loss, musculoskeletal disease, allergies, asthma and infections are examples of some diseases that impact workers as a result of hazards they are exposed to at work. Occupational Hygiene is centered around the protection of workers’ health, prevention of injury and disease, and contribution to a safe environment. This is done through proactively addressing health hazards in the workplace, understanding exposure and risk, effectively implementing controls following the hierarchy of controls, developing policies and programs, and evaluating these programs and procedures to ensure legislative compliance, best practices, and continuous improvement are achieved.

 

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need for robust understanding of exposure risk, the importance of implementing effective infection control protocols, and having an emergency response plan for the protection of everyone’s health and safety – all of which are part of an Occupational Hygiene Program.

 

Starting in October, PSHSA’s Hygiene Team will be hosting a series of free webinars bi-weekly focused on relevant hygiene topics featuring experts in the field. The goal of the webinar series is to offer timely information, education and resources to our clients through knowledge transfer.

 

Join us and connect with experts in the field to learn about the role of ventilation as a control for COVID-19, how to safely use cleaning agents and reduce chemical exposure, how to conduct a thorough risk assessment, and infection control precautions to prevent a second wave.

 

Our first free webinar is on October 1, 2020 at 12pm-1pm, where we will be joined by Occupational Hygiene experts to talk about The Role of Ventilation as a Control for COVID-19 in the Workplace. The webinar is targeted to all sectors and we will present an overview of aerosol science, discuss current evidence regarding aerosol transmission of COVID-19, the role of ventilation as a control measure, and evaluation of a HVAC system. Register now!

 

For more information, please contact Health & Safety Consultants Maryam Khan (mkhan@pshsa.ca) and Jackie Sam (jsam@pshsa.ca).   

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