KEYNOTES Italian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

The future of occupational and environmental hygiene

A Science becoming more and more essential
Michel P. Guillemin
University of Lausanne, Institute of Occupational Medicine and Hygiene of the University

Corresponding author:
Michel P. Guillemin, University of Lausanne , rue du Bugnon 19, CH-1005, Lausanne, Switzerland; E-mail: michel.guillemin@gmail.com

Occupational Hygiene is a relevant part of the Occupational Health field which is itself an important part of Public Health. This over-
view is necessary to better understand the role of every actor in this area. Due to the actual trends in our Society where the risks of
any kinds are feared and less and less tolerated, Occupational Hygiene is called to become an unavoidable science and profession.
The management of chronic risks at the workplace and in the environment being the core competence of this discipline, it has today
a very good opportunity to become one of the major players in coping with the occupational and environmental problems.
The main topics of concern in Occupational Health are both objective and subjective factors threatening or affecting the workers'
health and well-being. Occupational Hygiene is mainly focused on the objective hazards (chemical, physical and biological) which
can be measured and assessed to determine if they are acceptable or not. Emerging issues, such as nanotechnology, the European
regulation on chemicals (REACH), the biohazards and the development of models or of pragmatic simple approaches are not easy to
control or to manage due to a severe lack of knowledge. The psychosocial problems, often referred as the subjective factors may be
overlapping with the objective ones and are therefore also of concern for the occupational hygienists, especially at the interface bet-
ween ergonomics and hygiene or when mental health is affected by neuro-toxic substances.
The strength of the core values of Occupational Hygiene may be summarized by the following key-words: Excellence and
Professionalism - Both a Science and an Art - Ethics and Transparency - Cross-fertilization - Responsibility.
These core values constitute the basis of the reasons why Occupational Hygiene is essential and has therefore the responsibility to
make this clear for all the stakeholders and the social partners by bringing and communicating broadly facts illustrating the necessi-
ty to benefit from this Science. The relevant areas where this can be done are described and analyzed in this paper, such as: the deve-
lopment of the necessary knowledge and tools to better manage the risks - the extended competence in exposure assessment (first
step in the risk evaluation) - the strategies to control the risks (including the important aspect of the substitution) - the privileged posi-
tion to promote cross-fertilization - etc. This is why we cannot accept that our profession is slowly disappearing by “dissolving” it in
different other areas not specifically dedicated to the chronic risk management. The consequences of such a “catastrophic scenario”
would impact on the quality, the scientific bases and the professionalism necessary to keep the risks under control.
The arguments developed in this article lead to the conclusion that, we - occupational hygienists - have to consider very seriously the
responsibility we have toward the social partners, the environment and the Society as a whole which need us to progress in the direc-
tion of a better world.

Key words: Occupational and environmental hygiene, essential science, the future

Introduction includes a lot of new relevant actors such as the human resource
managers, economists, lawyers, sociologists, etc. Therefore we
This presentation addresses the problem of the future of
have to redefine our role in this new environment as well as our
Occupational Hygiene for an audience composed mainly of
relationship with these new actors.
occupational hygienists, assuming therefore that most of
Today my focus will be more societal than techni-
them are believing in the future of their profession. I
cal: I will try to demonstrate why
am convinced that every single occupational
Occupational Hygiene is a science and a
hygienist is willing to defend his profession, to
profession which is becoming more and
increase its visibility and to endorse his or
more essential not only for the risk
her responsibility by working at the highest
management but also for more ambi-
level of competence, quality and ethics.
tious objectives aiming at a better
I would like to take advantage of my long
society thanks to its core values. In
experience in this field to stress the chal-
other words, I want to share with
lenges we have ahead of us and the best
you my intimate conviction that
ways we could use to cope with and to
our wonderful profession is really
promote our profession by taking into
necessary nowadays to progress
account the new paradigms governing
toward a better society [Guillemin,
our society.
2010].
Occupational Hygiene is one of the rele-
vant fields of Occupational Health which is
itself, a significant part of Public Health A relevant new paradigm : the
(Figure 1). It is very important to have first this fear of risks
very broad overview of the area where we have to Our society is becoming more and more
play in. It has changed over the last years and the anxious about the risks we have to live
traditional Occupational Safety and Health Figure 1: The core functions of with, among them: toxic chemicals in
domain is now much broader than before and Occupational Hygiene around Ethics

© The Italian Association of Industrial Hygienists - AIDII [2010] Ital. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg., 2010, 1(2) | 96 - 100
Italian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene KEYNOTES

food, water air - factors promoting cancer and cardiovascular sure and no consensus about the best analytical methods and
diseases - flue pandemic episodes - electromagnetic radiations - strategies to apply. Those in charge of conducting appropriate
radioactivity - etc. People want to be protected against anything research to eventually propose the best strategies and methods to
and the concept of risk is not well understood by the majority of assess the exposure in the occupational environment are the
the population. hygienists.
Occupational Hygiene being the science of the chronic risk The same is true for the biohazards including all sorts of toxins
management at the workplace and also in the general environ- as well as genetically modified organisms. Here progresses have
ment, has therefore a key role to play in the process to educate, been done for some specific biohazards and occupational expo-
explain and inform the population about the risks and the way sure limits have been proposed. But there are still a lot of pro-
they are assessed, evaluated and controlled. blems to solve by proper research programs.
Occupational Hygiene is frequently coupled with Environmental Indoor air quality is not a new topic but is still a problem of con-
Hygiene as illustrated by the name of our American journal: cern more as a public health issue than an occupational one. It is
Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. This quite an interesting and challenging field due to the overlapping
sounds logic due to the fact that the approaches for managing the of different environments (public, para-occupational and occupa-
hazards are similar in both types of environment. tional) where the risk is evaluated with different criteria. Here
The characterization of risks (mainly chronic risks) is similar in again, the crucial role of the occupational hygienists is obvious
both types of environment, the main challenge being to assess and does not need to be emphasized again.
properly the exposure which is then transformed into a “dose” In front of all these challenges where the lack of knowledge is the
which then may relate to an “effect”. main barrier to develop scientific tools, the hygienists place their
But the way the risk is evaluated, is quite different in the general efforts in three directions:
environment and in the occupational environment. In the gene- 1. The improvement of the way we use and interpret the results
ral environment where the whole population is concerned, inclu- of our exposure measurements. In this respect a better statisti-
ding the children and different vulnerable populations, the prin- cal treatment of the data, including the Bayesian theorem has
ciple of precaution as defined during the Rio Conference produced significant progresses;
[United Nations, 1992] is usually accepted (with some excep- 2. The development of models to derive the workers’ exposure
tions). But in the occupational environment, where there are from data related to the emission of the concerned substan-
only adults in good health (with some exceptions) the acceptabi- ces, the ventilation factors, the workplace design, the thermal
lity of risk is based on scientific evidence as illustrated by the set- conditions, etc. At the moment, the results are not yet satisfac-
ting up of OELs (Occupational Exposure Limits) [Bolt, Huici- tory due to the fact that all the relevant exposure determinants
Montagud, 2008]. are not well identified and quantified. More research is still
Due to the fact that the risk management belongs to the core needed to arrive to reliable tools. However in the field of bio-
competence of our profession and that the fear of any risk is gro- logical monitoring which also belong to occupational hygie-
wing in our society, the role of Occupational and Environmental ne when the goal is the exposure assessment, the pharmaco-
Hygiene becomes more and more important. kinetic models based on physiology are well developed and
has already shown their usefulness;
The main topics of concern in Occupational Health 3. The development of simplified tools such as the “control ban-
Objective hazards and problems ding” (CB) which offer a pragmatic approach to control the
hazards by using the best available knowledge combined
There are issues which are either emerging ones or “actual” ones
with an expert judgment. In the case of nanoparticles for
which represent the main areas of concern for our profession at
instance such an approach has been developed [Paik et al,
the moment. A qualitative screening of the articles published in
2008]. Behind the simplicity of the CB, there is a rationale
journals devoted to occupational hygiene or related fields shows
which is not simple and often refers to models and experien-
that the topics are those briefly summarized here below.
ce close to the "state of the art" for the problems tackled.
Since the introduction of the European regulation about the che-
micals (REACH: Registration, Evaluation, Authorization and The examples of some key issues summarized here prove how
restriction of Chemicals), the opportunity to promote important Occupational Hygiene is to contribute to keep the
Occupational Hygiene has been clearly seen by the profession control on these potential threats on the workers and on the
and efforts have been made to act in this directiona Several population.
aspects of this regulation belong to the competence of our pro- We should not forget that the “traditional problems” (silica, asbe-
fession: exposure scenarios, dermal exposure, risk assessment stos, metals, solvents, etc.), even if in some countries they are
and evaluation (DNELs), etc. better controlled than before, are far from being adequately
The nanotechnology “miracle” has raised huge hopes and fears. managed even in the so called "developed countries".
Billions of dollars are devoted to the research and development
in this area around the world. There are indications that some The challenge of psychosocial hazards
nanoparticles may be toxic and able to reach any organs due to
The European Foundation for the Improvement of Working
their extremely small size. But for the moment our knowledge is
Life in Dublin is carrying out regular surveys in all the
far from being sufficient to properly assess the risk related to
European countries about the working conditions and their
exposure to these particles. There is not yet a consensus about
perceived health effects, every five years since 1990 [Parent-
the most appropriate metrics to evaluate the occupational expo-
Thirion, 2007]. It is striking to observe that some factors rela-
a
The British OH Society supported by other national societies has organized two
ted to stress and psychosocial problems are increasing conti-
European Conferences in Brussels one in December 2005 and one in September- nuously since 20 years illustrating that they are not controlled
October 2009 in order to stress the crucial role of Occupatioal Hygiene and to at all (Figure 2).
promote collaboration between national societies

97 | Ital. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg., 2010, 1(2) © The Italian Association of Industrial Hygienists - AIDII [2010]
 KEYNOTES Italian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

The first definition of Occupational Hygiene I discove-

red in the seventies in the USA and still endorsed by
the AIHA, described this field as a science and an art. I
like very much these terms because they put together
two elements that should compose all the professions:
the scientific and the technical part (professional com-
petence) and the creative and “immeasurable” part
which brings the other dimensions of any human acti-
vity (human competence). We all know that those wor-
king only on the cold side of science and techniques
will not be as efficient as those taking into account the
other aspects (social, cultural, individual, etc.) impac-
ting on their assessment and advice.

Figure 2: Three relevant stress factors recorded in the European Surveys of the Ethics and Transparency
European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
We are dealing here with the very touchy topic of
Too many occupational hygienists believe that they are not con- Ethics and Transparency. It is amazing to see the trend
cerned by such problems since they are more related to ergono- in the last decades related to the fear of conflicts of interest. Every
mics or occupational psychology and work organization. This is scientific journal and even organizer of congresses and conferen-
too a simplistic view for two main reasons: ces requires a “declaration of lack of conflict of interest” to testi-
fy that the author of a paper or of a presentation will not adverti-
1. Mental health may be affected not only by psychosocial se in a way or another a product or a service which may serve is
issues, but also by “objective” factors such as solvents (the or her own interests. This is a reaction to a lot of scandals which
psycho-organic syndrome) or other contaminants toxic to the have discredited the Occupational Health professionals. Even at
nervous system; very high levels such as the WHO, it seems that conflicts of inte-
2. Some ergonomic factors are closely related to occupational rests played a role in the last announced H1N1 pandemia
hygiene factors and have to be taken into account by the [Cohen, 2010] or in the choice of the director of the IARC in
hygienists as illustrated the TLV booklet of the ACGIH which 2006 [Hagmar, 2005].
includes evaluation guidelines in this field [ACGIH, 2010]. IOHA and every single society belonging to it have a “Code of
This last point reminds us that the control of occupational Ethics” (Example of the Swiss Society of Occupational Hygiene
hazards is always a multidisciplinary and team approach. To [SSOH, 2010]). This underlines the importance placed by our
cope with such complex issues many different competencies are profession on the respect of moral rules aiming to never forget
needed and cannot be in the hands of one single person. that the priority in our job is the protection of workers' health.
The hygienists employed in companies or providing services as
private consultants have sometimes difficulties or moral pro-
The strength of the core values of Occupational Hygiene blems to follow their code of ethics. The independence of occu-
Excellence and Professionalism pational physicians is usually warranted by law due to the well
The quality of training and education in Occupational Hygiene accepted medical secret. But this is not the case for the other
has always been one of the major issues of our professional health related profession such as occupational hygiene. Several
societies and associations. Certification schemes as the one years ago, the American Industrial Hygiene Association conduc-
adopted by the IOHA and run by its National Accreditation ted a survey on these issues among its members [Goldberg et
Recognition committee is a good illustration of this strong will to al.,1993] and the results were worrying: approximately one out
have professional occupational hygienists of a high level of com- of three occupational hygienists admitted a behaviour diverging
petence and behaviour (ethics). We have to continue to cultiva- from the Code of Ethics.
te our excellence and our professionalism in order to be progres- Cross fertilization
sively better recognized as unavoidable partners by the other Another core value we have been defending for years is the
occupational health professionals and by the social partners and cross-fertilization between different disciplines related to
the public. Occupational Health. We have already stressed above the multi-
A Science and an Art disciplinary and team approaches we are used to. Cross-fertiliza-
Occupational Hygiene is a “hard science” and builds its appro- tion is much more than multidisciplinary work since it produces
ach on “scientific evidence”. This makes it very powerful in the new knowledge and new strategies by the exchange of ideas,
Occupational Health field where other more “subjective” competencies and experiences from various fields. I think that it
approaches are often criticized or neglected. In my opinion this is a specific mark of our profession which has learned from the
power frightens sometimes politicians or unfair stakeholders who beginning to work with the other experts such as the occupatio-
are not happy to be in front of “hard facts” impossible to deny. nal physicians to prevent specific diseases, with the toxicologists
This may explain some trend these last years, in different to develop the OELs, with the epidemiologists to reconstruct the
European countries (Sweden, Switzerland, Italy), against institu- past exposures, etc.
tes and research teams in the field of occupational health. We Emerging values
should interpret these fears as a very good sign of our importan- Solidarity - social responsibility - fair trade - health promoting fac-
ce and we should not be afraid of this “rearguard fighting” which tors are, among others, new emerging values in our society and
only slows down a little bit the ongoing inexorable progresses. we should include them in our field. The choice of the title of this

© The Italian Association of Industrial Hygienists - AIDII [2010] Ital. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg., 2010, 1(2) | 98
Italian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene KEYNOTES

8th International Scientific Conference of the IOHA illustrates this Health and make the actors and their respective role more visible.
trend. The values related to moral and social aspects of the work An example of such a boosting of fertilization is what we have in
(solidarity, fair trade, for instance) should be part of our Code of Switzerland: a federation of all the societies related to
Ethics. We have to be aware of the social responsibility of the Occupational Safety and Health (Medicine, Hygiene, Safety,
enterprises (they are called in French “enterprises citoyennes”) in Ergonomics, Psychology, Nurses) which includes also regional
order to incorporate this aspect in our day to day activity and (linguistic) groups as well as specific committees (for the OELs
advice to the social partners. Another point is the development and for the scientific research). This federation is called “suisse-
of the workers’ well being which is becoming a new area of com- pro” and help to promote the visibility of OS&H and the contacts
petence. It has to be part of our profession because it represents between the different societies [suissepro, 2010]. Meetings are
a new important direction in Occupational Health. Up to now organized each year on topics which concern two or more socie-
we have been used to react against bad working conditions once ties. The federation is also an official partner of the Swiss
they have been shown to produce unacceptable health effects. Confederation to comment projects of laws related to OS&H.
Now we have also to move toward the improvement of the occu- At the international level, the ICOH, which was initially dedica-
pational environment and work organization without waiting (as ted only to Occupational Medicine, has opened its activities in
before) to be sure that the conditions are harmful. the last decades to the broader field of Occupational Health and
In my opinion and due to the fact that we bear a very important is playing this role when conferences are organized on themes
responsibility in assessing risks and providing relevant advice to concerning all the occupational health disciplines. ICOH is also
manage them, we should be in line with the changes in our a reference in ethics with its Code of Ethics which is common for
Society and take advantage of these positive emerging values to all the Occupational Health professionals.
pursue our continuous progresses to play our role at the highest
Consequences of the fading out of Occupational Hygiene as
level of competence and ethics. This proactive attitude will con-
an identified discipline
tribute to add to our credibility and importance.
I feel we bear also a very important responsibility if we let our
profession disappear according the several scenarios I presented
The reasons why Occupational Hygiene is essential at the 6th ISC of IOHA in South Africa [Guillemin, 2006]. If this
and has a social responsibility occurs, different aspects of our field will be taken over by other
There are very many reasons why Occupational Hygiene is experts not only dedicated to the chronic risks at the workplace
essential. I will stress here the most relevant ones in my opinion but to broader aspects (safety and health, environment, public
and the consequences in term of responsibility toward the health, etc.). The consequences of a lower professionalism and a
Society. lower scientific level in the risk management at the workplace
will negatively impact on the workers' health and therefore also
Better knowledge and reliable tools
on the enterprises and the environment.
In front of many risks we miss relevant knowledge to know how
they should be properly assessed, evaluated and controlled. Responsibility toward the environment
Research is necessary and should be promoted at a much higher We are also key actors in the environmental health but unfortu-
rate than it is today. We are aware that the tools we are develo- nately this is not yet recognized by the stakeholders and the sepa-
ping and proposing to respond to the actual needs suffer from ration between occupational and general environment make the
lack of scientific evaluation and represent the actual state of the management of the problems related to human health much less
art which is far from being satisfactory. Our profession is able to efficient. Since we are working, for a lot of different pollution
provide this knowledge and more reliable tools if resources and sources, very close to the emissions (in air, water, soil) our con-
support were available. trol methods are the most effective ones. This is true also for the
Extended competencies in exposure assessment wastes management, the recycling, the clean production proces-
ses, etc. Therefore we bear a responsibility first to be more visi-
Our profession is the one with the longer and the better experien-
ble in this role and second to be proactive in the sustainable
ce in exposure assessment. It can therefore play a key role in anti-
development as a whole.
cipating and assessing chronic risks at the workplace and in the
environment. This competence is also related to the development Responsibility toward workers, employers
of “limit values” to protect the workers or the population. In this
period where the future of the traditional OELs may be threatened This responsibility is obvious and is well emphasized in our
by the DNELs, the competencies of Occupational Hygiene may Code of Ethics. There is no reason to repeat these well known
be quite relevant to influence the trends in this area. arguments. But, our responsibility to raise awareness of the social
partners about the difficulties in managing chronic risks without
Essential science for controlling the chronic risks strong competencies which belong to our field should be stres-
To adequately manage the risks and to properly allocate the avai- sed. Moreover the employees' health and well being is a com-
lable resources to the key priorities, Occupational Hygiene is mon goal for employers and employees (an area where they
really essential. Substitution is actually one of the key issues of should not fight !), so this link between the social partners may
the control of chemical hazards. Without an objective view of be strengthened by the occupational hygienists thank to their
the situation and hard facts to support this view, an appropriate communication skills and their convincing arguments based on
and targeted risk management is not possible. “hard facts”. This is also a relevant responsibility!
Privileged position in the OS&H team Responsibility toward Society
We should take advantage of our privileged position in the OS&H To participate to the development of workplaces not only safe but
team to promote the cross-fertilization between the different also promoting good health is impacting very positively on the
experts. This will strengthen the global field of Occupational society. We should not underestimate our role and our responsi-

99 | Ital. J. Occup. Environ. Hyg., 2010, 1(2) © The Italian Association of Industrial Hygienists - AIDII [2010]
 KEYNOTES Italian Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene

bility in front of social problems. Among them I can cite: References

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