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The differences between industrial hygienists and system safety engineers can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 1-2 years to become both an industrial hygienist and a system safety engineer. Additionally, a system safety engineer has an average salary of $81,790, which is higher than the $68,173 average annual salary of an industrial hygienist.
The top three skills for an industrial hygienist include OSHA, environmental health and indoor air quality. The most important skills for a system safety engineer are safety analysis, fault tree analysis, and system design.
| Industrial Hygienist | System Safety Engineer | |
| Yearly salary | $68,173 | $81,790 |
| Hourly rate | $32.78 | $39.32 |
| Growth rate | 4% | 4% |
| Number of jobs | 23,048 | 33,353 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 2 | 2 |
An Industrial Hygienist plans and conducts health programs to educate employees about cleanliness, safety, and sanitation in the workplace. They investigate adequacy of ventilation, exhaust equipment, lighting, and other conditions that can affect employees' health, comfort, or efficiency.
A system safety engineer specializes in designing and developing safety protocols and policies to ensure smooth operations against unforeseen circumstances. Their responsibilities typically revolve around performing research and analysis to identify and meet the company's needs, evaluating existing safety measures to find areas needing improvement, recommending and implementing solutions, and conducting regular maintenance checks to ensure a safe and productive work environment. Furthermore, as a system safety engineer, it is essential to implement and enforce the company's policies and regulations, recommending new ones as needed.
Industrial hygienists and system safety engineers have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Industrial Hygienist | System Safety Engineer | |
| Average salary | $68,173 | $81,790 |
| Salary range | Between $45,000 And $102,000 | Between $48,000 And $139,000 |
| Highest paying City | Berkeley, CA | Foster City, CA |
| Highest paying state | Louisiana | California |
| Best paying company | Exxon Mobil | NVIDIA |
| Best paying industry | Energy | Technology |
There are a few differences between an industrial hygienist and a system safety engineer in terms of educational background:
| Industrial Hygienist | System Safety Engineer | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 71% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Public Health | Electrical Engineering |
| Most common college | Duke University | Northeastern University |
Here are the differences between industrial hygienists' and system safety engineers' demographics:
| Industrial Hygienist | System Safety Engineer | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 74.0% Female, 26.0% | Male, 80.5% Female, 19.5% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.6% Asian, 9.8% White, 69.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% | Black or African American, 4.7% Unknown, 3.9% Hispanic or Latino, 11.5% Asian, 11.6% White, 68.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.2% |
| LGBT Percentage | 4% | 4% |