347 Did occupational hygienists make a difference for workers during the pandemic?

Abstract Occupational hygienists are uniquely prepared to recognize, evaluate and control novel workplace hazards, but the profession was often sidelined and marginalized in the development and deployment of workplace guidance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Workplaces were among the most hazardous settings for COVID-19 transmission, but the interventions we employ for workplace hazards were often ignored. Beyond the pandemic, infectious respiratory diseases are an important factor in worker health and safety and deserve our ongoing attention. Workers can be both the source and receptor of an infectious aerosol, which complicates our approach to the hierarchy of controls. However, the underlying principles remain the same. Whether used as source control or personal protection, masks and respirators are the final option, because they rely on humans for effective deployment. As well, mandating vaccines for workers must be carefully considered, in light of their limitations and placement in the hierarchy. This calls for a reconsideration and reframing of the control hierarchy. Exposure to a hazardous aerosol, whether generated by people or industrial processes, requires consideration of particle concentration and exposure time. Control banding, which has been successfully applied when hazards lack exposure limits, should become an accepted tool for assessing infectious aerosol exposures. Occupational health is a public health discipline but is often ignored and sidelined by medical and public health professionals. We lack health and safety standards and regulations focused on recognition, evaluation and prevention of infectious disease transmission in workplaces. Occupational hygienists could play a more active role in the development of such guidelines and standards. We can’t let an incomplete understanding of the exposure or the lack of sampling methods or exposure limits prevent our taking a leadership role in protecting workers from aerosol transmissible diseases.