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What is an environmental health and safety director and how to become one
Environmental health and safety directors oversee organizational compliance with local, state, and federal safety regulations and industry standards. They also ensure that environmental policy is available and updated at all times. They earn a cool average sum of $88,000 annually or $42 per hour.
Environmental health and safety directors inspect workplaces and minimize or eliminate hazards from processes. They are primarily tasked with protecting the employees, customers, and the environment. They identify potentially hazardous biological, chemical, and radiological materials in a bid to analyze them. Due to the nature of the job, they are fit physically and possess solid collaboration and leadership skills.
Environmental health and safety directors typically hold a bachelor's degree in occupational health, safety, or a related scientific field. However, some employers prefer to hire candidates with a master's degree in health physics, industrial hygiene, or a related subject. Since they work in various industries, on-the-job training is the way to learn the ropes and gain knowledge in the industries they find themselves in.
Avg. Salary $92,063
Avg. Salary $59,228
Growth rate 4%
Growth rate 0.3%
American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%
Asian 9.70%
Black or African American 4.81%
Hispanic or Latino 11.83%
Unknown 3.96%
White 69.52%
Genderfemale 16.53%
male 83.47%
Age - 41American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%
Asian 7.00%
Black or African American 14.00%
Hispanic or Latino 19.00%
White 57.00%
Genderfemale 47.00%
male 53.00%
Age - 41Stress level is high
7.1 - high
Complexity level is challenging
7 - challenging
Work life balance is poor
6.4 - fair
Environmental health and safety director career paths
Key steps to become an environmental health and safety director
Explore environmental health and safety director education requirements
Start to develop specific environmental health and safety director skills
Skills Percentages Environmental Health 11.06% EHS 8.12% OSHA 7.93% Continuous Improvement 3.85% EPA 3.68% Complete relevant environmental health and safety director training and internships
Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New environmental health and safety directors learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an environmental health and safety director based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real environmental health and safety director resumes.Research environmental health and safety director duties and responsibilities
- Achieve world-class incident rate of less than .9 and recognize as an industry leader by MSHA.
- Achieve OHSAS 18,001 team certification (British standard as there are no ISO standards as yet for safety).
- Lead successful turn-around of EHS and laboratory functions by restructuring operations and employing more cost-effective programs and treatment technologies.
- Focuse on achieving the highest levels of HSE performance through behavior-base initiatives, auditing, mentoring and expeditiously implementing change.
Get environmental health and safety director experience
Generally, it takes 1-2 years to become an environmental health and safety director. The most common roles before becoming an environmental health and safety director include environmental health safety manager, safety manager team lead and manager, environmental and safety.Prepare your environmental health and safety director resume
When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your environmental health and safety director resume.
You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an environmental health and safety director resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.
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Build a professional environmental health and safety director resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your environmental health and safety director resume.
Apply for environmental health and safety director jobs
Now it's time to start searching for an environmental health and safety director job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:
- Browse job boards for relevant postings
- Consult your professional network
- Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
- Watch out for job scams
How did you land your first environmental health and safety director job
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Average environmental health and safety director salary
The average environmental health and safety director salary in the United States is $92,063 per year or $44 per hour. Environmental health and safety director salaries range between $67,000 and $125,000 per year.
What am I worth?
How do environmental health and safety directors rate their job?
Environmental health and safety director reviews
It takes time to implement and see the safety culture grow.
The interaction with all employees. Knowing everyday you job is to help all. Able to be the Go To Person who leads by example.
Helping people avoid accidents and correcting dangerous conditions.
Updated January 8, 2025
