### Bureau of Labor Statistics U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics

Health and Safety Engineers Summary
                        
            
                                                        
                                                                
                        
            
            
            
                            
                                                
                                                
                                                
                                                
            						
							
				                                                
                                            




            			health and safety engineers imageHealth and safety engineers identify and correct potential hazards.							
						Quick Facts:     Health and Safety Engineers2023     Median Pay
            						$103,690     per year
										$49.85     per hourTypical Entry-Level Education
                                    Bachelor's degreeWork Experience in a Related Occupation
                                    NoneOn-the-job Training
                                    NoneNumber of Jobs, 2022
                                    22,000Job Outlook, 2022-32
                                    4% (As fast as average)Employment Change, 2022-32
                                    800What Health and Safety Engineers Do
                                                
                        
                        
Health and safety engineers combine knowledge of engineering and of health and safety to develop procedures and design systems to protect people from illness and injury and property from damage.
            
                        Work Environment
                        
Health and safety engineers typically work in offices. However, they also must spend time at worksites when necessary, which sometimes requires travel.
            
                                                How to Become a Health and Safety Engineer
                                                
                        
Health and safety engineers typically need a bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or in environmental health and safety. Some employers prefer to hire candidates who have practical experience, so cooperative-education programs may be valuable as well.
            
                        Pay
                        												                            																				    														The median annual wage for health and safety engineers was $103,690 in May 2023.									                                					
						
            
                        Job Outlook
                        						
												Employment							of health and safety engineers is projected to grow							 4 percent from 2022 to 2032, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
						About 1,300 openings for health and safety engineers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.
            			
            			 Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
						State & Area Data
                       Explore resources for employment and wages by state and area for health and safety engineers.
            
            
						
                        Similar Occupations
                        
                                                    Compare the job duties, education, job growth, and pay of health and safety engineers with similar occupations.
            
            
                        More Information, Including Links to O*NET
                        
                                               
                        Learn more about health and safety engineers by visiting additional resources, including O*NET, a source on key characteristics of workers and occupations.
 What Health and Safety Engineers Do 
            

			Health and safety engineersHealth and safety in the workplace is a major concern of health and safety engineers.			
Health and safety engineers develop procedures and design systems to protect people from illness and injury and property from damage. They combine knowledge of engineering and of health and safety to make sure that chemicals, machinery, software, furniture, and other products will not cause harm to people or damage to property.
Duties
Health and safety engineers typically do the following:
Maintain and apply knowledge of current 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 hazards by inspecting facilities, machinery, and safety equipment
Evaluate the effectiveness of various industrial control mechanisms
Ensure that buildings or products comply with health and safety regulations, especially after an inspection that required changes
Install safety devices on machinery or direct the installation of these devices
Review employee safety programs and recommend improvementsHealth and safety engineers also investigate industrial accidents and injuries to determine their causes and to determine whether the incidents were avoidable or can be prevented in the future. They interview employers and employees to learn about work environments and incidents that lead to accidents or injuries. They also evaluate the corrections that were made to remedy violations found during health inspections.
Health and safety engineering is a broad field covering many activities. The following are examples of types of health and safety engineers:
***Fire prevention and protection engineers*** conduct analyses and make recommendations regarding the potential fire hazards of buildings, materials, and transportation systems. They also design, install, and maintain fire prevention and suppression systems and inspect systems to ensure that they meet government safety regulations. Fire prevention and protection engineers must be licensed and must keep up with changes in fire codes and regulations.
***Product safety engineers***, sometimes called ***product compliance engineers***, develop and conduct tests to make sure that various products are safe and comply with industry or government safety regulations. These engineers work on a wide range of products, from nuclear submarine reactors and robotics to cell phones and computer systems.
***Systems safety engineers*** identify and analyze risks and hazards associated with system designs in order to make them safe while ensuring that the systems remain operational and effective. They work in many fields, including aerospace, and are moving into new fields, such as software safety, medical safety, and environmental safety.
For information on health and safety engineers who work in mines, see the profile on mining and geological engineers.
 Work Environment
			Health and safety engineersHealth and safety engineers may need to spend time at worksites.			

	    
				
	
	
	
	
	
	
	    					 Health and safety engineers held about 22,000 jobs in 2022. The largest employers of health and safety engineers were as follows:
        Manufacturing
                28%Government
                15Construction
                12Engineering services
                8Management, scientific, and technical consulting services
                6Health and safety engineers typically work in offices. However, they also must spend time at worksites when necessary, which sometimes requires travel.
Work Schedules
Most health and safety engineers work full time.
 How to Become a Health and Safety Engineer

			Health and safety engineersHealth and safety engineers inspect facilities, machinery, and safety equipment to identify and correct potential hazards.			
Health and safety engineers typically need a bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline or in environmental health and safety. Some employers prefer to hire candidates who have practical experience, so cooperative-education programs may be valuable as well.
Education
Entry-level jobs for health and safety engineers typically require a bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline, such as chemical, mechanical, industrial, or systems engineering, or in environmental health and safety. Bachelor’s degree programs typically include classroom, laboratory, and field studies in applied engineering. Engineering students interested in becoming health and safety engineers also should take courses in occupational safety and health, industrial hygiene, ergonomics, or environmental safety. Employers may prefer to hire graduates of engineering programs accredited by a professional association such as ABET.
Some colleges and universities offer cooperative-education programs that allow students to gain practical experience while completing their education. Students also may choose to participate in an internship.
A few colleges and universities offer 5-year accelerated programs through which students graduate with both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree. A master’s degree allows engineers to enter the occupation at a higher level, from which they can develop and implement safety systems.
Important Qualities
***Communication skills.*** Health and safety engineers must be able to interpret federal and state regulations and their intent so that they can propose proper designs for specific work environments. Health and safety engineers also prepare and present training materials to workers and must be able to describe new regulations and procedures to a variety of audiences.
***Creativity.*** Health and safety engineers produce designs showing potential problems and remedies for them. They must be creative, in order to deal with situations that are unique to a project.
***Critical-thinking skills****.* Health and safety engineers must be able to identify hazards to humans and property in the workplace or in the home before those hazards cause material damage or become a health threat.
***Observational skills.*** Health and safety engineers 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 engineers can then recommend systemic changes to minimize risks.
***Problem-solving skills.*** In designing solutions for entire organizational operations, health and safety engineers 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.
Licenses, Certifications, and Registrations
Licensure is not required for entry-level positions as a health and safety engineer. A Professional Engineering (PE) license, which allows for higher levels of leadership and independence, can be acquired later in one’s career. Licensed engineers are called professional engineers (PEs). A PE can oversee the work of other engineers, sign off on projects, and provide services directly to the public. State licensure generally requires
A degree from an ABET-accredited engineering program
A passing score on the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam
Relevant work experience, typically at least 4 years
A passing score on the Professional Engineering (PE) examThe initial FE exam can be taken after one earns a bachelor’s degree. Engineers who pass this exam are commonly called engineers in training (EITs) or engineer interns (EIs). After meeting work experience requirements, EITs and EIs can take the second exam, called the Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE).
Each state issues its own licenses. Most states recognize licensure from other states, as long as the licensing state’s requirements meet or exceed their own licensure requirements. Several states require continuing education for engineers to keep their licenses.
Health and safety engineers can earn professional certifications, including the following:
The Board of Certified Safety Professionals offers the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) certification, the Occupational Health and Safety Technologist (OHST) certification, and the new Associate Safety Professional (ASP) certification
The American Board of Industrial Hygiene awards the Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) certification
The American Society of Safety Professionals offers a Certificate in Safety Management (CSM)
The International Council on Systems Engineering offers a program leading to designation as a Certified Systems Engineering Professional (CSEP)
 Pay

			



	
 
                                                     
            
    
                Health and Safety EngineersMedian annual wages, May 2023Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors$103,690  Engineers$102,660  Total, all occupations$48,060Note: All Occupations includes all occupations in the U.S. Economy.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics
 

	
	



		
	
	
	
The median annual wage for health and safety engineers was $103,690 in May 2023. 


The median wage is the wage at which half the workers in an occupation earned more than that amount and half earned less. The lowest 10 percent earned less than $62,190, and the highest 10 percent earned more than $160,600.





		
	    					 In May 2023, the median annual wages for health and safety engineers in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:	
        Management, scientific, and technical consulting services
                $108,430Manufacturing
                105,810Government
                102,490Engineering services
                101,770Construction
                96,960Most health and safety engineers work full time.
 Job Outlook

   
        
    
          
        
    
                Health and Safety EngineersPercent change in employment, projected 2022-32Engineers7%  Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors4%  Total, all occupations3%Note: All Occupations includes all occupations in the U.S. Economy.Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program
            
            
			 
	
	
	

			Employment				of health and safety engineers is projected to grow				 4 percent from 2022 to 2032, about as fast as the average for all occupations.
			
			About 1,300 openings for health and safety engineers are projected each year, on average, over the decade.
			
			 Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
			Employment
	
			
Health and safety engineers will be needed to help protect people from potential hazards. As new regulations are created, organizations are expected to rely on these engineers for help in complying with requirements that safeguard people from illness and injury and property from damage.
			

                        Employment projections data for     health and safety engineers, 2022-32
                Occupational Title
                        SOC Code
                        Employment, 2022
                        Projected Employment, 2032
                        Change, 2022-32
                        Employment by IndustryPercent
                        NumericSOURCE: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program**Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors**
			17-2111
			22,000
			22,800
			4
			800
			Get data
 State & Area Data **Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)** The Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) program produces employment and wage estimates annually for over 800 occupations. These estimates are available for the nation as a whole, for individual states, and for metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas. The link(s) below go to OES data maps for employment and wages by state and area. Health and safety engineers, except mining safety engineers and inspectors **Projections Central** Occupational employment projections are developed for all states by Labor Market Information (LMI) or individual state Employment Projections offices. All state projections data are available at www.projectionscentral.com. Information on this site allows projected employment growth for an occupation to be compared among states or to be compared within one state. In addition, states may produce projections for areas; there are links to each state’s websites where these data may be retrieved. **CareerOneStop** CareerOneStop includes hundreds of occupational profiles with data available by state and metro area. There are links in the left-hand side menu to compare occupational employment by state and occupational wages by local area or metro area. There is also a salary info tool to search for wages by zip code.
 Similar Occupations This table shows a list of occupations with job duties that are similar to those of health and safety engineers. Occupation
                Job Duties
                ENTRY-LEVEL EDUCATION
                2023     MEDIAN PAY**Construction and Building Inspectors**
            Construction and building inspectors ensure that construction meets building codes and ordinances, zoning regulations, and contract specifications.
            High school diploma or equivalent
            $67,700**Fire Inspectors**
            Fire inspectors detect fire hazards, recommend prevention measures, ensure compliance with state and local fire regulations, and investigate causes of fires.
            See How to Become One
            $71,420**Industrial Engineers**
            Industrial engineers devise efficient systems that integrate workers, machines, materials, information, and energy to make a product or provide a service.
            Bachelor's degree
            $99,380**Mining and Geological Engineers**
            Mining and geological engineers design mines to safely and efficiently remove minerals for use in manufacturing and utilities.
            Bachelor's degree
            $100,640**Occupational Health and Safety Specialists and Technicians**
            Occupational health and safety specialists and technicians collect data on, analyze, and design improvements to work environments and procedures.
            See How to Become One
            $77,580
 Contacts for More Information
								
For information about general engineering education and career resources, visit
American Society of Safety Professionals
Technology Student Association
For more information about accredited engineering programs, visit
ABET
For more information about the Professional Engineer license, visit
National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying
National Society of Professional Engineers
For information about protecting worker health, visit
American Industrial Hygiene Association
For information about certification, visit
American Board of Industrial Hygiene
American Society of Safety Professionals
Board of Certified Safety Professionals
International Council on Systems Engineering

                                                
                                                        
                                                                                                    O*NET
                                        Fire-Prevention and Protection EngineersHealth and Safety Engineers, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors
 Suggested citation: Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S.  Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Health and Safety Engineers, 
        	 at https://www.bls.gov/ooh/architecture-and-engineering/health-and-safety-engineers.htm (visited *May 21, 2024*).
 **Last Modified Date:**
                        Wednesday, April 17, 2024


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