Choosing a Career in Occupational Safety and Health

1
Choosing a Career in Occupational Safety and
Health

• Brought to you by
• American Society of Safety Engineers
• Protecting people, property and the environment
  since 1911.

2
How Did the Occupational Safety and Health
Profession Begin?
3
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
Saturday, March 25, 1911
4
The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire

• On March 25, 1911, a fire broke out at the
  Triangle Shirtwaist Factory on the 8th, 9th and
  10th floors of the Asch Building in New York
  City.
• 146 women and men who worked sewing ladies
  blouses were killed because of unsafe working
  conditions, broken fire escapes and locked exit
  doors that prevented workers from escaping.

5
The American Society of Safety Engineers

• In October of 1911, the American Society of
  Safety Engineers (ASSE) was founded to address
  occupational safety and health issues, while
  protecting people, property and the environment.
• People began focusing on the safety of workers
  and businesses began to recognize the need for
  professionals who could help identify hazards and
  develop solutions to keep workers safe.
• ASSE and its more than 32,000 members around the
  world still work to this day to make sure that
  millions of workers go to work and return home
  injury and illness free each day.

6
What is the Occupational Safety and Health
Profession?

• Safety, health and environmental (SHE)
  professionals prevent harm to people, property
  and the environment by applying principles from
  engineering, education, psychology, physiology,
  enforcement, hygiene, health, physics and
  management.
• SHE professionals use appropriate methods and
  techniques of loss prevention and control and
  work in all industries worldwide.

7
What is Safety Science?

• Safety science is the term used for everything
  that goes into the prevention of accidents,
  illnesses, fires, explosions and other events
  that harm people, property and the environment.
• Areas of safety science include
• Chemistry and Biology
• Physics
• Ergonomics
• Environmental Sciences
• Psychology
• Physiology, biomechanics and medicine
• Engineering, business management, economics,
  sociology and geology

8
What do SHE Professionals Do?

• SHE professionals have many roles and
  responsibilities and do at least several of the
  following

• Hazard recognition
• Inspections/Audits
• Fire protection
• Regulatory compliance
• Health hazard control
• Ergonomics
• Hazardous materials management
• Environmental protection
• Workers compensation

• Training
• Accident and incident investigations
• Advising management
• Record keeping and evaluating
• Emergency response
• Managing safety programs
• Product safety
• Security
• Planning, engineering out risk

9
Where do Occupational Safety and Health
Professionals Work?

• SHE professionals work in a wide range of
  sectors, including manufacturing, transportation,
  mining, government, schools and hospitals.
• Examples of companies that employ SHE
  professionals include Disney, NASA, Hasbro, Sara
  Lee, Kraft, GM, CNA, AON, Madison Square Garden,
  GE, Chevron, Nike, CBS, Toyota and many other
  companies.

10
Industries Where SHE Professionals Work

• Based on a 2008 study by the Board of Certified
  Safety Professionals (BCSP), SHE professionals
  work in the following industries
• 38.3 in manufacturing
• 18.8 in Insurance and Finance
• 10 in Professional, Scientific and Technological
  Services
• 8.8 in Public Administration and Government
• 8.4 in Construction
• 5.2 in Mining
• 5.1 in Utilities

11
Choosing Occupational Safety and Health as a
Career

• Choosing occupational safety and health as a
  career path can be very rewarding. The field is
  expected to grow by 9 in the next ten years.
• Salaries range from approximately 30,000 to
  150,000 for highly qualified individuals.
• The personal rewards from knowing that you help
  people return safely home each day, injury and
  illness-free will be a wonderful testament to the
  importance of your job!

12
How You Can Get Involved

• While youre still in school, there are many
  things you can do to prepare yourself for a
  career in occupational safety and health.
• You Can
• Learn about ASSE Chapters and Student Sections in
  your area, attend meetings and talk to SHE
  professionals about their careers.
• Order copies of the free ASSE Your Guide to a
  Career in the Occupational Safety, Health
  Environmental Profession brochure by contacting
  customerservice_at_asse.org or downloading it from
  the www.asse.org/newsroom/ site under press kit.
• As you learn about incidents and disasters in the
  news, think critically about how these could have
  been prevented.
• Do a science project on worker safety and health,
  traffic safety, fire prevention, etc.
• Check out ASSEs NexSteps career resources at
  www.nexsteps.org to view SHE job openings and
  learn about what positions are available in the
  field.

13
Choosing a College Program

• If you decide the occupational safety and health
  profession is for you, the next step is to choose
  a college program.
• Consider SHE degree programs from accredited
  colleges and universities.
• For more information on higher education
  accreditation of school that have SHE programs,
  you can visit
• ASSEs listing of colleges that offer degrees in
  safety and related programs at www.asse.org
• The Council for Higher Education Accreditation at
  www.chea.org
• The U.S. Department of Education at
  www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation
• The Accreditation Board for Engineering and
  Technology (ABET) at www.abet.org.

14
The American Society of Safety Engineers

• Founded in 1911, ASSE is the oldest professional
  safety society with more than 32,000 occupational
  safety, health and environmental professional
  members worldwide. For more information and a
  copy of our free Guide to a Career in the
  Occupational Safety and Health Profession,
  please visit www.asse.org/newsroom for an
  electronic version or contact ASSE Customer
  Service at customerservice_at_asse.org.
• ASSE is celebrating its 100th Anniversary as a
  Society in 2011. Please visit www.asse.org for
  more information about upcoming events and ways
  you can get involved!

LS PR 9/2010