The American Society of Safety Engineers’ (ASSE) Salary Survey results are in, and according to the survey, occupational safety and health professionals earn an average, annual base salary of $98,000. In addition, having some type of professional certification increases that salary by more than $14,000.
"This survey validates the earning power of OSH professionals,” said ASSE President Michael Belcher, CSP. “I hope it encourages people within the industry or those thinking of pursuing an OSH career to seek accredited education programs to maximize their earning potential in such a dynamic field.”
The ASSE survey results are part of an expansive collaboration with the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH), Alliance of Hazardous Materials Professionals (AHMP), American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) and Institute of Hazardous Materials Management (IHMM). The complete results from the 2015 survey in addition to an interactive calculator are available online at www.asse.org/salarysurvey.
The survey found professionals with at least one of the 11 certifications measured in the survey make on average over $14,000 more annually than a professional without one of these certifications and over $30,000 more annually than the typical occupational health and safety specialist, according to the number reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). For example, on average a certified safety professional (CSP) earns $109,000 annually while a certified industrial hygienist (CIH) earns $110,000 annually.
Other survey findings include:
- EHS professionals primarily are male.
- 30 entered entering practice due to earning an OSH degree
- Roughly 50 percent have supervisory responsibility.
- EHS professionals travel 20 percent of the time.
- 64 percent regularly working out of a facility/office.
- 25 percent report up to operations/production, followed by risk management (14 percent) and HR/admin (11 percent).