Environmental, Health & Safety Analysts: Keeps Employees Safe and Healthy

An Environmental, Health & Safety Analyst is someone who makes sure that a company's employees are following appropriate environmental, health and safety guidelines, or that a particular product a company makes follows the appropriate guidelines. Often, the same company employs the environmental, health and safety analyst they are providing support for. Even though their primary job title may be environmental, health and safety analyst, they are usually referred to as a "safety analyst" simply to make the job title easier to say.

One's primary job duties would be to make sure that the company's employees and manufactured products meet certain requirements for health and safety, as well as being environmentally friendly. A safety analyst might spend time analyzing machinery in the workplace, possibly trying to find ways to make a certain product in a safer manner. He might analyze the air quality in the plant to see if there is excessive dust or particles in the air that might cause breathing problems, and if so, try to find ways to solve the problem. In a situation such as this, the solution to the problem might be that masks are offered to employees in order to keep from breathing in harmful particles.

An analyst might watch the employees work, trying to determine if there is a way to perform the job duties in a safer manner. He would look for things such as trip hazards, spilled liquids, or chemicals being stored in an unsafe manner. He would also promote environmental health and safety on a regular basis. Primarily, he would be concerned with the environmental health in the workplace and the safety of its employees.

Environmental, health and safety analysts make a variety of salaries, anywhere from $36,000 a year to well over $80,000. At least an associate's degree is required for most positions in this industry. Naturally, experience is a plus. The more experience you have, the higher salary you could command in this industry.

If you want to be a safety analyst, you'll need a lot of computer skills, as this position usually requires lots of data entry! You may need to be familiar with most computer software programs, such as spreadsheet and graphing programs in order to provide detailed reports to superiors, or to others who need them. You might need to have good speaking skills, as talks on safety and environmental health issues are commonplace in most workplaces and are usually given by the safety analyst. You also need to be good at analyzing problems and coming up with solutions, as this is mainly what you'll get paid for doing.

In short, if you are an analytical person, have good speaking and computer skills, and the background and experience necessary for this position, the health and safety industry needs you.

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