No amount of regulations
or safety measures
can completely eliminate risk
from the world,
but health and safety engineers
use engineering tools and technology
to make our lives as safe as possible.
These engineers promote worksite
and product safety to minimize danger
from a variety of hazards
—chemical, physical, biological,
and even psychological.
They focus both on preventing
hazardous conditions,
and developing safety measures
to control problems
when they do occur.
There are several types
of health and safety engineers:
Industrial safety and health engineers
often team up with
public health and safety workers to investigate
industrial accidents and injuries,
find their cause,
and prevent future problems.
Fire prevention and protection engineers
analyze buildings, transportation systems,
and materials for potential fire hazards…
and design fire prevention
and suppression systems.
Product safety engineers test products,
from nuclear submarine reactors
to children’s toys,
to ensure they are safe
and meet regulations.
Systems safety engineers
work in many fields, including aerospace,
medical safety, and environmental safety,
to ensure safe system designs.
While health and safety engineers
spend time in the office,
they also travel to worksites
to evaluate machinery and environments
and to train workers in safety
and emergency procedures.
Many of these positions
require a four-year college degree
in environmental health and safety
or a related engineering field.