Acronyms

AC: Alternating current

Accident: No such thing, the word should be "incident", Accident is like a tornado, hurricane, or earthquake (no person's fault)

ACGIH: American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists

AIHA: American Industrial Hygiene Association

AL: Action level (refers to an employee exposure to an air borne hazard – usually ½ of the PEL)

APR: Air purifying respirator (vs. PAPR, which contains a pump and filter the local air supply)

ASSE: American Society of Safety Engineers (Materials such as steel)

ASTM: American Society for Testing and Materials

ATSDR: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry

BBP:  Bloodborne pathogen

BLS:  Bureau of Labor Statistics

CAR:  Corrective Action Response (associated with an injury or incident)

CAS: Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS# - identifier for chemicals)

CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

CFR: Code of Federal Regulations

CGA: Compressed Gas Association
CIH: Certified Industrial Hygenist

CSHM: Certified Safety and Health Manager

CSP: Certified Safety Professional

DART: Days away, restricted, or transfer

dB: Measure of pressure usually used for sound (noise) and measured as dBA (which is a designation of the sound a person hears – specific frequency range)

DC: Direct current

DEQ: Department of Environmental Quality (State)

DOL: Department of Labor

DOT: Department of Transportation

EAP: Employee assistance program (Human Resources)

EAP: Emergency action plan (Safety)

EE: Employee (sometimes with a apostrophe because programs don’t accept the initials with a small s)

EMS: Emergency Management System

EPA: Environmental Protection Agency (Federal)

FA: First Aid

GFCI: Ground fault circuit interrupter also known as GFI

GPO: Government Printing Office

HazCom: Hazardous Communications (communicating the hazards in the workplace to EE’s)

Hazwoper: Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response

Haz Zone: An area where the potential for an employee injury elevated

HCP: Hearing conservation program

HZ or HTZ: Hertz – unit of cycles per second or measure

IAQ: Indoor air quality

ICS: Incident command system

IDLH: Immediately dangerous to life and health (related air borne concentrations of chemicals)

IH: Industrial Hygiene or Industrial Hygienist

HMIS: Hazardous Material Information System (Labeling)

ISO: International Standards Organization

JHA: Job hazard analysis

JSA: Job safety analysis

LEPC: Local Emergency Planning Committee (Emergency Response or Hazardous materials)

LOCA: Letters of corrective action

LOI: Letter of Interpretation

LOTO: Short for Lock Out Tag Out (in some cases expressed as LTT (Lock Tag and Try))

LPG: Liquefied petroleum gas

LD: Lost Days or lost day case

LT: Lost Time (in days) or as a case

LWDR: Lost work day case incident rate (also LWD)

MOC: Management of Change

MOU: Memorandum of understanding

MSDS: Material safety data sheet

MSHA: Mine Safety and Health Administration

NAICS: North American Industry Classification System (replaced the SIC system)

NEC: National Electrical Code

NEMA: National Electrical Manufacturers Association

NFPA: National Fire Protection Association

NIOSH: National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (funded through the Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

NRC: Nuclear Regulatory Commission

NSC: National Safety Council

NTP: National Toxicology Program

OC: On-Scene Commander (during an emergency)

OJT: On-the-job training

OSHA: Occupational Safety and Health Administration

OSHAct: Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (Federal)

P & ID: Piping and instrumentation diagram usually associated with Process Safety Management (PSM)

PAR: Preventative Action Response (associated with an injury or incident)

PEL: Permissible Exposure Limit (set by OSHA – and legally enforceable).

Mg/L: Sometimes expressed as mg/ml, measure of a concentration of a substance per liter of volume

PHA: Process hazard analysis – associated with PSM

PIT: Powered industrial truck

PPE: Personal protective equipment

PPM: Parts per Million (measure of concentration of a material in a million parts)

PSM: Process safety management (such as Ammonia Safety)

PSSR: Pre-Startup Safety Review

RSM: Registered Safety Manager

RSO: Registered Safety Officer

RSO: Radiation Safety Officer

RSP: Registered Safety Professional

SARA: Superfund Amendment and Reauthorizations Act of 1986

SCBA: Self-contained breathing apparatus

SCO: Safety compliance officer

SHARP: Safety and Health Achievement Recognition Program

SHARP: is also the name for sharp items that can transfer bloodborne pathogens (such as needles)

SIC: Standard Industrial Classification (used to identify a type of manufacturing)

SOP: Standard operating procedure

STEL: Short term exposure limit (usually 15 minutes exposure)

TCIR: Total case incident rates

TLV: Threshold limit value

TWA: Time-weighted average

UBC: Uniform Building Code

UL: Underwriter's Laboratories

Universal Protection: (the name given to protection people wear when they have the potential to be exposed to bloodborne pathogens).

VOC: Volatile organic compound

VPP: Voluntary Protection Program

WC: Workers' Compensation

Z rating: usually applies to Z87 on safety glasses which has to be stamped on glasses to be considered safety glasses, however also applies to “steel” toe boots, requiring a Z41 Rating.