Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between industrial hygiene technicians and safety advisors can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 4-6 years to become both an industrial hygiene technician and a safety advisor. Additionally, a safety advisor has an average salary of $55,939, which is higher than the $51,966 average annual salary of an industrial hygiene technician.
The top three skills for an industrial hygiene technician include asbestos, OSHA and air quality. The most important skills for a safety advisor are OSHA, risk assessments, and safety procedures.
| Industrial Hygiene Technician | Safety Advisor | |
| Yearly salary | $51,966 | $55,939 |
| Hourly rate | $24.98 | $26.89 |
| Growth rate | 6% | 6% |
| Number of jobs | 16,439 | 53,425 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Years of experience | 6 | 6 |
Industrial hygienists identify health risks in the workplace and build methods for mitigating them. They measure the impact of these risks on workers. These health risks may include air quality, noise emissions, and ionic radiation. This position requires experience in the application of scientific methods, the ability to collect and analyze data, and the ability to use the results of that analysis to give guidance to employees. They work closely with management, both reporting and making recommendations to improve the quality of the industrial environment.
Safety Advisors are responsible for overseeing a safe workplace environment and ensuring compliance with safety policies and regulations of an organization. Their duties include conducting risk assessments, demonstrating safe operational procedures, conducting site inspection as well as developing health and safety policies. They also maintain inspection findings records, produce improvement and management reports, manage hazardous substance disposal, and undertake safe equipment installation. Safety Advisors ensure workplace adhere to legislation and advise on areas related to machinery safeguards, occupational diseases, noise as well as fire regulations.
Industrial hygiene technicians and safety advisors have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Industrial Hygiene Technician | Safety Advisor | |
| Average salary | $51,966 | $55,939 |
| Salary range | Between $37,000 And $72,000 | Between $34,000 And $89,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | New York, NY |
| Highest paying state | - | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | - | BP America Inc |
| Best paying industry | - | - |
There are a few differences between an industrial hygiene technician and a safety advisor in terms of educational background:
| Industrial Hygiene Technician | Safety Advisor | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 60% | Bachelor's Degree, 51% |
| Most common major | Public Health | Business |
| Most common college | Duke University | University of Connecticut |
Here are the differences between industrial hygiene technicians' and safety advisors' demographics:
| Industrial Hygiene Technician | Safety Advisor | |
| Average age | 45 | 45 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 75.8% Female, 24.2% | Male, 84.2% Female, 15.8% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 10.0% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.7% White, 62.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% | Black or African American, 10.1% Unknown, 6.2% Hispanic or Latino, 14.3% Asian, 5.7% White, 62.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 7% | 7% |