Situational analysis of industrial hygienists in India

BACKGROUND: Industrial growth in India has resulted in increased employment opportunities thereby inflating the size of the workforce engaged in both organized and unorganized sectors. This workforce is exposed to various occupational factors at workplace and hence is susceptible to occupational diseases, the control of which requires trained occupational health manpower. METHODS: The present study was undertaken to map the institutions offering courses to develop industrial hygienist in India, estimate the requirement of such occupational health manpower and to design competencies and curriculum for such a course. RESULTS: Though there are no norms for the industrial hygienist in the Indian Factories Act, on assumption on the basis of norms provided for Safety Officer, it is estimated that for 26.92 million workforce engaged in organized sector, a total of 5407 Industrial hygienists will be required. Thus there is an estimated deficit of 51% for Industrial hygienist based on current ratio of employment. However on supply side there are only three institutes offering specialized courses on industrial hygiene out of which only one is full time residential course while rest two are offered through distance learning mode. CONCLUSIONS: Therefore, there is a vital need for the development of industrial hygienist not only in quantity but also in quality so that the workers in industries and communities lead socially and environmentally productive lives.