Environmental monitoring is a process used to assess the quality of the environment, covering elements such as the atmosphere, water, soil and earth. Environmental monitoring is used to detect invisible dangers that exist in the air, water supply or soil and to assess the risks that certain industries pose to the natural environment.
The environment that we live in is incredibly varied and complex and therefore requires sophisticated systems to monitor it. A large number of different devices are used for constant environmental monitoring, such as gas detectors, sound level meters, microbial air monitors, air sampling pumps, temperature monitors, radiation monitors, vibration monitors and dust monitors. Each of these environmental monitoring devices detect the presence of dangerous substances or qualities in the local environment and releases a warning when the presence reaches an unacceptable level.
The use of environmental monitoring practices is particularly useful in typically hazardous industries and workplaces, such as mining, chemicals production, agriculture, customs patrols and hospitals. The risks and health hazards present in these industries, as in many others, are both obvious and subtle. Often the hazards that are harder to detect are the most dangerous to the health and well-being of an individual, making effective environmental monitoring an essential health and safety practice.
As well as assessing the presence of invisible risks and hazards, environmental monitoring solutions can be used to measure the effect that the activities of humans have on the environment. Environmental monitoring is regularly used to measure the amount of damaging pollution that factories and manufacturing plants leak into the environment. The information gained from the monitoring is then used to guide improvement in environmental policies and practices.
