Years in the making, the joint AIHA-ABIH study, Strategy to Demonstrate the Value of Industrial Hygiene, is now available! To achieve the objective of effectively demonstrating the value that IH and OH brings to business, AIHA awarded a contract to EG&G Technical Services, which partnered with ORC Worldwide. With exclusive access to many companies of varying size, ORC surveyed these companies, collected data, and performed analysis. It was found that in many cases, business leadership does not fully understand the value that IH brings to the business and, in turn, in many cases industrial hygienists do not understand the company’s business and how they add value to it.

The results of the study and the strategy developed can be obtained and implemented in three ways:

1. The study will be available FREE to anyone in the IH community, whether AIHA members or not. Industrial hygienists can download the information, interpret the strategy, and apply it as they see fit.

2. In the very near future, AIHA will offer fee-based education programs to members and nonmembers that will assist those industrial hygienists who have downloaded the free information and would like additional interpretation and clarification prior to implementing the strategy themselves.

3. AIHA will offer a comprehensive, fee-based services package to members and nonmembers. AIHA consultants will interpret and implement the strategy and provide results for them. This option is for those who may want to remain independent of results or who do not have the time to fully engage the study.

We launched www.ihvalue.org to build a place for industrial hygienists. Currently, visitors of this website have download options that include a PDF of the entire study or the option to download the six phases and the executive summary separately. The option to download the strategy separately is also available. The value website will be updated frequently.

AIHA will continue to spread the word about the Strategy to Demonstrate the Value of Industrial Hygiene study with the www.ihvalue.org website, articles, and toolkits for IH and EHS professionals, web and print communications for business leaders, and ongoing outreach to allied organizations, trade associations, and international groups. And we hope you’ll join us.

Imagine what could happen when 12,000 IH experts begin applying this strategy to demonstrate the powerful impact the profession can have on business. We often talk about wanting our profession to be a household name. Now we have the strategy to make that happen.

These results are a beginning, not an end. We will continue to revise, modify, and fine-tune our approach as feedback is received.

Tom Grumbles, CIH, and Mike Brandt, DrPH, CIH, PMP

Grumbles and Brandt are members of the Value of the Profession Advisory Group. Grumbles is a past AIHA president and manager, product safety and occupational health for Sasol North America Inc. Brandt is technical chief of staff for operations at Los Alamos National Laboratory, has served on the AIHA Board of Directors and is AIHA’s vice president-elect. Grumbles can be reached at (281) 588-3445 or Tom.Grumbles@us.sasol.com. Brandt can be reached at (505) 667-1228 or mtbrandt@lanl.gov.