Extreme Engineer of the Month

Profile: Jennifer Janowitz, CHMM, Industrial Hygiene Specialist, Johnson & Johnson/Centocor

Jennifer Janowitz had an undergraduate degree in dietetics and nutrition and was looking for a graduate program when a friend in an industrial hygiene program introduced her to the field. Jennifer already had many of the biology and chemistry prerequisites from her undergraduate degree, and the field seemed like a good fit. She particularly liked the behavioral part of health and safety—how choices people make at work can affect work outcomes resulting in safety or injury.

Jennifer's first job out of her masters program was for a chemical manufacturer, where she achieved her Certified Hazardous Materials Manager (CHMM) certification. There she primarily dealt with the management of hazardous materials and the appropriate environmental reporting that goes with it. She also served as the liaison between her company and regulators such as the department of natural resources and the sewer district. In this position she compiled all the waste streams—whether air emissions, water discharge, or solid or hazardous waste—and the particular regulatory body that governed each.

Jennifer's current position as an industrial hygienist with Johnson & Johnson focuses on employee health and safety, which she says is a great match for her. She's particularly excited about working for a company that understands how good health and safety management affect their bottom line. Johnson & Johnson had recently acquired Centocor, a biotech firm, and needed an industrial hygienist on staff to bring the site into compliance with Johnson & Johnson's progressive standards. For example, she was charged with implementing a J&J's new ergonomics programs. She also implemented the company's behavior-based safety program, which teaches employees to consider how their actions might affect their own safety as well as the safety of workers around them. "It teaches people to think about their jobs and assess if they're doing their best to keep themselves and the people around them safe, while still being productive," she says. The ergonomics portion of the program covers such things as lifting and work posture when sitting at a desk. "Often simple fixes can make a big impact on wellness, productivity, and absenteeism," she says.

Much of her time is devoted to risk assessment and hazard assessment—recognizing, evaluating, and controlling workplace hazards or potential workplace hazards. When the company implements a new work process, Jennifer uses a hazard analysis system to assess potential hazards before they occur. This system is essentially a check list with hundreds of items that prompts her to assess how to handle each aspect of a task. "For example, we have heavy reaction tanks which take a lot of momentum to get rolling," she says. "Depending on the frequency and duration it takes to move a drum, have we introduced an undue hazard to that worker?" During this process, Jennifer uses the checklist to assign risk and severity levels to each item. For any item that is considered high or moderate risk, her job is to work with other departments, such as engineering, production, and quality, to come up with a solution that does not present a workplace hazard. "Since it's a brand new process," she says, "we're trying to prevent hazards before a worker is exposed to them."

Jennifer sees the role of industrial hygienist as that of a diplomat within the company. "That role unites management and all workers within all departments of the company to meet a common goal of health and safety," she says. At Johnson and Johnson, health and safety measures are written into most employees’ goals and objectives. She noted that this places more responsibility on the individual, rather than ownership remaining just in the health and safety department. "J&J promotes a culture that everybody owns health and safety, so everybody has an interest," she says.

Jennifer says that what she likes best about her job is the interaction with people and helping them understand how their work affects them. She enjoys the behavioral aspect of her job as well as program management, implementation, and compliance. "A lot of it has to do with the connection with people and understanding their motivation," she says. “Maybe it was a bad experience with a previous supervisor that they are obstinate. I try to help fix that. It's pretty fun. Plus for me it's important to have the intrinsic value of making a contribution to an organization that understands that their proactive stance really does impact their bottom line positively."

Industrial hygiene is a broad field with many practice settings and opportunities—and one that is constantly evolving to address new technology and processes in the workplace. "The need for it will always be there," Jennifer says.

Jennifer Janowitz is a member of AIHA. She was the president of the Central Missouri State University Student Chapter in 2003 when it was awarded Student Chapter of the Year. Also, in 2003, Janowitz presented on a Roundtable at AIHce on The History of Occupational Safety and Health: The Building Blocks for Industrial Hygienists in the 21st Century.