Professional Growth: Occupational Safety or IH?

Bridged experiences
    Before I reached the age of 22 years old, I experienced an overexposure to airborne secobarbital powder while working in a small pharmaceutical manufacturing plant that nearly ended my life. While working the assembly line for one of the big-three auto companies, a malfunction on an unguarded press shot a metal shrapnel deep into the bone of my left forearm. The shrapnel remains in my arm today. Had my forearm been raised a couple inches higher or lower, the shrapnel would be headed toward my heart. I am passionate about making safety and IH practices be the best they can be.
    I have attempted to balance growth in both disciplines. I hold the CSP® and CIH®. I serve as an expert witness in both disciplines. I taught Safety Engineering at one university and Industrial Hygiene at another university. I have been a member of ASSP® and AIHA® or ACGIH® for nearly 40 years. I have deep and varied experience in both practices. Blah, blah, blah.
    The point being, I trust my judgment on the question of future importance of safety and IH over all others. That said, where do I stand on the introductory question? More importantly, how should you react to the answer?

Fatalities
    The BLS reports that there were 5,283 fatal work injuries in 2023. How many fatal work illnesses occurred in 2023? The AFL-CIO’s “Death on the Job: The Toll of Neglect, 2025” report, suggests that 135,000 workers died from occupational disease in 2023. That 25:1 ratio for workplace deaths from illness over injury requires a leap of faith in statistical accounting.
    For example, this past August 2025, a former Michigan State University student filed a lawsuit against the university, claiming her graduate work with herbicides from 2008 and 2011 caused her to acquire thyroid cancer. An estimated 129 million people in the US have at least one chronic disease such as cancer. This number will rise in coming years. About 8 of 10 annual deaths in the US now result from chronic disease. More and more, chronic disease is being alleged to have occurred from exposures that arise in or from the workplace, even those from long ago. When these aggregate numbers are looked at in certain ways, then the 25:1 annual deaths from IH exposures over occupational injuries may be speculated.

25:1 in dollars
    OSHA safety violation penalties this year reached the $4 million dollar amount for a single employer. MSU is facing a $100 million dollar lawsuit for one adult’s IH exposure, a 25:1 dollar comparison.
    Companies are now paying out billions of dollars in legal settlements for varied chemical contamination of the environment. For example, NJ received a $2 billion legal settlement for PFAS contamination from some companies this past August. PFAS was a workplace chemical before it contaminated the environment.
    IH, when used beyond OSHA, can help stop these types of massive revenue and reputational damages. As far as potential dollar loss to a business, there is no comparable occupational safety example.

New law
    The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) recently came into effect. This law impacts about two million workers annually. The federal PWFA final rules include a role for industrial hygienists. Because of the fed’s final rule, there are thirty state and city PWFA laws that may need to qualify an IH’s PWFA work, such as through state licensure. All this increases the value of an IH. Occupational safety is excluded from these opportunities.

Misinformation and Disinformation
    Misinformation and disinformation is the world’s #1 risk according to the World Economic Forum. The August 2025 survey report “The Effect of Misinformation and Disinformation on Physicians’ Ability to Provide Quality Care” from The Physicians Foundation is an example of concerns for this risk.
    Eighty-six percent (86%) of physicians now feel “that the incidence of medical misinformation and/or disinformation has increased compared to 5 years ago.” Physicians further report that sixty-one percent (61%) of their patients have been influenced by misinformation and/or disinformation “at least a moderate amount over the past year.” What’s driving these large numbers?

Goodbye Dr. Google, hello Dr. AI
    Much of the IH work that I have done during my career was triggered by a worker’s health complaint. The root cause for most complaints was triggered from something the worker misunderstood from Dr. Google. Dr. AI is a whole different world. The medical misinformation physicians are experiencing now will expand into the IH practice. Again, there is no occupational safety comparison.

MAHA
    The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiatives, that will primarily focus on the prevention of chronic disease, are expected to have great impact on IH, such as measuring and limiting EMFs in the workplace and considering chemical exposure in a new light. MAHA initiatives do not appear to include occupational safety improvements.

Reduced barrier
    The drudgery of obtaining an IH or STEM degree over multiple years no longer appears necessary with AI’s help. You just need to know the correct prompts to use and be able to decern between what’s fact and what’s fiction. I envision a near future where a “certificate of IH practice” perhaps obtained over weeks or a few months will be accepted by employers looking for IH talent. The CIH® credential may still be required if you intend to become an expert witness or meet similar objectives.

Predictions
    AI says, “Industrial hygiene is likely to gain greater importance relative to occupational safety in the next decade as the workplace becomes more technologically advanced, health-focused, and intertwined with global sustainability and regulatory demands.” My experience and judgment supports this prediction.
    If you believe these predictions, too, then there are professional growth actions that you should begin now.

Learning objectives
    IH is a broad discipline. The most important IH hazard to understand, however, are chemical exposures and their toxicological effects. Almost everything is chemical. Dose, timing and personal traits may allow any chemical to be harmful. People fear things the most that they understand the least. Small doses can cause big problems. Control how chemical information, particularly toxic effects, are managed. Let AI help you demystify and explain chemical risk in plain language. Let AI build Flash Cards to help you measure your understanding of chemical exposure recognition, evaluation, and control.

Conclusion
    Continue to build your IH awareness and competencies with AI’s help. Be ready when IH opportunities present themselves in the future.