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modeling textbook (58). The use of statistical methods to demonstrate compliance with regulatory limits or exposure guidelines are increasingly appealing to corporate leadership and industrial hygienists with an interest in demonstrating a scientific basis for safety and health expenditures in the workplace. Similarly, Bayesian Data Analysis has allowed industrial hygienists to demonstrate statistically the intersection of quantitative data with professional judgment or experience with workplace systems or operations (59).

Further, with enhanced computing and data analysis powers, it is now possible to evaluate increasingly large data sets for statistical trends and significance. This has led to advances in what is known as “Big Data”, which involves the organization and analysis of hundreds, thousands, or even millions of data points. Such data analysis capabilities have become important for managing the data output of improved data collection instrumentation that can provide measurements in real time and in large quantities at high speed. Many such sensor technologies can provide multiple readings per minute or even per second. With the many valuable benefits of real time data to help assess exposures and protect workers comes the very real challenge of managing the data output of this instrumentation (https://synergist.aiha.org/201702-aiha-role-in-big-data-and-sensor-tech). That being said, sensor technologies, many of which will be integrated into handheld devices, phones, or other micro‐sized instrumentation, are the future direction of data collection for industrial hygiene.

      And finally, a significant development in the practice of exposure assessment is the development of occupational exposure banding and control banding (CB) methods. The goals of these methods are to standardize the approach to exposure assessment and risk assessment, often in situations where no exposure data or published exposure limits exist for use by industrial hygienists. There is a distinction between these different methods among those that focus on the appropriate selection of controls (CB) compared to classifying exposures (occupational exposure banding). Different approaches have been developed by a number of countries and agencies around the world, including the Control of Substances Hazardous to Heath (COSHH) Essentials program in the United Kingdom (a CB method) and the Occupational Exposure Banding approach from NIOSH in the United States (an occupational exposure banding method).

      In the absence of an established OEL, CB methods can offer assistance to smaller entities in developing control options for workplace hazards, particularly when large air sampling campaigns for multiple chemicals or chemical mixtures are difficult. CB techniques do not replace the need for an on‐site expert when one is needed for the evaluation of high‐hazard or complex exposure scenarios. CB relies on certain aspects of the precautionary principle (i.e. the less information available to evaluate the hazard and risk, the more conservative the control strategy that must be selected and implemented). Early forms of CB were developed in the pharmaceutical industry and at companies like Dow Chemical, where work with large numbers of potentially new or hazardous compounds without OELs has made alternatives to risk management and exposure control necessary (60),(61). The more basic forms of CB often involve four levels of risk management options, including good occupational hygiene practices, which may be supplemented by the use of PPE; engineering controls; containment; and the seeking of specialty advice (62). Risk phrases, or R phrases, which are required on material safety data sheets (MSDSs) or SDSs distributed in the EU (and increasingly common on all MSDSs), along with the hazard classes specified by the GHS for the classification and labeling of chemicals, are often used to establish the hazard bands or categories within CB tools. For the identified controls, CB typically uses effective control methodologies that experts have been previously identified and employed to reduce occupational chemical exposures (63). There are a number of approaches that have been either recommended or required in certain countries or parts of the world that use various forms of CB. These include the UK's Health and Safety Executive (HSE) COSHH Essentials, the International Labour Organization (ILO's) International Chemical Control Toolkit for CB, NIOSH's Occupational Exposure Banding approach, and the Stoffenmanager program developed the Netherlands, as well as Belgium‐REGETOX, Norway‐KjemiRisk, Germany‐Einfaches Massnahmenkonzept Gefarhstoffe (EMKG), and the equipment, exposure, emission review (EEER) (https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/oeb/default.html).

      According to NIOSH, the occupational exposure banding approach “also known as hazard banding, is a process intended to quickly and accurately assign chemicals into specific categories (bands), which correspond to a range of exposure concentrations designed to protect worker health. These bands are assigned based on a chemical's toxicological potency and the adverse health effects associated with exposure to the chemical” (64). Similarly, the AIHA has an Exposure and Control Banding Committee dedicated to developing and advancing this approach. These new methods offer promise in the very real context that OEL setting has not kept pace with the development and use of new chemicals and other substances in the workplace over the past several decades (https://www.aiha.org/get-involved/VolunteerGroups/Documents/Content%20Priority%20Dashboards.pdf).

      4.3 Development of Industrial and Occupational Hygiene Training

      Several important developments in occupational and industrial hygiene training have included efforts to expand educational opportunities worldwide, as well as to provide standardized and inexpensive or free training for developing nations and regions.

In the late 1930s, very few universities in the United States offered programs leading to degrees in industrial hygiene at either the undergraduate or graduate level. By the 1940s several countries had established courses in public health which included occupational hygiene, such as the London School of Tropical Health and Hygiene at London University (established in 1924). A similar organization was established in 1930 in Australia at Sydney University with the School of Tropical Health and Medicine, and by 1962 industrial hygiene was part of the curriculum in the public health qualifications. In the 1970s with the introduction of many health and safety legislation around the world – US OSHA Act (1970), UK Health and Safety at Work Act (1974), South Africa Erasmus Commission of Enquiry (1976), Japan Industrial Safety and Health Act No. 57 of 1972 to name a few, there was a need to provide educational programs in industrial hygiene and this saw the universities, colleges, and governments offering courses in occupational hygiene.

      In 2000, more than 30 colleges and universities offered programs leading to undergraduate or graduate degrees in industrial hygiene. This reflected the enormous growth in the profession that has taken place over this period. Worldwide in 2018, there were institutions offering Occupational Hygiene courses in Australia, Canada, India, Netherlands, Japan, Malaysia, Korea, South Africa, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. With the advent of the internet, occupational hygiene courses and course material are now widely available, for example through the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA) (http://OHLearning.com).

      With the goal of supporting students and education in industrial hygiene, the American Industrial Hygiene Foundation was established in 1979 under the auspices of the AIHA. The functions of the Foundation are carried out by an independent Board of Trustees. The Foundation provides fellowships to a limited number of industrial hygiene graduate students, encourages qualified science students to enter the industrial hygiene profession, and stimulates major universities to establish and maintain industrial hygiene graduate programs.

      OHTA is a registered UK charity. The organization's object is to protect and promote the health of the public by advancing the study and science of occupational/industrial hygiene for the public benefit through the provision of global training materials and qualifications.

      The AIHA has established a closely related content development priority on the topic of the Global Standard of Care for occupational and industrial hygiene. In addition to training, this Global Standard of Care initiative also relates to the development and understanding of the ISO 45001 OH&S management standard (https://www.aiha.org/get-involved/VolunteerGroups/Documents/Content%20Priority%20Dashboards.pdf).

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