What does a safety consultant do?
A safety consultant specializes in establishing safety guidelines and regulations for a company to ensure a safe and productive work environment. Their responsibilities revolve around understanding company operations, assessing existing safety programs to identify areas needing improvement, and recommending solutions through reports and presentations. They must also develop strategies to provide safety information to workers, creating information programs as necessary. Furthermore, as a safety consultant, it is essential to lead the implementation of new guidelines and policies, ensuring workforce compliance.
Safety consultant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real safety consultant resumes:
- Maintain and manage air and water permits for multiple industrial and commercial sites in accordance with EPA regulations.
- Manage financial oversight and budget management including financial modeling and analysis, new products, travel, tools, and scheduling.
- Perform facility and construction site audits confirming OSHA regulatory compliance, and ensuring occupational exposure limits are not exceed.
- Provide regulatory compliance expertise for various customer markets in regard to EHS programs including industrial hygiene, environmental and safety programs.
- Maintain require NFPA and OSHA certifications.
- Experience with emergency responses such as first aid, CPR, spills and fire.
- Conduct simulated OSHA audits for general industry and construction clients and design solutions to correct violations.
- Provide on-site EHS support for client companies including specialty chemical, consumer products and pharmaceutical manufacturing operations.
- Develop and coordinate departmental ergonomics project that contribute to equipment design changes, business system modifications and revise employee work habits.
- Coordinate and participate in identifying and evaluating HSE hazards/risks and recommend measures to reduce them.
Safety consultant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 13% of Safety Consultants are proficient in OSHA, EHS, and Safety Procedures. They’re also known for soft skills such as Creativity, Observational skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Safety Consultants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- OSHA, 13%
Assisted clients with OSHA inspections and Informal Hearings and performed comprehensive accident investigations and prepared reports for corporate executives and owners.
- EHS, 7%
Provided regulatory compliance expertise for various customer markets in regard to EHS programs including industrial hygiene, environmental and safety programs.
- Safety Procedures, 5%
Conducted assembly of skids* Organized warehouse items* Cleaned up projects* Consulted on safety procedures*Painting*Precision with measuring tape and fractional denominations.
- Safety Audits, 4%
Manage and provide environmental health and safety audits/ inspections, certification and training services manufacturing, construction, engineering service industries.
- Safety Program, 4%
Developed and implemented supervisor and foreman training programs to ensure all safety programs were disseminated to the working crews.
- Corrective Action, 4%
Facilitated weekly safety meetings with management teams regarding safe work practices and unsafe incidents and situations and developed corrective actions.
"osha," "ehs," and "safety procedures" are among the most common skills that safety consultants use at work. You can find even more safety consultant responsibilities below, including:
Creativity. One of the key soft skills for a safety consultant to have is creativity. You can see how this relates to what safety consultants do because "health and safety engineers produce designs showing potential problems and remedies for them." Additionally, a safety consultant resume shows how safety consultants use creativity: "manage hazardous materials, storage, inventory, and waste disposal. "
Observational skills. Another soft skill that's essential for fulfilling safety consultant duties is observational skills. The role rewards competence in this skill because "health and safety engineers must observe and learn how operations function so that they can identify risks to people and property." According to a safety consultant resume, here's how safety consultants can utilize observational skills in their job responsibilities: "monitor associate worker knowledge of safety compliance through observational behavior auditing and provide feedback to workers after observations. "
Communication skills. safety consultants are also known for communication skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to safety consultant responsibilities, because "health and safety engineers must be able to interpret federal and state regulations and their intent so that they can propose proper designs for specific work environments." A safety consultant resume example shows how communication skills is used in the workplace: "conducted risk communication with staff on indoor air quality, mold and other exposure concerns. "
Problem-solving skills. A big part of what safety consultants do relies on "problem-solving skills." You can see how essential it is to safety consultant responsibilities because "in designing solutions for entire organizational operations, health and safety engineers must take into account processes from more than one system at the same time." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical safety consultant tasks: "investigated and resolved numerous employee in-door air quality complaints with labor union participation. "
The three companies that hire the most safety consultants are:
- ERM46 safety consultants jobs
- UL25 safety consultants jobs
- Triumvirate Environmental24 safety consultants jobs
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Compare different safety consultants
Safety consultant vs. Industrial hygienist
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.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between safety consultants and industrial hygienist. For instance, safety consultant responsibilities require skills such as "safety procedures," "risk management," "safety regulations," and "safety issues." Whereas a industrial hygienist is skilled in "environmental health," "indoor air quality," "ventilation," and "occupational health hazards." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Industrial hygienists really shine in the energy industry with an average salary of $93,692. Comparatively, safety consultants tend to make the most money in the energy industry with an average salary of $88,467.On average, industrial hygienists reach higher levels of education than safety consultants. Industrial hygienists are 5.5% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and 1.1% less likely to graduate with a Doctoral Degree.Safety consultant vs. Manager, environmental and safety
An Environmental and Safety manager is responsible for overseeing environmental sustainability concerning production and manufacturing processes and mitigating nature's hazardous effects. Environmental and Safety managers evaluate the methods and resources used to produce and eliminate procedures that violate safety laws and internal regulations. They also facilitate training and programs for the employees to ensure adherence to protocols and prevent accidents during operations. An Environmental and Safety Manager must have excellent communication and leadership skills, especially in reviewing incident reports and conducting root-cause analysis to avoid reoccurrence.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that safety consultant responsibilities requires skills like "site safety," "fume hoods," "safety standards," and "hazwoper." But a manager, environmental and safety might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "environmental health," "environmental compliance," "continuous improvement," and "regulatory agencies."
On average, managers, environmental and safety earn a higher salary than safety consultants. Some industries support higher salaries in each profession. Interestingly enough, managers, environmental and safety earn the most pay in the construction industry with an average salary of $85,529. Whereas safety consultants have higher pay in the energy industry, with an average salary of $88,467.In general, managers, environmental and safety achieve similar levels of education than safety consultants. They're 3.3% more likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.1% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for safety consultants in the next 3-5 years?
Linsay Hale
Professional Standards Director/Interim Training Division Director, IADLEST Member - International Association of Directors of Law Enforcement Standards and Training
Safety consultant vs. Ehs manager
An environmental health & safety (EHS) manager is in charge of developing and implementing safety programs for a company's workforce and work environment. Their responsibilities revolve around conducting regular inspections to ensure compliance with safety and environmental regulations, devising preventive measures, spearheading training and seminars, and investigating workplace accidents and identify causes to ensure that it would not happen again. Furthermore, as a manager, it is essential to lead and encourage the team to reach goals, all while implementing every policy and safety regulation of the company.
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a safety consultant is likely to be skilled in "osha," "ehs," "risk management," and "site safety," while a typical ehs manager is skilled in "environmental health," "continuous improvement," "oversight," and "regulatory agencies."
Ehs managers make a very good living in the technology industry with an average annual salary of $96,976. On the other hand, safety consultants are paid the highest salary in the energy industry, with average annual pay of $88,467.ehs managers typically earn higher educational levels compared to safety consultants. Specifically, they're 5.7% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 1.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Safety consultant vs. Environmental health safety manager
An Environmental Health Safety Manager supervises the compliance of an organization with environmental legislations regarding safety in the workplace. They are responsible for applying state and federal environmental policies.
Even though a few skill sets overlap between safety consultants and environmental health safety managers, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a safety consultant might have more use for skills like "risk management," "site safety," "safety standards," and "food safety." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of environmental health safety managers require skills like "environmental health," "continuous improvement," "regulatory agencies," and "environmental compliance. "
In general, environmental health safety managers earn the most working in the technology industry, with an average salary of $90,664. The highest-paying industry for a safety consultant is the energy industry.The average resume of environmental health safety managers showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to safety consultants. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 2.1% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 1.6%.Types of safety consultant
Updated January 8, 2025
