Industrial hygienists protect employees' health in the workspace by designing and implementing policies, procedures, and programs to reduce stress on all levels, including biological, physical, chemical, etc. As an industrial hygienist, you can assess health risks in the workspace such as noise pollution or air quality and map out strategies to reduce negative effects on employee's wellbeing. It is an important duty for you to advise and collaborate with management to resolve occupational health issues and oversee biological monitoring programs.
In addition, you are expected to assess and analyze research data and altogether compiled results after summarizing statistics. It is a point of duty for you to conduct regular audits of programs. Also, you will ensure that employees are aware of workspace health by conducting presentations and necessary pieces of training. You must maintain up-to-date knowledge about occupational health and safety legislation. As an industrial hygienist, you are to hold at least a bachelor's degree in either chemistry, industrial hygiene, environmental science, or mechanical engineering. Industrial hygienists earn an average annual salary of $71,780.
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an Industrial Hygienist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $29.19 an hour? That's $60,711 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 5% and produce 1,400 job opportunities across the U.S.
There are certain skills that many Industrial Hygienists have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed Creativity, Communication skills and Problem-solving skills.
If you're interested in becoming an Industrial Hygienist, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 71.5% of Industrial Hygienists have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 17.1% of Industrial Hygienists have master's degrees. Even though most Industrial Hygienists have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become an Industrial Hygienist. When we researched the most common majors for an Industrial Hygienist, we found that they most commonly earn Bachelor's Degree degrees or Master's Degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on Industrial Hygienist resumes include Associate Degree degrees or High School Diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become an Industrial Hygienist. In fact, many Industrial Hygienist jobs require experience in a role such as Internship. Meanwhile, many Industrial Hygienists also have previous career experience in roles such as Industrial Hygiene Internship or Project Manager.