Occupational Health vs Occupational Hygiene: What’s the Difference?

Occupational health and occupational hygiene sound alike and share the same goal: stopping people from being made ill by their work. But they come at it from different directions. If your workers are exposed to hazards like noise, dust or chemicals, you'll often need both.

The short answer

Occupational hygiene looks at the workplace. It measures hazards such as dust, fumes, chemicals and noise, and checks whether the controls in place are keeping exposure down.

Occupational health looks at the worker. It checks whether the people exposed to those hazards are showing any signs of harm, and advises on fitness for work.

Put simply: hygiene asks "how much dust is in the air?" Health asks "how are your workers' lungs?"

An example

Take a joinery workshop where wood dust is produced every day.

An occupational hygienist would measure how much dust workers are breathing in, test the extraction system (known as local exhaust ventilation, or LEV) to see if it's working properly, and recommend improvements such as better extraction or suitable masks.

An occupational health team would carry out lung function tests (spirometry) and ask workers about symptoms such as coughing, wheezing or skin problems. If someone shows early signs of harm, OH would advise the employer and the worker on what to do next.

Same hazard, two different jobs. One protects people by controlling the hazard. The other checks that the protection is working.

What is occupational hygiene?

The British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) describes occupational hygiene as protecting worker health by controlling workplace hazards that can cause harm. It uses science and engineering to identify, measure and control exposure to things like:

• chemicals, dust and fumes
• noise and vibration
• radiation
• extreme heat and cold

Typical occupational hygiene work includes:

• air monitoring to measure exposure to dust, fumes and vapours
• noise surveys and assessments
• thorough examination and testing of LEV, which COSHH requires at least every 14 months for most systems
• support with COSHH risk assessments
• advice on control measures, including choosing the right respiratory protective equipment (RPE)

BOHS is the professional body for occupational hygiene in the UK and keeps a register of occupational hygiene professionals.

What is occupational health?

Occupational health focuses on people. It's a specialist area of healthcare that looks at how work affects health, and how health affects work.

For employers managing workplace hazards, the most important part of occupational health is usually health surveillance: a programme of regular health checks for workers exposed to certain risks. This includes:

• hearing checks (audiometry) for workers exposed to noise, under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005
• lung function tests (spirometry) for workers exposed to dust, fumes and substances that can cause asthma, under COSHH
• HAVS assessments for workers using vibrating tools, under the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005
• skin checks for workers handling substances that can cause dermatitis

Occupational health also covers fitness for work assessments, management referrals, absence support and advice on reasonable adjustments.

It's delivered by OH nurses, doctors, advisers and technicians. OH nurses are registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), and OH doctors with the General Medical Council (GMC).

Side by side

How they work together

Hygiene and health are two halves of the same cycle:

1. Assess the risk. Your risk assessment identifies a hazard, such as noise from machinery.
2. Measure and control. Occupational hygiene measures exposure and recommends controls, such as quieter equipment, enclosures or hearing protection.
3. Check the people. Occupational health carries out health surveillance to spot early signs of harm.
4. Feed back and improve. If health checks pick up changes, such as early hearing loss, that's a sign the controls may not be working. The risk assessment and controls should then be reviewed.

The HSE is clear that health surveillance is not a substitute for a risk assessment or effective controls. Equally, measuring exposure alone can't tell you whether a worker's health is already being affected. You need both to get the full picture.

Do you need both?

If your workers are exposed to noise, dust, fumes, chemicals or vibration, the answer is often yes.

Noise is a good example. Under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005, you must assess the risk where workers are likely to be exposed at or above the lower exposure action value of 80 dB(A). Measuring noise levels is hygiene work. You must then provide hearing checks for workers likely to be regularly exposed above the upper exposure action value of 85 dB(A), or who are at risk for any reason. That's occupational health.

Where ROHS fits in

ROHS provides the occupational health side: the checks that show whether your controls are protecting the people who matter most. We don't carry out occupational hygiene surveys such as air monitoring or LEV testing, but our health surveillance works hand in hand with the hygiene assessments you already have in place.

Since 1963, we've helped employers in manufacturing, construction, engineering, food production and more meet their health surveillance duties. Our team carries out audiometry, spirometry, HAVS assessments, vision screening and face fit testing, at our Rochdale centre or on your premises.

Not sure what health surveillance your workforce needs? Call us on 01706 648855 or get in touch and we'll talk it through with you.

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