Imagine you are standing on an airport tarmac next to an enormous 747 airplane. The pilot has just started the plane's engines, and even with protective earmuffs, it's still noisy. But that is why you are here. You are an occupational hygienist and you have just begun an evaluation of your city's brand-new airport. You will spend the next few weeks using a variety of instruments to measure the levels of potential hazards in and around the airport. You want to make certain that employees of the multimillion-dollar complex have a safe, healthy work environment.


As an occupational hygienist, you're working at the airport to ensure sufficient measures are in place to protect employees from potential hazards. You start by assessing noise pollution. Employees must be sufficiently shielded from the noise of airplanes taxiing, taking off, and landing so as not to damage their hearing. You check that noise levels inside hangars and the terminal building do not exceed acceptable workplace limits. In situations where employees must be on the tarmac when jet engines are running, you check that adequate hearing protection has been provided and is being used properly.


You will also measure air quality on the tarmac to ensure that exhaust from airplanes and the airport's vehicles are not threatening employees' health, as well as air quality inside the terminal to see if the building's ventilation system is providing enough fresh air. The thousands of employees who work at the airport are counting on your evaluation to make their workplace safe.