Great Falls Industrial Hygiene Services

What Is Industrial Hygiene?

Understanding Workplace Safety in Great Falls, Virginia

At Applied Environmental, Inc., based in Fairfax, Virginia, we specialize in helping organizations create safe, healthy, and compliant workplaces through expert industrial hygiene services. Industrial hygiene is the science and practice of identifying, evaluating, and controlling environmental factors in the workplace that may cause illness, injury, or discomfort among workers. By taking a proactive approach, companies can protect employees, improve productivity, and maintain compliance with OSHA and other regulatory requirements.

At Applied Environmental, Inc., our industrial hygiene professionals bring decades of hands-on experience across industrial, commercial, clinical, research, and government facilities throughout Great Falls, Virginia and beyond. This broad exposure has equipped our team with a deep understanding of diverse workplace processes, environments, and operations—allowing us to effectively identify, assess, and control occupational health hazards in any setting.

Our industrial hygiene professionals have worked in a wide array of industrial, commercial, research, clinical, and governmental settings, building a thorough knowledge of processes, environments, and workplaces. Applied Environmental, Inc. offers extensive experience in evaluating occupational health hazards including the following:

• Chemical agents (such as solvents, particulates, fumes, vapors, and acids/alkalis),
• Biological agents (including fungal and bacterial exposures), and
• Physical stresses (such as noise, radiation, and thermal stresses).

We provide turnkey surveys to identify employee occupational exposures  monitoring and evaluating exposure data, and recommending options for cost-effective control measures. These measures include engineering controls, administrative or management procedural changes, material substitution, personal protective equipment, and/or process modifications. We complete all industrial hygiene projects under the direct supervision of a Board Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH).

Applied Environmental maintains an extensive inventory of direct-read industrial hygiene instruments and analytical sampling equipment. Our close working relationships with numerous AIHA-accredited industrial hygiene analytical laboratories assure that we have an in-house inventory of sampling media as well as comprehensive analytical support. Our field staff is supported by laboratory experts experienced in identifying analytical sampling techniques, sampling interference, esoteric sampling parameters, and general field guidance that enhances our exposure evaluations.

Applied Environmental provides experienced health and safety professionals under the direction of a Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) or Certified Safety Professional (CSP) to fully manage safety, health, and environmental programs for a facility.

Our personnel has comprehensive knowledge of Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) health and safety regulations and associated industry standards, and participate in the review and development of written compliance programs, as well as in the application and implementation of such programs. Safety inspections can be targeted to specific departments or and operations, or involve a full facility assessment.

Safety program support includes:

• Review of safety documents to determine compliance status with regulatory requirements,
• Cost effective organization of the survey effort and selection of appropriate safety audit elements,
• Interviews with representative personnel and walk-throughs to observe the current facility layout and operations,
• Identification of any obvious practices that may deviate from approved procedures,
• Check for additional elements or conditions that were not previously identified,
• OSHA compliance training for safety supervisors and employees of the facility, and
• Safety officer placement on-site.

OSHA places a strong emphasis on industrial hygiene across all workplaces. Under the General Duty Clause, every employer must maintain a work environment that is free from known hazards capable of causing serious injury or harm. Although the types of evaluations required may differ from one industry to another, most workplaces are either required—or strongly encouraged—to adopt industrial hygiene programs. These programs help identify and control chemical, physical, and biological risks that could threaten employee health.

Industries Where Industrial Hygiene Is Especially Important

Manufacturing, construction, and heavy industry:
Workers in these sectors are frequently exposed to high noise levels, hazardous chemicals, silica and coal dust, lead, and other airborne contaminants, making industrial hygiene essential.

Healthcare:
Hospitals and medical facilities rely on industrial hygiene to manage exposure risks in operating rooms, laboratories, morgues, and other sensitive environments.

Life sciences and pharmaceuticals:
Pharmaceutical manufacturers and research labs regularly handle potent chemicals, biological materials, active ingredients that require strict safety protocols and monitoring.

Aerospace:
From production floors to research and development areas, the aerospace industry depends on industrial hygiene to manage chemical use, noise, and other occupational hazards.

Food, drug, flavors, and fragrance industries:
These fields often involve large inventories of chemicals and processes that need ongoing evaluation to maintain safe operations.

Government agencies, educational institutions, and labor organizations:
These groups also employ industrial hygienists to safeguard employees, students, and members through ongoing hazard assessments.

Why Industrial Hygiene Is Necessary

General Duty requirements:
Even when OSHA does not have a specific rule for a particular hazard, employers are still responsible for protecting workers from any hazard that is known or foreseeable.

OSHA-mandated standards:
Many OSHA regulations—such as those related to hazardous chemicals, noise, or airborne contaminants—require formal exposure assessments and controls, all of which fall under industrial hygiene.

Hazard identification and control:
Industrial hygiene is built around systematically recognizing, evaluating, and mitigating workplace threats, which is a core aspect of OSHA compliance.

Reducing illness and injury:
Effective industrial hygiene practices lower the risk of workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities. They also help employers avoid penalties, reduce liability, and support a healthier, more productive workforce.