Environmental Health Services
The field of environmental health is concerned with assessing, monitoring, and mitigating all aspects of both natural and man-made environments that may negatively impact human health. Higgins environmental health consultants have extensive experience assisting clients with assessing a range of environmental factors and recommending proper controls to prevent harm to human health. Some of these services include:
Indoor Air Quality
The Environmental Protection Agency has stated that “In the last several years, a growing body of scientific evidence has indicated that the air within homes and other buildings can be more seriously polluted than the outdoor air in even the largest and most industrialized cities. Other research indicates that people spend approximately 90 percent of their time indoors. Thus, for many people, the risks to health may be greater due to exposure to air pollution indoors than outdoors.”
Industrial Hygiene & Environmental Health Services
Industrial hygiene is generally defined as the art and science dedicated to the anticipation, recognition, evaluation, communication, and control of environmental stressors in or arising from the workplace that may result in injury, illness, impairment, or affect the well being of workers and members of the community. These stressors are generally divided into five categories: biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic, and psychosocial.
ATP Surface Testing & COVID-19 Cleaning Verification
Just because a facility was cleaned, does not mean it was thoroughly disinfected. If you are concerned that your facility is not being cleaned well enough to prevent the spread of disease, Higgins and Associates can provide COVID-19 cleaning protocol consulting, cleaning verification via ATP testing, and disinfection monitoring.
Industrial and Construction Safety
The field of industrial safety is generally concerned with the identification, appraisal, and mitigation of accident-producing conditions and practices. This includes evaluating the severity of accidents; developing accident and loss-control methods, procedures, and programs; communicating accident and loss-control information; and much more.
EHS Management Systems Program Development
ISO 14000 refers to a series of voluntary standards in the environmental field developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), located in Geneva, Switzerland. Included in the ISO 14000 series are the ISO 14001 EMS Standard and other standards in fields such as environmental auditing, environmental performance evaluation, environmental labeling, and life-cycle assessment. The EMS and auditing standards are now final. The others are in various stages of development. In 1989, OSHA established non-mandatory guidelines for the establishment of safety and health management systems for employers.
EHS Management Systems Software
Proactive safety metrics are an integral part of an effective health and safety program. We also believe that safety should be visible at all levels of an organization. By utilizing effective and proactive safety metrics, safety professionals and management can take the steps necessary to prevent accidents from happening. When accidents do happen, they are often less severe, resulting in lower injury rates and worker compensation costs.
LEED's Indoor Air Quality Assessments
The United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the most widely used green building rating system in the world for all types of buildings.
Higgins’ industrial hygienists perform the air quality testing for LEED documentation and verification.