NZOHS is the national professional body for occupational hygienists in New Zealand: the people who actually measure airborne asbestos fibres, crystalline silica and other workplace exposures.
How they got started
The Society was officially launched in 1994 to formalise and grow the small but established occupational hygiene community in New Zealand. It was created to give practitioners a shared professional home, lift technical standards, and provide a recognisable voice for the discipline to government, regulators and industry. From the outset its membership reflected the mix of in-house corporate hygienists, private consultants and regulator-employed specialists that still defines the profession in NZ today.
What they stand for
NZOHS's stated purpose is to further the practice, professionalism and recognition of occupational hygiene in New Zealand. The Society champions a strategic, evidence-based approach to managing workplace health hazards, drawing on toxicology, chemistry, physics, epidemiology and engineering controls. A recurring theme is that occupational disease, including asbestos-related disease and silicosis, kills far more New Zealand workers than workplace accidents, and that better measurement, education and application of Workplace Exposure Standards is central to closing that gap.
How they help the industry
- OHTA training: delivers globally recognised Occupational Hygiene Training Association modules in NZ, including W201 Basic Principles, feeding into the International Certificate in Occupational Hygiene (ICertOH)
- Advanced Practice Short Courses (APSC): half-day to full-day specialist topics for experienced practitioners
- Commit2Fit programme: respiratory protective equipment fit-testing scheme with a register of competent fit testers, training, re-certification, and an online RPD evaluation tool
- Biennial Work-Related Health Conference: OH2025 ran 26–28 May 2025 in Auckland with 160+ delegates from 13+ countries
- WES advocacy: public positions and submissions to WorkSafe NZ on Workplace Exposure Standards
Notable initiatives
OH2025 (the NZOHS Work-Related Health Conference at the Hilton Auckland in May 2025) included four keynotes, four CPD sessions, 27 concurrent presentations and four workshops, with proceedings published as a Guest Editorial and Book of Abstracts in the New Zealand Journal of Health and Safety Practice. The Commit2Fit register is a public-facing competent-person register for RPE fit testing. NZOHS engaged on WorkSafe NZ's WES & BEI 15th edition (February 2025), including the reduced respirable crystalline silica WES of 0.05 mg/m³, and publishes the position paper "Workplace Exposure Standards: Still Misunderstood".
Why it matters for asbestos professionals
Most NZ asbestos assessors, air monitors and clearance inspectors are occupational hygienists by training, and NZOHS sets the professional tone for that work, from OHTA technical training, to fit-testing competency under Commit2Fit, to the WES framework used to interpret airborne fibre and silica results. Engagement with NZOHS is one of the clearest ways an NZ asbestos practitioner can demonstrate technical credibility.
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