ABIH Provides Tips to Earn CIH Certification Maintenance Credits

For thousands of industrial hygiene professionals, earning the coveted Certified Industrial Hygienist certification is a major milestone in their career.  Being a CIH provides recognition of one’s accomplishments and can open many new career opportunities for advancement.
 
To maintain certification, CIHs are required to accrue Certification Maintenance (CM) points and submit a worksheet detailing the CM points at the end of each CM cycle.  CM cycles are 60 months and CIHs can earn credits that can come from a variety of categories, including: IH Practice, Committee Service, Publications, Education, Teach & Present, Exam and Other.
 
ABIH has provided tips to earning CM credits that include:
 
·         Free & Online Educational Events – Many organizations offer access to free and online training.  Ask peers for their favorite courses. 
 
·         Credit for Internal Company Training – If the topic meets the time and subject matter criteria, it can be credited in Category 4 (Education)
 
·         Full Work Credit – Don’t assume that a job is less than 20% IH.  Look at the current IH definitions and rubrics, one may be able to claim more credits.
 
·         PDCs at the National Conferences – Those who have made the effort to go to a major conference, like AIHce, can maximize CM credit earning potential by also participating in PDCs.
 
·         Local Section Events – These are usually completed in less than one day, relatively close to home, and are often inexpensive, making them a great value. 
 
·         IH Related Committees – Enhance your professional knowledge and networking contacts. 
 
·         Teach or Present – Teaching or presenting IH topics to any audience is acceptable.  Diplomates are some of the best ambassadors for promoting the value of industrial hygiene and the CIH in particular.
 
·         Write Questions for the CIH Exam – Questions must be original and pertain to IH.
 
“Earning CM credits is an essential part of maintaining one’s CIH certification,” reported Tracy Parsons, CIH, Administrative Program Manager at ABIH.  “ABIH has developed a document that provides a simply explanation of the process and ways CIHs can earn and report their CM activity.  The Certification Maintenance Primer PDF is available for download from the ABIH website.” 
 
To view the ABIH’s Certification Maintenance Primer, please visit:
http://abih.org/sites/default/files/downloads/CMPrimer.pdf
 
To learn more about the American Board of Industrial Hygiene or the CIH program, please email abih@ABIH.org , visit www.ABIH.org, or call (517) 321-2638.
 
About the American Board of Industrial Hygiene
Since 1960, ABIH, a not-for-profit corporation, has been the world’s largest, premier organization for certifying professionals in the practice of industrial hygiene. ABIH is responsible for ensuring high-quality certification including education, experience, examination, certification maintenance and ethics enforcement.  Currently, more than 6700 people are certified to use the CIH designation.

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