Occupational Safety & Health – Online Schools & Degree Programs
Occupational safety and health specialists and technicians are professionals who use their skills to prevent harm from coming to particular community such as workers, the environment, and the public at large. Essentially, occupational safety and health professionals enforce regulations about workplace safety and assess potential hazard risks. Responsibilities include investigating all aspects of building or machine design to identify any violations of safety standards that may result in harm to workers or other inhabitants of the environment. Occupational safety and health specialists and technicians work with many different industries and businesses to ensure efficiency and security in the workplace. Many professionals work for the Occupation Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), a federal agency that enforces United States Department of Labor laws regarding workplace safety.
Duties
There are several different career paths located underneath the umbrella of occupational safety and health. Though all of these careers are concerned with implementing and enforcing workplace regulations, they differ in the specific tasks and tests they complete to achieve a high standard of safety.
Occupational safety and health specialists are trained to inspect work environments and implement procedures to prevent injury or other hazards from occurring. Specialists will look for chemical and biological hazards associated with the building materials and recommend changes. Occupational safety specialists might also conduct classes in safety to inform employees about the proper way to avoid injury while at work.
Occupational safety and health technicians differ from specialists in that they will test specific elements of the environment, such as water, for the presence of harmful substances. Technicians will also examine machinery for unsafe components and collect data for specialists to analyze. A large part of a both a specialist and technician’s job is to work with management to decrease employee fatigue and absenteeism by improving overall working conditions.
General tasks assigned to professionals within include writing reports, looking for violations of workplace safety laws, and investigating the cause of workplace injuries.
Education
Launching a career in occupational health and safety requires at they very least an Associates degree in Occupational Safety. An Associates degree takes an average of 2-years to complete and will cover the basic legal and scientific components of the field. Though it is possible to gain an entry-level position with such a credential, most employers prefer candidates to have a Bachelors degree in Occupational Safety, Chemistry, Engineering, Hygiene, or any other field that is related to workplace design.
To advance in a career as an occupational safety and health professional, it is advisable to continue education along with gaining on-the-job experience. Learning the specifics or focusing study on a certain type of occupational safety, such as architectural or ergonomic safety, results in a specialized skill set that is highly employable by a number of industries.`
Employment Opportunities and Salary
Occupational safety and health professionals enjoy both job security and high earning potential. Work opportunities are expected to continue growing over the next few years. Most specialists find work within government agencies, which employ 2 out of 5 occupational safety professionals, making it a field with better than average protection against outsourcing and pay cuts. Other industries that hire occupational safety and health professions include manufacturing, engineering, hospitals, colleges, consulting services, water and power services, research clinics, architectural firms, mining operations and many more. The average yearly pay for an occupational safety and health professional is over $50,000.
