Occupational Health & Safety Specialists

material investigative health equipment safety officer work environment process hazardous material information

Industrial Hygiene Consultant, Industrial Hygienist, Safety Consultant, Safety Specialist

What they do:
Review, evaluate, and analyze work environments and design programs and procedures to control, eliminate, and prevent disease or injury caused by chemical, physical, and biological agents or ergonomic factors. May conduct inspections and enforce adherence to laws and regulations governing the health and safety of individuals. May be employed in the public or private sector.
On the job, you would:
  • Recommend measures to help protect workers from potentially hazardous work methods, processes, or materials.
  • Develop or maintain hygiene programs, such as noise surveys, continuous atmosphere monitoring, ventilation surveys, or asbestos management plans.
  • Order suspension of activities that pose threats to workers' health or safety.

Knowledge

Arts and Humanities

  • English language

Math and Science

  • chemistry
  • arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, or statistics

Education and Training

  • teaching and course design

Business

  • customer service

Skills

Basic Skills

  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
  • reading work related information

People and Technology Systems

  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it
  • measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it

Problem Solving

  • noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it

Abilities

Verbal

  • communicate by speaking
  • listen and understand what people say

Ideas and Logic

  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
  • notice when problems happen

Visual Understanding

  • see hidden patterns
  • quickly compare groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things

Math

  • choose the right type of math to solve a problem

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include ideas, thinking, and figuring things out.

They do well at jobs that need:

  • Integrity
  • Attention to Detail
  • Concern for Others
  • Dependability
  • Analytical Thinking
  • Cooperation

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Data base user interface and query software

  • EcoLogic ADAM Indoor Air Quality and Analytical Data Management
  • Microsoft Access Hot Technology

Presentation software

  • Microsoft PowerPoint Hot Technology In Demand

Compliance software

  • ESS Compliance Suite
  • Primatech AUDITWorks

Education

Education: (rated 4 of 5)
bachelor's degree
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
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