Environment, Health, and Safety Professional

Job Details

Sector(s)

Component Manufacturing and Research & Development; Construction; Operations & Maintenance

Median Pay

$99,040 per year

$47.62 per hour

Job Type

Entry- to Mid-Level

Typical Entry-Level Education and Work Experience Requirements

Bachelor's degree required; little to no experience required

Position Title

Environment, Health, and Safety Professional

Alternate Titles

Health and Safety Engineer, Safety Specialist

Job Description

Environment, Health, and Safety (EHS) professionals advise, develop strategies, and lead workplace safety and health management. They work to eliminate fatalities, injuries, occupational illnesses, property damage, and environmental harm.

Education and Training Description

EHS professionals often have a bachelor’s degree in science related fields such as chemistry, biology, environmental science, engineering, fire protection or environmental health and safety. It is also common to find EHS professionals with other bachelors degrees as well. Employers also value experience, so internships or cooperative-education programs at universities are a plus.

Job Profile

EHS engineers design procedures and systems that protect people, facilities, and the environment from damage. They develop these procedures and systems by assessing hydropower facilities, identifying potential hazards, and applying their knowledge of regulatory codes. EHS professionals are needed in both the hydropower generation facilities as well as hydropower component manufacturing plants.

EHS professionals can specialize in a variety of different fields which include: safety training, construction safety,  fire prevention and protection, system safety, industrial hygiene, accident investigation, chemical spill response, and environmental remediation. EHS professionals work within these fields analyzing and identifying hazards associated with complex procedures and systems and developing appropriate controls to prevent accidents and environmental harm.

EHS professionals also investigate accidents and injuries. They determine the root cause of the accident and determine the appropriate corrective actions to prevent future occurrences. They interview employers and employees to learn about work environments and contributing factors that lead to accidents. They also evaluate the corrections that were made to remedy violations found during inspections.

EHS professionals typically do the following:

  • Maintain and apply knowledge of current environment, health, and safety policies, regulations, and industrial processes
  • Review plans and specifications for new machinery and equipment to make sure that they meet safety requirements
  • Identify and correct potential human and environmental hazards by inspecting facilities, machinery, and safety equipment
  • Evaluate the effectiveness of various industrial control mechanisms
  • Ensure that facilities and job sites comply with health and safety regulations
  • Guide the installation and testing of safety guards, devices and interlocks
  • Review employee and environmental safety programs and recommend improvements.

Job Skills

  • Communication skills. EHS professionals must be able to interpret federal and state regulations and their intent. Health and safety professionals also prepare and present training materials to  workers and must be able to describe new regulations and procedures to a variety of audiences.
  • Creativity. EHS professionals evaluate designs for  potential health and safety problems and work collaboratively to determine remedies for them. They must be creative, in order to deal with situations that are unique to a project.
  • Critical-thinking skills. EHS professionals must be able to identify hazards to people and property in the workplace before those hazards cause material damage or threaten the health of workers.
  • Observational skills. EHS professionals must observe and learn how operations function so that they can identify risks to people and property. This requires the ability to think in terms of overall processes within an organization. Health and safety professionals can then recommend systemic changes to minimize risks.
  • Problem-solving skills. In designing solutions for entire organizational operations, EHS professionals must take into account processes from more than one system at the same time. In addition, they must try to anticipate a range of human reactions to the changes they recommend.

More Information

For more information on EHS professional jobs see:

Resources