r/industrialhygiene

I am currently applying to the University of Minnesota’s Environmental Health MS and Occupational Hygiene MS programs.

I have a strong interest in industrial hygiene, especially in biotechnology and healthcare settings. I’ve spent the last 6 years of my professional career (after receiving my BS in biology) working in a quality control laboratory as a research associate at life sciences biotechnology company. Some of my role involves being an EHS safety representative for my lab, which made me realize how much I enjoy occupational health. I am interested in a topics and roles regarding industrial hygiene, EHS, and exposure risk assessment. I lean towards industrial hygiene over being an EHS specialist, because I like performing tests and implementing improvements and interventions based on said test results. I

Where I’m conflicted… I am leaning towards the Occupational Hygiene MS, but am worried it’ll pigeonhole me into that role only, whereas the Environmental Health MS would be more flexible with the career interests I mentioned above, but wouldn’t be desirable in Industrial Hygienist job applications if I decided to go that route.

Any insights or personal experiences much appreciated!

EDIT: Common focuses within the Environmental Health MS I am considering: Environmental Chemistry, Environmental and Occupational Epidemiology, Exposure Science, and Regulatory Toxicology and Risk Assessment.

Disclaimer: I created this alt account as the graduate program director for the University of Cincinnati's environmental and industrial hygiene program. We offer both IH and safety degrees at the MS and PhD levels.

The good news: our ERC, like most other ERCs, will continue to receive funding for the next few years.

The better news: after I count the incoming class and compare that with my secret budget sheet, I think there is still one MS trainee position available for Fall 2026.

The best news: if you are interested in pursuing a graduate degree in IH, we can make that happen. You get stipends, health insurance, and tuition covered while here in Cincy town.

Oh, did I mention scholarships? Our students are rock stars when it comes to scholarships, we have students winning AIHA scholarships left and right, few got more than one this year. There was also this guy/gal getting three in a single year, crazy right? We also practically swept IHMM scholarships, all of them.

I also took some time to update our program's websites with the most up-to-date information:

https://med.uc.edu/depart/eh/divisions/ih/academic-programs/overview

https://med.uc.edu/depart/eh/divisions/ih/apply

https://med.uc.edu/depart/eh/divisions/ih/student-resources

If you are interested in joining the Fall 2026 cohort, feel free to DM me. I am also open to questions about Fall 2027, never too early to plan!

I will be at the AIHA, ASSP, and OH2026 (for UK blokes) conferences next month, if you prefer to ask questions face to face, I am more than happy to discuss with you.

Hello, I’m a CIH, CSP and the founder of Samplify IH, a platform that automates exposure banding and exposure risk assessments using a built-in database of over 300k unique CAS numbers.

I’m currently looking for safety professionals and industrial hygienists willing to trial the product completely free. In return, I’m simply looking for honest professional feedback.

My software is NOT AI, and it is NOT intended to replace Industrial Hygienists. In my experience over the last decade, IH and EHS teams have continued to run leaner while workloads continue to grow. Samplify IH is designed as a tool to help professionals keep up with increasing business demands and repetitive assessment work.

To keep the trial group professional and feedback focused, I’m only offering access to verified EHS/IH professionals after connecting via LinkedIn or email.

If anyone is interested, please let me know, thank you.

Hi, I’m trying to estimate my exposure from a DIY incident where I used a power drill bit (~3/8”) to laterally grind a dryer vent opening in asbestos cement siding (20% chrysotile).

It was outside with light to moderate wind. Total active tool use was intermittent – no more than 5 minutes in total – though more time was spent standing around trying to fit the duct through, grinding again, etc. No more than ~ 1.5 square inch of siding was ground down.

When I use AI to research this, I get estimates that span many orders of magnitude – ranging from .000001 fiber years up to .001 fiber years. I think the primary issue is that there isn’t published task-based exposure assessments from using a drill bit this way, so assumptions about f/cc at tool vary.

Is hiring a CIH to provide a formal assessment for such a minor incident worthwhile or feasible? Or is the fiber year exposure so negligible that it’s not worth it, and if so, what would a worst case estimate be? Just trying to understand what my exposure was.

Thanks for opinions!

Hello all, I am currently an undergraduate student hoping to go into the field of EHS and industrial hygiene and I was just a bit curious as to what the day to day work looks like for you all.

I know the field is very broad so I just wanted to hear from you all on the fieldwork, desk work, and everything in between.

Looking forward to hearing from you all!

Hi,
I’m currently enrolled in the Industrial Hygiene advanced certificate offered by CUNY SPH. I’m thinking of doing a full masters after it - cause it’s only 8 more classes and a capstone. My employer will pay for it.

I wanted to know if anyone else did the same, and if they can share their experience. Mainly looking to see if I should do it there or transfer the credits to another school (if possible).

Thanks!

I am retired, but worked in the field as a consultant for 40 years. I think one thing that goes kind of under the radar are the limitations of the statistical analysis that we are taught. We all understand that multiple iterations of sampling are necessary to really do a good job of predicting overexposures. However, in working with many many small businesses, trying to convince them to have you repeat sampling even more than once is a real stretch. It leaves you having to make professional judgments based on single data points which as we know, are not great. Any thoughts?

Hello,

I’m trying to establish how to apply the exposure assessment strategy book at my current company and am struggling a bit.

I notice in the Strat for assessment book some example schemes are given for information gathering (HRR, Uncertainty, etc) but I don’t see any guidance for schemes on using task frequencies/duration, # of employees in SEG, as factors. However, the book does mentions these can be developed.

Obviously understand there are limitations on how reliable these schemes are, but is anyone aware of some schemes they wouldn’t mind sharing or are aware of best practices for developing this?

I thought I’d introduce myself to the community! I’m planning on being more active here, as it’d be great to have a network of CIHs to bounce ideas off of.

​My name is Dylan, and I’m a mold remediation technician with about four and a half years of experience in the field. I’m currently WRT certified and have 47 credits toward a Software Engineering degree, though I recently started the process of switching my major to Environmental Microbiology. I’ll also have my CIE soon so I can start performing mold assessments.

​I’ve developed a bit of an obsession with mold, viruses, bacteria, and prions, but I’m equally driven by the goal of returning homes to a Condition 1 environment. Lately, I’ve been diving deeper into qPCR testing and tools like the InstaScope that help support air sample pump testing not replace.

​Anyway, thanks for reading!

Hello all,

I have almost finished up my graduate certificate from Murray state in industrial hygiene, I also have a bs in geology from CU Boulder.

I’ve been working at a large construction site as a ehs engineer, mostly doing scaffolding work, public health analysis, crane oversight, things of that nature.

I realized in order to qualify for cih I need ih experience that’s 50% of my duties, id like to get started on it now

I'm not an IH. I didn't even know that the VOC filters in combo cartridges can have 1/2 the service life of a dedicated gas cartridge until I read a NIOSH report testing knock off filters that used different service life standards for the different cartridges. So I'm wondering why use combo cartridges at all unless you specifically need oil resistant 99.97% filtration in addition to the gas filtration.

hi, im looking for advice in industrial hygiene and safety tech job or any advice because im have diploma holder only in industrial hygiene and safety technology. im 24 F unsure what to go after that diploma because i heard i should pursue degree certificate.. just issue is money. now im stuck because im underemployed and located in like not much industrial company who willing to take me. perhaps anyone have any life advice or experience to go through this situation? im unsure where should I ask about this matter and i hope i don't bother anyone about this

https://preview.redd.it/8s4ccyjoqeyg1.png?width=1466&format=png&auto=webp&s=74eb60e177b44eeb79f9cb06bae35cd7a8375a46

This filter loading graph from a 2014 3M sell sheet illustrates what I'm referring to. The filter loading properties of the 3M pancake filters are radically different than the unnamed competitors. Granted, it is a marketing claim, but variability under loading is a real difference between filters that NIOSH doesn't publish. NIOSH just make sure the filters meet minium standards and keep the details secret, even from FOIA requests.

So, since filters don't come with loading performance data sheets, how do you create optimized replacement schedules for filters that may have significantly different performance over time? Do you rely on workers to say the filters are getting hard to breathe through to account for filters that don't perform well under loading?

Had a stand-down yesterday because someone questioned whether our blower setup was actually moving the air we calculated for a vessel entry. Turned out we had way less effective CFM than the rated number suggested.

The blower was rated at 1500 CFM but we had about 30 feet of 12 inch ducting with three 90 degree elbows getting it into the vessel. Each elbow is gonna drop you somewhere around 10-15 percent depending on the radius and the duct material. By the time the air actually gets into the space your looking at maybe 1000 CFM real flow, sometimes less.

The OSHA math for purge time assumes your moving the rated flow, not the actual flow. If your basing entry decisions on calculated ACH using nameplate CFM and your ducting setup looks like a snake in a barrel, your gonna come up short on purge time. Verify with a meter at the actual entry point if you can, or build in a much bigger safety margin than the textbook suggests.

Anyone else build in a derate factor for your duct runs or do you just calc based on rated flow and add time?