Industrial hygiene consulting
Industrial hygiene consulting measures what your employees actually breathe, hear, and touch — then compares results to OSHA permissible exposure limits and stricter modern guidelines. Meridian EHS Partners runs CIH-directed sampling for noise, dusts, fumes, and chemicals, and turns the lab data into controls that work on a real production floor.
What does an industrial hygiene consultant do?
Anticipates, measures, and controls health hazards that injure people slowly instead of suddenly. The core workflow: build an exposure assessment identifying similar exposure groups, run personal sampling — dosimeters, pumps, and media on actual workers through actual shifts — send media to AIHA-accredited labs, compare results against OSHA PELs and the more protective ACGIH TLVs, and specify controls in the proper hierarchy: engineering first, administrative second, PPE last.
When is exposure sampling required?
Several OSHA standards contain explicit triggers: noise (a monitoring program when exposures may reach the 85 dBA action level — if people raise their voices to talk at arm’s length, assume yes), respirable crystalline silica (initial monitoring or objective data for cutting, grinding, and blasting operations), hexavalent chromium (common in stainless welding), plus lead, cadmium, methylene chloride, and others. Beyond hard triggers, sampling is how you prove a respirator program is either required or — just as valuably — not required.
What do results actually change?
Everything downstream: whether you need a hearing conservation program, whether respirators are mandatory (with fit testing and medical evaluation) or voluntary, which ventilation investments are justified, and what goes in employee exposure records you must retain for 30 years. Good IH data is also your best defense in occupational disease claims years later — the absence of data is always read against the employer.
Common sampling programs
Noise
Full-shift dosimetry and area mapping, audiometric program review, and engineering noise controls that beat buying earplugs forever.
Dusts & fumes
Respirable silica, welding fume (including hexavalent chromium), wood dust, metalworking fluids, and combustible dust characterization.
Chemicals
Solvent vapors, isocyanates in coating operations, formaldehyde, and lab chemical exposures — matched to PELs, TLVs, and your SDS inventory.
Related services and proof
Frequently asked questions
How much does industrial hygiene sampling cost?
Typical single-agent surveys (noise or one chemical, one shift, several workers) run $2,500–$6,000 including lab fees and the CIH-reviewed report. Multi-agent baseline assessments for a full plant run $6,000–$15,000. We quote fixed after a scoping call.
What is the difference between a PEL and a TLV?
OSHA PELs are legal limits — many set in 1971 and widely acknowledged as outdated. ACGIH TLVs are current science-based guidelines, often far stricter. We report against both: PELs tell you your legal position; TLVs tell you whether people are actually protected.
Do we need a Certified Industrial Hygienist, or can anyone sample?
Sampling strategy, not pump-running, is the skill. Where you place media, which shifts you capture, and how you group workers determines whether results are defensible. Our surveys are designed and reviewed by a CIH, which is also what courts and OSHA give weight to.
Our employees complain about air quality but we have no obvious hazard. Can you help?
Yes — indoor environmental quality investigations (CO2, particulates, humidity, mold screening) are a regular request, especially post-renovation. The answer is usually ventilation, and a structured investigation with data resolves the complaint loop in a way reassurance never does.