The American Industrial Hygiene Association® (AIHA) has announced its new Industrial Hygiene (IH) Professional Pathways Program during AIHA Fall Conference 2015 in Orlando, Fla. The program, for industrial hygienists (IH), was created from a desire to align Association resources and development opportunities with the various career stages of the profession. The resulting program encourages and supports the attainment of credentials such as certifications and registrations.

"IH Professional Pathways will bring great value to our members by helping align our conferences, courses, and publications with the needs of industrial hygienists, EHS technicians, and allied professionals," said Steven E. Lacey, PhD, CIH, CSP, AIHA President-elect.

A key component of the IH Professional Pathways Program is Career Stages. The Career Stages infographic debuted on June 2 during a Spotlight on Excellence segment given by AIHA's Chief Human Resource Officer, Mary Ellen Brennan, SPHR, SHRM-SCP, and Perry Logan at the 2015 American Industrial Hygiene Conference and Exposition (AIHce) in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Career Stages infographic describes different aspects of the IH profession. Each aspect is defined by an individual's knowledge area, career track, and stage of progression. Knowledge areas are combined with specific tracks and progression stage to provide an understanding of what each career pathway may look like in the IH profession.

Knowledge areas include IH Professional, Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) Technician, and Allied Professional. Career tracks consist of technical, leadership, and management and the basic stages include student/intern, early career, professional, and senior professional.

Additional IH Professional Pathways Program resources, accessible on www.aiha.org, include:

• Career Advantage: a reliable online job board that connects IH and OEHS job seekers with employers across all industries
• SH&E Industry Salary Survey Results : this 2015 survey included information collected from over 9,000 respondents in the safety, health and environmental professions.  These results indicate a growing recognition of the value of licenses and credentials in the industrial hygiene and safety fields, and quantify the reward that professionals see from substantiating their value with an accredited industrial hygiene and/or safety certification. 
• SH&E Industry Salary Calculator : based on certifications held, gender, level of education, geographic locale, and a list of 7 other criteria, this tool will calculate the base salary and other compensation for safety, health, and environmental professionals.
• Core Competencies for the Practice of Industrial/Occupational Hygiene (access for members only): a document that identifies the 17 core competencies necessary in the industrial hygiene profession. 

For more information regarding IH Professional Pathways, please visit: www.aiha.org/publications-and-resources/IHProfessionalPathway/Pages/default.aspx

To download a copy of the Career Stages infographic, visit: www.aiha.org/publications-and-resources/IHProfessionalPathway/Pages/Career-Stages.aspx