Press Kit

Health and Safety Challenges for Everyone

Industrial hygienists also work to increase public awareness of specific health and safety issues that confront ordinary citizens. Tpics often addressed by industrial hygienists are listed below. Some topics contain links to fact sheets with additional information.

If you'd like to contact an expert in a field such as asbestos, mold, meth labs, nanotechnology, safety, emergency response, or another OEHS issues, please contact AIHA's Public Relations Department at infonet@aiha.org or (703) 849-8888.

Keeping Safe in Cold Weather
Regardless of how cold conditions become, usually, work can continue in a healthy and safe environment so long as one recognizes the environmental and workplace conditions that lead to potential cold-induced illnesses and injuries. To learn more and to get useful information on how to protect yourself and your employees in cold weather, read our keeping safe in cold weather fact sheet .

Holiday Health and Safety
Just in time for the holidays, AIHA is offering, “The Ultimate Holiday Health and Safety Tip Sheet.” The tip sheet contains information about holiday trees, lights, decorations, and gifts as well as information on carbon monoxide and fireplace safety. Get more information in our holiday health and safety tip sheet.

Carbon Monoxide
When appliances are kept in good working order, they produce little carbon monoxide. But improperly operating or improperly vented appliances can produce elevated—even fatal—carbon monoxide concentrations in your home. Get more information in our carbon monoxide fact sheet.

Mold
All of us are exposed daily to fungal spores in the air we breathe, both outside and inside. Small amounts of mold growth in workplaces and homes are not a major concern, but no mold should be allowed to grow and multiply indoors. Please read more information about mold in our Hot Topics section or read more information about mold in our Health Risks of Mold fact sheet  and our Facts About Mold consumer brochure. You can also get information on mold in hospitals online.

Heat Stress
Education is key to reducing heat-related injuries. But learning the causes and solutions isn’t enough. It is also important to educate the workers themselves. A worker can react to heat in a variety of ways, and it is important to recognize all of them. Even conditions that might not be deadly by themselves can cause serious problems. More information can be found in a heat stress fact sheet as well as the Synergist article,“Stuck in the Kitchen: How to Help Workers Stand the Heat.”

Teen Worker Safety
When teenagers go off to work – sometimes for the first time in their lives – parents want to know they will be safe in the workplace. Who will look out for their safety? Industrial hygienists are professionals who specialize in ensuring safe and healthy work environments for employees of all ages. More information on teen worker safety is available in a downloadable fact sheet.  There was also an article about teen worker safety published in the May 2001 Synergist.

Lead
Always ask a contractor about his or her experience with removing lead paint before allowing work to begin. Ensure that he or she follows established guidelines from your local health department with special emphasis on containment and removal of lead dust and debris.

Noise-Induced Hearing Loss
Noise pollution isn’t something that you should accept as a fact of modern life. Noise-induced hearing loss is preventable if we take responsibility for the health of our ears and if we work with others to lessen the impact that noise has in the workplace, in the community, and in our homes. Get more information in our noise exposure fact sheet.

Home Air Quality
Inventory all the commercial chemical products or chemically treated items in your home. You may be surprised to know how many common products contain toxic or irritating chemicals that can affect indoor air.

Workplace Ergonomics
Poorly designed working conditions contribute to reduced efficiency, decreased production, loss of income, increased medical claims and permanent disability. Fortunately, professionals like AIHA members use a science called ergonomics to help remedy the conditions that cause occupational disorders and injuries.

Home Office Safety
Many home-based workers don’t think about workplace safety, yet the concerns that face employees at “regular” offices and business locations are just as real in the home. AIHA presents this information to improve and protect the health and safety of a growing segment of the workforce.

Sick Buildings
Three fundamental measures that will greatly reduce the likelihood of indoor air quality problems are good building design, effective building maintenance, and intelligently designed and executed remodeling projects.

Ionizing Radiation
The word “radiation” conjures up scary images, but radiation in one form or another is a part of our daily lives. Understanding what ionizing radiation is can help you understand what risks you face; while exposure to some forms of ionizing radiation is indeed harmful, many forms are either beneficial or health-neutral.

Methamphetamine Labs
Our nation faces a growing health and safety threat from clandestine methamphetamine drug manufacturing. Meth labs can be located in houses, apartments, hotel rooms, trailers, vans and storage units. Industrial hygienists can test residential dwellings to determine if people are unknowingly living in a structure where former meth lab activity has contaminated the indoor environment. More information on meth labs is available in a downloadable fact sheet , a meth lab cleanup fact sheet , a document of meth lab warning signs , and other online resources. You can also access a January 2006 Synergist article on meth labs .

Nanotechnology
Dealing with microscopic health hazards is nothing new to industrial hygienists, and the profession recognizes that “the next industrial revolution," that of nanotechnology, presents many new workplace health and safety challenges, according to the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA). As nanotechnology-related industries grow, 4 million people in the United States will have the potential to be exposed to nanoparticles on a regular basis—twice the number of people working with this technology today. More information on meth labs is available in a downloadable fact sheet