Re[2]: HP Job Shortage - IH/HP question

[RONALD GOODWIN <RONALD_GOODWIN@health.ohio.gov>]

     OPINION on the IH/HP questions
     
     As a professional HP (not a CHP but a chp (that means career health 
     physicist)), I found (after working for 23 years in nuclear power and 
     then after an amazing burnout period switching to IH at a DOE 
     remediation site) that it was very very easy to learn and understand 
     OSHA, RCRA and CERCLA requirements (the most difficult of course is 
     the RCRA/CERCLA) than it was for me to instruct the IH's that I had 
     working for me in the intricacies of the world of Health Physics.  (I 
     never did get one of them to understand that the hazards of 
     radioactive materials would diminish in time while the hazards of 
     methyl-ethyl-bad stuff would be around for a long long time)
     
     At any rate, in answer to your question, I personally feel, and here 
     is the opinion, that it is easier to start with an HP and make an IH 
     than to go the other way around.  To those IH out there who are now 
     HP's this is not meant to be demeaning.  I am glad that you made the 
     transition.  The more cross trained professionals that we have the 
     easier it will be to oversee the regulatory functions that we are all 
     tasked with.
     
     Best regards,
     
     R. R. (Ron) Goodwin
     Ronald_Goodwin@health.ohio.gov


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Re: HP Job Shortage - IH/HP question
Author:  radsafe@romulus.ehs.uiuc.edu at Internet
Date:    4/4/96 11:49 AM


As an educator interested in producing a professional with the greatest 
flexibility in the present job market (or lack of it), would it be better 
for to hire a health physicist and have them learn the IH side of the job 
or to hire an IH who has to learn the HP side of the job?
     
>I would like to add another problem that I have observed in the past
>few years.  A hospital, a university or any institution in the industrial 
>sector requires that a person fill the position of RSO, but there is also 
>a need for a "safety" person to conduct all other safety operations. 
>Thus, an Industrial Hygenist is hired, having very little knowledge of 
>Health Physics. Later, the Industrial Hygenist is sent to attend one of 
>many courses for Radiation Safety Officers, and there you have a
>brand new HP with little knowledge and zero experience. 
>
>But the argument is that the company is "saving" thousands of 
>dollars, but they are creating a great potential for liability and a 
>definite risk to the health of maybe thousands of employees.
     
------
Nolan E. Hertel
Health Physics Program
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering 
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332-0405
(404) 894-3717
facs:  (404) 894-3733
nolan.hertel@me.gatech.edu
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