Respirable dust and respirable crystalline silica (RCS) are contaminants of prime concern in many industries like construction, stone benchtops, mining, quarrying, concrete manufacturing and many more. All exposure to respirable dust and RCS must be either eliminated or minimised so far as reasonably practicable.

Exposure to respirable crystalline silica can lead to adverse health effects in workers exposed. Health effects of prolonged high exposure to silica include lung diseases and silicosis. All exposures to RCS must be kept below the Workplace Exposure Standard of 0.05mg per cubic metre of air.

Personal exposure monitoring is the best way to estimate workers’ exposure to RCS. Our qualified hygienists are experienced in carrying out RCS air monitoring. All our workplace air monitoring programmes include visual inspection of work processes and controls being used to minimise exposure.

IOHC can assist your business with respirable crystalline silica monitoring. We also provide silica awareness and respirator fit testing services.

New drug labs are found across Australia each year and the number of drug labs is increasing at a rapid rate. As per one report, Queensland has one of the highest numbers of properties affected by the production of clandestine manufacture in Australia and New South Wales has the highest number of meth consumption in regional Australia. If you are living in the property or suspect that property may have illicit drug contamination, it is very important to get it thoroughly assessed.

Living on a property with drug contamination can cause adverse health effects for the occupants. The most observed health effects include eye and skin issues, headaches, respiratory effects and sleep disturbances. Effects on cognitive function, general health and behaviour are also often observed. Therefore, these properties must be thoroughly cleaned, and clearance testing is carried out.

IOHC occupational hygienists are experienced in carrying out clandestine drug lab assessments, preparing the restoration scope of works and carrying out clearance tests. IOHC drug lab assessments include drug residue testing, and air quality checking for VOCs and other chemicals. Visual inspection of all affected areas and comprehensive reporting with recommendations.

Diesel particulate Matter (DPM) is part of diesel exhaust, and exposure to DPM can cause adverse health effects in workers. Short-term exposure can cause headaches, dizziness, and irritation to the eyes, nose and throat. Prolonged exposure to DPM can increase the risk of cardiovascular and respiratory disease and lung cancer. It is important that the environmental concentration of DPM and workers’ personal exposure to DPM are evaluated where diesel emissions are present in the work area.

Workers who work in enclosed or semi-enclosed areas with diesel machinery working around them are most at risk. IOHC occupational hygiene consulting can provide air monitoring and personal exposure monitoring services for DPM and other airborne contaminants. Please contact our friendly team for any questions or quote.

Many workers are exposed to welding fumes during welding and fabrication processes. Welding fumes are group 1 carcinogens, prolonged repeated exposure to welding fumes can cause many adverse health effects in workers including metal fume fever, stomach ulcers, kidney damage, central nervous system damage and cancer.

PCBU must organise exposure assessment to estimate workers; exposure to welding fumes and all exposures must be reduced so far as reasonably practicable. The assessment should also include workers’ exposure to other metals in the welding fumes. The current time-weighted average (TWA) workplace exposure standard (WES)for welding fumes (not otherwise classified) is 5 mg/m3, AIOH recommends that all exposures should be kept below 1 mg/m3 measured as an inhalable fraction.

IOHC occupational hygienists are experienced in carrying out welding fumes assessment, our comprehensive assessments include air monitoring for welding fumes and other metals, visual inspection of all work areas, checking current controls being used and recommendations for future improvement based on the workers’ exposures.

There are nearly 4500 occupational hearing loss claims in Australia each year, lack of awareness about noise hazards and poor compliance with hearing protection is the main reason for this. PCBU must carry out noise surveys for work areas and noise exposure assessments for workers to estimate their noise exposure and implement controls to protect their hearing.

Exposure to high noise can lead to many adverse health effects including noise-induced hearing loss, temporary threshold shift, tinnitus, and acoustic trauma. Non-auditory health effects of noise include sleep disturbances, a decline in cognitive performance, annoyance, and daytime sleepiness. Daytime sleepiness can also lead to other safety hazards in the workplace.

IOHC occupational hygienists can assist businesses by carrying out area surveys to establish noise levels in different work areas, which can be used to implement noise control procedures. IOHC also provides personal noise exposure assessment using noise dosimeters to estimate workers’ personal noise exposure. We also visually inspect work processes to identify ototoxins that workers may be exposed to during work processes. IOHC can also provide workers with training and hearing protection fit testing services to increase compliance with the hearing protection programme.

Working in a hot climate can cause heat-related illnesses in workers. Heat stress, heat exhaustion, dehydration, heat syncope and prickly heat are some of the health effects caused by working in hot environments. PCBU has a responsibility to assess all the risks to the health and safety of workers and implement controls to reduce them so far as reasonably practicable.

The core body temperature of workers working in a hot environment can exceed the normal temperature of 37°C. It is therefore important to carry out our heat stress assessment for workers and tasks that needs to be performed in hot environments and implement controls to protect workers’ health. Some of the factors that affect the net heat load on the body are environmental parameters, metabolic work rate, clothing and hydration status.

There are many different heat stress indices for carrying out heat stress assessments, Wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT), heat stress index (HSI), thermal work limit (TWL), and predicted heat strain (PHS) are some of the most used indices. IOHC has experienced hygienists who can carry out heat stress assessments for your workplace and recommend controls required to prevent heat-induced illness in workers.

IOHC can carry out occupational health risk assessments for workplaces. Occupational Health risk assessment helps PCBUs identify all health risks present in the workplace. Our services include document review, a walk-through survey to identify hazards and exposures, establish the level of risk by occupational hygiene monitoring, and recommend suitable controls. Occupational Health Risk Assessment is an ideal way to identify all health hazards present in the workplace. The risk assessment is also used to develop an occupational hygiene monitoring program to monitor and measure workplace exposures to health hazards.

Our qualified consultant often performs spot checks for dust, VOCs and noise levels during the walk-through survey to identify high-exposure areas or tasks posing risk to workers’ health and safety. The outcome of the survey is then used to carry out exposure risk assessment and control recommendations.

Occupational health risk assessment enables PCBU to identify all hazards and implement controls to protect workers from risks.

Is your home or office making you sick?

The poor air quality can adversely affect the health of the occupants. Some of the health effects associated with poor indoor air quality include:

• Irritation to eyes, nose, and throat
• Headaches, dizziness, and fatigue
• Respiratory diseases, heart disease, and cancer. (Source EPA.gov)

Some of the main contributors to poor air quality in buildings are dust, mould, pollen, VOCs, chemicals, and gases. IOHC consultants specialise in indoor air quality and mould assessments. IOHC uses both real-time monitoring with data logging and air sampling to assess the quality of the air. Our detailed assessments include visual observations, hazard identifications and air monitoring to determine the concentration of contaminants.

Our assessments include checking for moisture and humidity, temperature, biological hazards, dust, and other contaminants that can affect indoor air quality. All assessments are tailored to the needs of the customer and designed based on hazard identification.

We can also assess the property for other contaminants like asbestos, drug residue, mould contamination, respirable crystalline silica, water damage and biological contamination. HVAC system assessments and ventilation assessments are often recommended and carried out with IAQ assessments.

Does your property have mould problems?

IOHC occupational hygienists are experts in conducting mould investigation assessments and post-remediation verifications. Our experienced hygienists can investigate the root cause of mould problems, prepare the scope of work and carry out post-remediation verifications.

Our Occupational hygiene consultants are qualified and fully trained to carry out assessments, and all recommendations and scope of works are prepared in accordance with recommendations of IICRC S500 and S520 standards.

Why Choose IOHC for Mould Assessments

• Mould assessments are carried out by qualified and experienced occupational hygienists.
• Comprehensive testing and inspection
• We provide both surface and airborne mould testing.
• Moisture assessment and thermal imaging of building materials
• Scope of works and recommendations based on industry best practices.
• Detailed mould inspection reports
• Ongoing advice and support

Respirator fit testing is the process of making sure that the mask selected can adequately seal around the wearer’s face and provide the required level of protection from airborne contaminants.

We use Portacount 8048 quantitative respirator fit testing equipment.

We are RESP-FIT accredited for respirator fit testing. We can provide fit testing for all types of reusable and disposable respirators. Our consultants can also assist in selecting the respirator and cartridges based on the contaminants and the workplace concentrations.

Our experienced consultants can provide services to construction, health care, manufacturing, mining, and quarrying industries.

We provide respirator fit testing services as per AS/NZS 1715:2009 Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment.

We provide both mobile and in-house respirator fit testing services, our consultants can visit your workplace to carry out respirator fit testing onsite. Alternatively, you can attend our office by appointment to get fit testing done.

IOHC provides hearing protection fit testing services using the 3M E-A-R Fit validation system. We can provide fit testing service for all 3M hearing protection equipment. EAR Fit is quantitative hearing protection fit testing system that provides a personal attenuation rating (PAR) for hearing protection used. Fit testing is an important part of the hearing conservation program and includes selection, training, and verification of the efficiency of hearing protection.

We can also provide fit testing services at your location to save time, it only takes around 10 minutes to carry out a hearing protection fit testing. Contact our experienced consultants for a quote and enquiries.