– Life as an Industrial Hygiene Specialist –
Robyn Harn is the Industrial Hygiene Specialist for California Operations at Rio Tinto a Fortune 500 company and one of the biggest mining companies in the world. Rio Tinto operates in 35 countries with over 57,000 employees worldwide.
Originally from Australia, Robyn is now based at Rio Tinto’s Boron Mine in Boron, California.
Major Operations
It is California’s largest open pit mine and one of the largest borax mine in the world, producing nearly a third the world’s borates. Boron is vital to plant growth, and is used in fertilizers and other industries such as glass manufacturing, wood protection, and insulation fibreglass.
A Unique Career Path
What is interesting about Robyn is that she never thought she would end up working in America or even in the Industrial Hygiene field she never knew existed when she first started thinking about ‘what’s next’ after her secondary education.
After achieving her bachelor’s in environmental science and environmental rehabilitation 15 years ago Robyn joined a construction company working on multi-million and billion-dollar projects before transferring to Occupational Hygiene as it’s known in Australia.
Since then, she has also obtained a Postgraduate in Applied Science – focusing on Occupational Hygiene, and another postgraduate degree in Environmental Health.
Mining and Construction
These degrees plus other educational diplomas have all allowed Robyn to pursue her passion in the mining and construction field helping the environment and the people who work within the industry.
Robyn now happily applies her insights and experience to ensure that health is at the forefront within the mining world.
Reasons to Listen
This will be a talk worth listening to for:
- those interested in discovering what a career as an Industrial Hygiene Specialist is all about
- those wanting to uncover deeper insights related to how one can make their way into this profession
- those who are looking for inspiration in so far as combining multiple passions to lead a fulfilling life and career
Listeners will come away with insights on:
- what an industrial hygiene specialist actually does
- a day in the life of an industrial hygienist who is based within a major mining operation
- how the health and safety monitoring aspect of the job tangibly improves the working conditions of employees
- the degree to which she interacts with others who do the same work
- the realities of the work as far as how her position is perceived by others in the workplace
- Robyn’s pathway into becoming an industrial hygiene specialist
- the ways in which she is serving both environmental initiatives and human health and safety simultaneously within her role
- the types of professionals an industrial hygienist may come in contact with in doing this type of work within a major mining operation
- the social component of the work
- what it’s truly like trying balance health, safety, environmental and company goals simultaneously
- a look at what the learning curve is like when entering into this professional field
- the type of fulfillment she gets from her work
- a meaningful story Robyn shares related to her and her work
- how AI is influencing the work of an industrial hygienist
- much more!
A Memorable Quote from the Episode:
“It’s one of those professions that not a lot of people know about so it’s hard to get people into it. However, the positions are there. They are waiting for you.”
-Robyn Harn
Check out the Video Conversation:
For those who desire to view video highlights of the conversation, you can do so via Youtube.
Discover More
For those interested in learning more about Robyn’s work, be sure to follow her on the following platform:
Keep Listening!
I hope you enjoyed the episode. For more, check out additional episodes here!