How To Become A Safety Investigator: What It Is and Career Path

What is a safety investigator and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted expert

Gary LaFree

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a safety investigator. For example, did you know that they make an average of $24.51 an hour? That's $50,973 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 6% and produce 7,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a safety investigator?

Gary LaFree

Chair and Professor, University of Maryland

Think about obtaining as much education and training as you can. Be patient. The fundamentals of the economy are relatively strong. Outlet should be much better when we get through the current crisis.

ScoreSafety InvestigatorUS Average

Salary

4.0

Avg. Salary $50,973

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 6%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.8

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.24%

Asian 5.81%

Black or African American 8.96%

Hispanic or Latino 15.00%

Unknown 6.23%

White 62.76%

Gender

female 26.71%

male 73.29%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.3

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.6

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a safety investigator

Explore safety investigator education requirements

Most common safety investigator degrees

Bachelor's

58.4 %

Associate

17.6 %

Master's

15.2 %

Start to develop specific safety investigator skills

Skills	Percentages
FAA	13.61%
Law Enforcement	13.52%
OSHA	11.23%
Background Investigations	8.23%
Compliance Reviews	7.24%

Complete relevant safety investigator training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-2 years on post-employment, on-the-job training. New safety investigators 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 a safety investigator based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real safety investigator resumes.

Research safety investigator duties and responsibilities

Manage and facilitate extensive Safety/Security and HAZMAT training for all personnel.
Prepare accident report with findings and recommendations to NTSB, FAA and senior corporate management.
Work directly with NTSB and FAA personnel in the investigation of general aviation/military flight incidents.
Train and mentore new OSHA employees on safety inspections, interview techniques, and report preparation.

Prepare your safety investigator resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your safety investigator 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 a safety investigator resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable safety investigator resume templates

Build a professional safety investigator 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 safety investigator resume.

Apply for safety investigator jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a safety investigator 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 do safety investigators rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Safety investigator reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2020

Pros

Working as a safety officer keeps a you alert at all time,you talk safety,act safety,wear safety, see safety,do everything safety,you even smell danger and prevent it before happening and that's cool.

Cons

Nobody loves to die but I guess its inevitable,working as a safety officer you must be ready for anything.