Environmental Health and Safety Engineer Responsibilities

Environmental health and safety engineers are involved in planning, implementing, and coordinating the health and safety programs in a work environment to eliminate the potential hazards affecting the overall safety measures implemented in the workplace. They need to apply the engineering principles and technology for identifying, monitoring, and eliminating the potential hazards like risk of injury, workplace damage, etc., from the workplace.

Key Responsibilities

The main task of an environmental health and safety engineer is to design and install safety devices like fire alarms, fire extinguishers, etc., in and around the workplace, monitor and maintain the temperature, air quality, radiation, noise level, etc., in the workplace which affects the overall safety of workers and the workplace. They also need to coordinate with external environmental health and safety organizations like fire department or Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) for ensuring the workplace safety in case of emergencies. Apart from this, they also need to design a health and safety program for the workers, which includes training the workers on practicing appropriate safety procedures, handling the safety equipment and devices, and designing safety uniforms for them.

The key responsibilities of an environmental health and safety engineer comprise:

Determining the causes and preventive measures involved in a particular case of situation, investigating about the accidental injuries, occupational diseases, etc., to determine the same
Conducting research on previous cases involved in workplace accidents, analyzing the findings from accident inquiries, workplace inspection, environmental testing, etc., interviewing the workers and employees directly associated with workplace accidents, etc. for gathering and compiling an accurate report on workplace health and safety
Inspecting the equipment used in workplace like machineries and safety devices, monitoring the same for identifying and preventing the potential damage to workers and the workplace
Updating themselves on recent changes in current policies, industrial regulations and processes, and safety regulation laws for optimizing the safety measures program implemented in the workplace, reviewing the workplace safety programs adequately on this basis for ensuring the safety regulation compliance
Conducting and coordinating the training of workers and staff members directly involved in workplace environment; training and informing them on workplace safety procedures, safety laws and regulations implied by the government, monitoring and controlling the hazardous conditions, and optimizing the use of safety devices installed in the workplace
Compiling and analyzing the statistical data collected by researching the various aspects of accidental injuries and occupational health issues, and interpreting the analysis for creating remedial solution for the same
Reviewing the plans and specifications of construction design implied in the workplace, conducting the tests for checking the desired parameters of air quality, noise level reduction, temperature and radiation level controls, etc., and verifying its compliance with health and safety standards formulated by the government
Reviewing and monitoring the construction of machineries and other safety equipments installed in the workplace, and determining its feature specifications with respect to the reliability to meet the desired safety requirements
Assisting in creating an information brochure on workplace health and safety regulations for other staff members related indirectly to industrial safety procedures, i.e. safety engineers, safety inspectors, and labor representatives
Provide technical and legal information regarding workplace health and safety measures to other members of the organization to assist in crisis situation, discussing the same with medical professionals for developing alternate ways for preventing workplace accidents and other health issues for the workers

Required Qualifications and Skills

The basic qualification requirement for obtaining a post in this profile is a Bachelor's degree in engineering. Along with this, for working as an environmental health and safety engineer, one has to obtain a license for the same. For getting the license, one is required to have a degree from an accredited engineering program, relevant work experience of approximately four years, and obtain a passing score on a state examination. A special certification program by The American Society of Safety Engineers is also available in this field. A candidate applying in federal, state, or government regulatory agencies needs to take an additional civil service examination for obtaining a post in this position. The candidates applying in private manufacturing firms are not required to take this exam.

Career Outlook

Demand for environmental health and safety engineers is expected to grow at the average rate by the year 2014, and the demand for these professionals may increase with increase in demand for maintaining healthy and safe workplace.

Salary Compensation

The average median salary of an environmental health and safety professional falls around $63,730 annually, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. As the person gets experience, he is given more important projects, and thus it gets him the potential to earn more than $92,870 per year.

An environmental health and safety engineer needs to perform various roles and responsibilities for accomplishing the task assigned to him. His work schedule comprises performing both indoor and outdoor activities, dealing with workplace hazards, and maintaining the environmental health and safety. It is an high level job which requires one to have expertise knowledge and qualifications. Knowing about the environmental health and safety responsibilities will guide you in regarding the career steps you should take for acquiring your goal.