By: Paul E. James, CSP
Vice President
Quest Technologies, Inc.
For a strong industrial hygiene environment to exist in any country several things are required. These include an awareness of the problems of occupational health and safety, motivation to address those problems, and the ability to deal with the problems within economic constraints.
Awareness of problems is often highlighted by accident and illness rates, worker complaints, and government regulatory activities. In the today’s world of rapid communications, the Internet, and international mass media, more and more attention is being brought from the experiences of others. For example, asbestos problems in the United States and Western Europe helped to create an awareness of this problem in other developing countries. Today, heat stress and indoor air quality concerns are being addressed in developing Asian and African countries as a result of experiences illustrated in the Western developed world.
Motivation to address the problems often comes from two main sources, government regulations and corporate policies. In the highly developed world we have seen for many years the growth of industrial hygiene activity driven by government agencies such as OSHA and NIOSH in the U.S.A., the Health & Safety Executive in the United Kingdom, the European Community (EC), and Ministries of Labor, Health, and Environment in many other places.
Multinational corporations and other large companies have long recognized the economic effects of good worker health and safety conditions and have been also encouraged by insurance underwriters to address these concerns. Additionally, the effects on productivity from a lack of good industrial hygiene practices has been identified in many cases, as has the positive effects of providing safe and healthy working conditions for employees. Smaller companies often follow the lead of the larger corporations and so motivation carries over throughout industry once the need for good industrial hygiene is recognized.
To create this positive industrial hygiene environment a good flow of information, skilled industrial hygiene and safety professionals, and good training programs are essential. In addition management must understand I.H. practices and commit to action programs and policies. Corporations, government agencies, and NGOs are important players in creating this environment. The biggest constraints in most cases in creating this environment are economic ones. Sending personnel to attend training seminars and conferences around the world is expensive and often not within the budgetary abilities of many companies. Keeping updated on trends, new tools and instrumentation, as well as sampling methodologies then becomes a difficult task, particularly in third world and developing countries. Continuing education and maintaining professional job proficiency in a fast changing world is expensive.
Working with employers as well as government agencies and NGOs some industrial hygiene instrumentation companies and local agents have created an “invisible network” that exists to further the global cause of promoting industrial hygiene, safety, and environmental processes. Here we will examine some ways in which this “invisible network” functions and how it is an important part of the Partnership for safe and healthy workplaces throughout the world.
Many manufacturers of instrumentation for industrial hygiene, safety, and environmental monitoring sell their products through a global network of special instrument distributors or agents with at least one in each country. It is not unusual for the large manufacturers to have more than 50 separate agents worldwide. These agents are often involved in local safety and industrial hygiene organizations and of course have direct continuing contact with the persons responsible for health and safety in manufacturing, service, and government sectors in their country. International sales executives of these I.H. instrument companies, in conjunction with their local in-country agents are the backbone of this “invisible network”. Some companies employ certified industrial hygienists and certified safety professionals to serve as these international sales executives and virtually all of the sales executives have a background and extensive technical training in the field of safety and industrial hygiene. Extensive periodic travel to each country is a hallmark of the successful strategy these instrumentation companies use to support their agents and customers.
The first area of the Partnership enhanced by this “invisible network” is in the field of technical communications. The various international sales executives continually meet with their agents around the world and communicate with them the latest developments in instrumentation and also trends of I.H. practice, new standards, TLV updates, etc. It is necessary for both the manufacturer and the local agent to keep up to date with this information in order to develop, manufacture, and sell their instrumentation, accessories, sampling media, etc. to the I.H. community. So the network serves a function here in enhancing communications. One manufacturer, for instance, purchases from the ACGIH their latest edition each year of the TLV / BEI booklets in large quantities and provides these to dealers and key customers at a reduced cost. Their international sales executives also distribute these materials to key government regulatory and research agencies on a complimentary basis.
The second, and probably most important area where the Partnership is enhanced between certain instrument manufacturers and their agents, customers, NGOs, and government authorities is in technical training. The instrument manufacturers and their local agents often provide training that is not available from any other source in the country and sponsor in-country seminars that are conducted in the local language. Examples include general I.H. seminars and workshops with training blocks on air sampling, gas detection, noise measurement, heat stress, indoor air quality, vibration, and others. Also, specialized seminars such as confined space entry or noise measurement and hearing conservation workshops are often conducted. During the past year, one single manufacturer has provided these seminars for example in multiple cities in India, Colombia, Brazil, The Peoples Republic of China, Costa Rica, Peru, and other countries. In previous years executives from this company have conducted seminars and workshops in more than 30 different countries worldwide from Israel to Trinidad & Tobago to Chile to Saudi Arabia.
These technical seminars are much more than generalized sales presentations by an instrument manufacturer. A typical session may begin with a general overview by the local agent on I.H. practices; then a detailed presentation on that country’s occupational safety and health standards by a government minister or representative of one of the regulatory agencies; followed by a professional presentation on sampling methods and techniques, usually by the sales executive of the instrument manufacturer; and concluding with a recap by an engineer employed by the local agent or an industrial hygienist or safety professional from a local industrial plant. In some seminars a practical examination is administered at the end of the session. In some of them continuing education credits or other recognition is given in conjunction with a local university and in most cases a certificate of completion is given each participant. Obviously the underlying interest of the manufacturer is in having the participants become acquainted with their particular instrumentation but this is usually accomplished via use of their products in the practicum or in some cases by a small exhibit table in the back of the training room.
Another area of enhancement of the industrial hygiene environment by this “invisible network” is in development and support of local I.H. organizations, particularly in developing countries. Some manufacturers via their local agent offer small financial grants to start up organizations and also provide a conduit for communications between technical organizations (NIOSH, ACGIH, etc.) and the local organizers. For example, one international sales executive was a founding member of the industrial hygiene organizations in several separate Latin American countries including Colombia (ACHO), Brazil (ABHO), Mexico (AMHI), and Venezuela (AVHO). In addition two international sales executives from the same company have been directly involved with organizational and improvement programs in various industrial hygiene organizations in several countries in Latin America, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East. Sales executives from instrumentation companies such as air sampling pump manufacturers, noise and gas detection instrument manufacturers, and other environmental instrumentation companies have been invited speakers at national industrial hygiene organizations around the world including lectures by the author of this paper at annual industrial hygiene association conferences in Israel, The Netherlands, South Africa, Malaysia, the U.S.A. and Canada.
In summary, the “invisible network” of IH instrumentation manufacturers, their agents, and local contacts around the world can and does provide a significant enhancement of the Global Partnership between those parties interested in promoting industrial hygiene and occupational health and safety throughout the world. Corporate industrial hygiene directors and managers can utilize this tool by simply becoming aware of which instrumentation companies are active in the “invisible network” and contacting them to discuss areas in which assistance is available. It often becomes a win-win situation for the parties as the corporation has the choice of utilizing local in-country training seminars and technical training sessions, has access to reputable calibration and repair laboratories for instruments locally instead of sending them back to headquarters, and has a local contact (the local instrumentation agent) to facilitate communications with governmental and NGO industrial hygiene agencies and organizations in every country where manufacturing or other business is conducted. The manufacturer then has the opportunity to present their products to the various international sites and the local agent has the opportunity to present their repair and calibration services to the local industrial site. Organizations such as the AIHA, the ACGIH, the WHO, and many other NGOs have their resources promoted and linkage developed to local I.H. groups in countries around the world. And of course, the main winner is the local industrial hygiene and safety manager who has access to technical information, training seminars and conferences conducted in the local language, dialog with other organizations and agencies, a source for reputable calibration and repair services, and an “invisible network” tie to industrial hygiene organizations and experts worldwide.