Occupational Hygiene Services

With nearly 40 years of industry experience. 

Occupational Services - Web
Protecting kaimahi through exposure risk assessments

With almost 40 years of experience, Peter and Le-récca have provided occupational hygiene services throughout several industries including oil and gas, food manufacturing, construction, manufacturing and tourism. 

They both specialise in inhalable and respirable dusts, fumes, mists, gases, lighting, microbes, heat, vibration, noise, and indoor air quality. 

Identification - Assessment - Control

Let us help you to establish the optimal work conditions for your team.  

Assessments

Providing assessments of your current practices, including audits, consultancy, and advice. 

Client Support

Supporting you with pragmatic, tailored and cost effective advice alongside implementation practices. 

Expertise

With close to 40 years of experience, we provide expert knowledge in chemicals, dust and fibres, biological hazards, noise, lighting, vibration, thermal stress and indoor air quality. 

Dust can be irritating to both the eyes and respiratory system. Workplace exposures to dusts can result in upper respiratory tract irritation, asthma, dermatitis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and cancer.

Identifying dusts in the workplace and assessing exposures and controls is key to protecting your team.

Dust exposure assessments are also a requirement of the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016. WorkSafe NZ are currently focusing on asbestos, silica, welding fume, and wood dust due to their carcinogenic properties.

 

We own a range of equipment to both test and monitor chemicals including solvents, aromatics and other hydrocarbons. Workplace exposures to solvents and chemicals can result in upper respiratory tract irritation, asthma, dermatitis, narcosis, and cancer.

Exposure monitoring allows us to determine the concentrations of  vapours and gases in a workplace, to best determine how you can minimise unsafe levels. To protect your team's health, the identification of solvents and chemicals in the workplace, and an assessment of exposures and controls is necessary.

Our team can help you set up a sampling process for mould spores and other biological hazards. This can include both surface and airborne testing, and covers hazards such as lead, arsenic and asbestos. 

Exposure to bacteria and fungi and organic dusts in the workplace can result in conditions such as occupational asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, farmers lung, mushroom workers lung and malt workers lung. 

Poor lighting can lead to headaches, eyestrain, lethargy and poor concentration. Our team can identify areas of poor lighting, glare and potential areas of strain, and recommend practical changes to help improve your environment.

Vibration monitoring can ensure that your team is safe from harmful amounts of vibration produced by mechanical equipment. There's two types of vibrations that we test for - Whole Body (WBV) and Hand/Arm Vibration (HAV).

Repeated exposure of the body to elevated whole-body vibration can:

  • Cause discomfort
  • Adversely affect performance
  • Aggravate pre-existing back injuries
  • Present a health and safety risk
  • Gastrointestinal complaints (peptic ulcers and gastritis)
  • Circulatory disorders (varicose veins and hemorrhoids)
  • Female reproduction.

Repeated exposure of the hands to elevated vibration can result in white finger syndrome where the blood supply and nerve connections to the fingers are disrupted resulting “blanching” and numbness in the fingers.

By monitoring the accessing vibration, we can help determine ways to reduce exposure where necessary. 

Exposure to elevated thermal environments can result in prickly heat /rashes, heat cramps, heat syncope/fainting, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. On the other end of the scale, exposure to low temperatures can result in hypothermia.

We can take temperature measurements across your workplace to help you better manage both heat and cold stress effectively.

Poor indoor air quality can cause fatigue and lower productivity. Our indoor air quality assessments generally address thermal and ventilation issues within the office environment.

Dust, bacterial and fungal assessments are best done wherever water and dust enter your office. 

By using a range of air sampling equipment, we can assess your workplace and create a monitoring package to suit your problem areas. 

Exposure to noise is one of the most common occupational health risks in the workplace.

Uncontrolled, excessive exposure to noise can be associated with hearing loss, tinnitus, cardiovascular effects, stress and sleep disturbance.

By evaluating noise levels in the workplace, we can assist in determining the hazard, recommending controls, and ensuring that specific methods are effective in your workplace.

If you have any questions or would like to request a quote, get in touch.