CIH Certification: What It Takes to Become a Certified Industrial Hygienist

The CIH certification is the credential that separates industrial hygienists from safety generalists. It’s issued by the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), not BCSP, and it signals that you understand the science behind workplace health hazards, not just the administrative controls.

If your job involves air sampling, noise dosimetry, chemical exposure assessment, or evaluating biological hazards, the CIH is the right credential to pursue. It’s the field’s gold standard, and hiring managers in chemical manufacturing, semiconductor fabs, and pharmaceuticals know it.

What the CIH Actually Measures

The CIH exam covers six core content areas: air sampling and monitoring, industrial toxicology, ergonomics, noise and vibration, radiation (ionizing and non-ionizing), and biohazards. The exam also tests analytical procedures, control technology, and applicable OSHA and EPA regulations.

This isn’t a safety management credential. The CIH focuses on the science of anticipating, recognizing, evaluating, and controlling health hazards in the workplace. That four-part framework, anticipation through control, is the formal definition of industrial hygiene practice from ABIH.

The exam runs 5.5 hours, 200 questions, delivered at Pearson VUE testing centers. Expect questions that test applied judgment, not just recall. You’ll need to know how to interpret sampling results, apply health-based exposure limits (OSHA PELs, ACGIH TLVs), and select appropriate engineering controls for specific hazard scenarios.

CIH vs. CSP: Which One Do You Need?

The CSP certification and the CIH often show up together in job postings, and plenty of senior EHS professionals hold both. But they’re not the same credential, and for specific roles, one matters far more than the other.

The CSP focuses on safety management systems, hazard identification, and broad risk control. It’s a better fit for roles that span the full EHS function, training programs, OSHA compliance management, contractor safety, and incident investigation.

The CIH drills into health hazards specifically. If you’re doing air monitoring campaigns, working with chemical mixtures, evaluating occupational exposure limits, or managing industrial hygiene sampling programs, the CSP doesn’t cover that in the same depth. Employers in chemical manufacturing, oil refining, and semiconductor fabrication typically require the CIH, not the CSP, for IH-specific roles.

For broad EHS management, the CSP is often sufficient. For roles where quantitative exposure assessment is the core job function, the CIH is the right credential.

Eligibility Requirements

You can’t sit for the CIH based on training hours alone. ABIH requires a combination of education and actual industrial hygiene work experience.

The education requirement is a bachelor’s degree in industrial hygiene or a closely related field. Qualifying degrees include chemistry, biology, physics, and various engineering disciplines. A degree in occupational safety alone may or may not qualify, depending on coursework content.

The experience requirement is at least 180 hours of industrial hygiene work, verified and aligned with ABIH’s defined practice domains. This isn’t 180 hours of any safety work. The work needs to fall within IH-specific practice areas like sampling strategy, exposure assessment, or hazard evaluation.

ABIH reviews applications individually. If your degree is in a related but not listed field, they’ll evaluate your coursework to determine whether it meets the scientific foundation requirement.

The CAIH as a Stepping Stone

If you don’t yet meet the full CIH eligibility requirements, ABIH offers the Certified Associate Industrial Hygienist (CAIH) credential. It’s designed for early-career IH professionals who have the education but not yet the verified work experience needed for the full CIH.

The CAIH signals commitment to the field and gives you a recognized credential while you’re building your work history. Once you meet the full CIH eligibility requirements, you can move from CAIH to CIH without starting over.

For someone a few years into an IH role who doesn’t yet qualify for the CIH exam, the CAIH is worth pursuing rather than waiting.

Exam Cost and What to Budget

ABIH’s exam fee runs $450 to $600 depending on membership status and testing window. That’s the exam fee only.

Add study materials on top of that. Many candidates use AIHA’s published study guides, practice exams from ABIH, or third-party prep courses. Plan for $200 to $500 in prep materials depending on how extensively you study.

Employers in larger companies frequently cover exam fees and study costs for CIH candidates. If your company has a formal certification support policy, check whether it covers ABIH credentials. Many safety-focused companies treat the CIH exam fee the same way they treat BCSP exam fees.

What You’ll Earn With a CIH

The Bureau of Labor Statistics classifies industrial hygienists under SOC 19-5011, Occupational Health and Safety Specialists, with a national median wage of $83,910 as of May 2024 (BLS OEWS). That’s the median for the full occupational category, which includes safety professionals without the CIH credential.

CIH holders at the mid-to-senior level commonly earn $90,000 to $130,000 or more, per ASSP 2023 compensation data. Verify figures against current BLS and ASSP releases since compensation data changes annually.

Geography and industry matter a lot here. IH roles in semiconductor manufacturing in the Pacific Northwest or chemical processing in the Gulf Coast consistently pay above the national median. Government positions (OSHA compliance officers, NIOSH researchers, EPA industrial hygienists) tend to pay at the lower end of CIH ranges but offer stronger benefits and job stability.

Industries That Hire CIH Holders

Chemical manufacturing is the largest employer of CIH professionals. Facilities handling large volumes of regulated substances need qualified industrial hygienists to manage exposure monitoring programs, maintain compliance with OSHA’s air contaminant standards, and develop engineering controls.

Semiconductor fabrication is another strong market. Fabs use a wide range of toxic process chemicals, and production workers face potential exposures to acids, solvents, and dopant materials. IH work in that environment requires the kind of scientific depth the CIH exam tests.

Other industries with high CIH demand include pharmaceutical manufacturing, oil refining and petrochemical processing, mining, and aerospace. Any industry with significant airborne chemical or physical hazard exposure, where exposure limits matter and air monitoring is routine work, will value the CIH over a generalist safety credential.

Government agencies also hire CIH holders directly. OSHA hires credentialed IH professionals as compliance officers for inspections in high-hazard industries. NIOSH employs IHs on research teams studying occupational disease causation. The EPA uses IH expertise on Superfund sites and in regulatory development.

Recertification

The CIH is valid for six years. Recertification requires 180 points, earned through continuing education, professional activities, and contribution to the field.

Points come from a range of activities. AIHA-approved courses, ABIH-approved webinars, presenting at professional conferences, writing peer-reviewed articles, and mentoring junior professionals all count toward recertification. There’s enough flexibility in the point system that most active IH professionals hit 180 points through normal professional development.

The recertification cycle keeps CIH holders current with evolving exposure limits, new analytical methods, and updated regulatory requirements. That matters in a field where ACGIH releases updated TLV documentation annually and OSHA’s exposure standards are regularly challenged in courts and updated administratively.

CIH Career Paths

Most CIH holders work in one of three tracks: industrial settings, consulting, or government.

The industrial track puts you in-house at a manufacturing facility or industrial operation. You’ll own the IH monitoring program, manage contractor IH work, interface with OSHA during inspections, and advise operations on engineering controls. Senior in-house roles often carry titles like Industrial Hygiene Manager or EHS Director, where the CIH credential is an expectation, not a differentiator.

The consulting track means working for an EHS consulting firm, conducting sampling and assessment projects for multiple client industries. Consulting IHs often develop deeper technical specialty, whether that’s noise assessment, asbestos and lead programs, or OSHA process safety management. The variety of projects is higher, but so is travel.

Government work means OSHA, NIOSH, EPA, or state-plan agencies. These roles offer stable salaries and mission-driven work, and CIH holders in government positions often end up doing the foundational research that shapes the PELs and regulatory limits that industry IHs rely on every day.

Frequently Asked Questions

• q: ‘How long does it take to qualify for the CIH exam?’ a: ‘It depends on your education background and how quickly you accumulate the required 180 hours of verified industrial hygiene work. Most candidates qualify within two to five years of starting their IH careers. Those with IH-specific degrees and early IH job placements often qualify faster.’

• q: ‘Can I sit for the CIH without a chemistry or engineering degree?’ a: ‘ABIH evaluates degrees individually. If your degree is in occupational safety, environmental science, or another related field, ABIH will review your transcripts to determine whether your coursework meets their scientific foundation requirement. Contact ABIH directly before assuming your degree does or doesn’’t qualify.’

• q: ‘What’’s the pass rate for the CIH exam?’ a: ‘ABIH does not publish current pass rate data publicly. Historically, pass rates have ranged from the mid-50s to mid-60s percent range, though figures vary by testing window. The exam is genuinely difficult and rewards candidates who study the science, not just the regulatory text.’

• q: ‘Does the CIH satisfy OSHA’’s requirement for a “qualified industrial hygienist”?’ a: ‘Yes. OSHA standards that reference a qualified industrial hygienist, such as 1910.1001 (asbestos) and several other health standards, recognize the CIH as meeting that qualification threshold. Some standards allow for demonstrated knowledge and experience as an alternative, but the CIH is the clearest way to meet that requirement.’

• q: ‘How does the CIH compare to the CSP for salary purposes?’ a: ‘Both credentials command similar salary premiums at the senior level, but they’’re valued differently by industry. Chemical manufacturing and semiconductor employers often value the CIH more for IH-specific roles. Broader EHS management roles tend to weight the CSP or both credentials equally. Holding both credentials is common at the director level.’

If your job involves air monitoring, quantitative exposure assessment, or chemical hazard evaluation, the CIH matters more than the CSP for your specific role. That’s not a knock on the CSP. They’re built for different jobs. Get the credential that matches the actual work you do.