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Working Relationships of Occupational Health Nurses and Industrial Hygienists.

Mosely-CL

NIOSH 1987 Jul:173-178

00173347

The working relationship between industrial hygienists and occupational health nurses was discussed. Employment categories, educational levels, and experience profiles of industrial hygienists were described. A typical industrial hygienist has a Master's degree and 5 to 9 years of experience primarily in a management level position in private industry. The industrial hygienist will have received greater educational emphasis in chemistry and physics than in biology, unless he majored in biology, microbiology, or zoology. The educational backgrounds of most industrial hygienists in physiology and toxicology are weak. The industrial hygienist will need assistance in interpreting existing toxicological and medical data and evaluating potential hazards associated with new products or substitution candidates. It is asserted that industrial hygienists and occupational health nurses with their individual capabilities and limitations can function together as a team. A teamwork approach in which occupational health nurses and industrial hygienists act as a conduit for information flowing either from management to labor or from the workers to management was described. Suggestions for increasing the involvement of occupational health nurses in recognizing and correcting health problems and gaining recognition for their professional capabilities were given.

Occupational-health-nursing; Industrial-hygiene; Training; Health-protection; Workplace-studies; Employees; Occupational-health-services; Industrial-safety;

19870701

Conference/Symposia Proceedings;

Horvitz-IA;

1987

Proceedings of the National Occupational Health Nursing Symposium: State of the Art and Directions for the Future, Cincinnati, Ohio, June 1-3, 1983

OH;