Occupational Health & Safety Specialists

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.

Education

• bachelor's degree

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

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

Investigative

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

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

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