---
title: "Occupational Health and Safety Technician"
description: "Collect data on work environments for analysis by occupational health and safety specialists. Implement and conduct evaluation of programs designed to…"
canonical: "https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-technician"
last-updated: "2026-10-09T10:57:55.138Z"
---

# Occupational Health and Safety Technician

**Category:** Life, Physical, and Social Science · **SOC code:** 19-5012 · **O\*NET-SOC code:** 19-5012.00

Collect data on work environments for analysis by occupational health and safety specialists. Implement and conduct evaluation of programs designed to limit chemical, physical, biological, and ergonomic risks to workers.

Also advertised as: Advisory Industrial Hygienist; Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH); Construction Safety Consultant; EHS Advisor (Environmental, Health, and Safety Advisor); Health and Safety Technician (Health and Safety Tech); Industrial Hygiene Consultant; Industrial Hygienist; Safety Specialist.

## At a glance

- **Median annual wage:** $61,560 (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
- **Median hourly wage:** $29.59/hr
- **Wage range (10th–90th percentile):** $46,280 to $100,160, with the middle half between $52,470 and $78,850
- **Total US employment:** 30,590
- **Typical entry education:** High school
- **Preparation required:** Some preparation — O\*NET rates this "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed"
- **Projected growth:** +19.4% over 2025–2035 (BLS EP, 2025–2035)
- **Annual job openings:** 3,800 openings a year
- **AI-resilience score:** 44/100 — a NueCareer heuristic over O\*NET work activities and context, not a BLS or O\*NET figure

## Pay

National wage distribution, BLS OEWS, May 2025, across 30,590 US jobs.

| Percentile | Annual wage |
| --- | --- |
| 10th | $46,280 |
| 25th | $52,470 |
| 50th (median) | $61,560 |
| 75th | $78,850 |
| 90th | $100,160 |
| Mean (average) | $68,120 |

### Pay by state

The 15 highest-paying states, by median annual wage. The cost-of-living-adjusted column divides the state median by that state's BEA Regional Price Parity, so the columns answer different questions: the first is what the job pays there, the second is what that pay buys there.

| State | Median annual wage | Cost-of-living adjusted | Employment |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| WA | $104,910 | $98,035 | 570 |
| RI | $84,640 | $82,753 | 60 |
| WV | $81,470 | $91,031 | 320 |
| AK | $80,760 | $78,899 | 140 |
| NM | $79,490 | $86,204 | 790 |
| MN | $74,400 | $75,440 | 270 |
| CO | $73,110 | $70,945 | 400 |
| NY | $69,640 | $64,529 | 1,410 |
| MA | $68,730 | $64,989 | 290 |
| CT | $68,310 | $65,930 | 130 |
| WY | $68,250 | $73,632 | 80 |
| MI | $67,310 | $69,956 | 450 |
| NJ | $66,930 | $61,514 | 270 |
| IL | $65,960 | $65,988 | 1,790 |
| AZ | $65,480 | $65,040 | 440 |

35 more states with published wage data are omitted here. The full table for all 50 states is at https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-technician/salary-by-state, or as JSON at https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-technician.

## Outlook

BLS projects employment to move from 31,200 in the 2025–2035 base year to 37,200 by the end of the cycle — a gain of 6,100 jobs, or +19.4%. Much faster than average: 19.4% against 3.5% projected for all occupations over the same cycle. About 3,800 openings a year are expected on average, counting openings from growth as well as from workers leaving the occupation permanently. Source: BLS EP, 2025–2035.

## How to get in

- **Typical entry education:** High school diploma or equivalent (BLS Employment Projections).
- **Preparation level:** Some preparation — O\*NET's preparation band for this occupation is "Job Zone Three: Medium Preparation Needed".
- **Related work experience typically required:** None.
- **Typical on-the-job training:** Moderate-term on-the-job training.

### Education people in this job actually hold

O\*NET surveys incumbents, so this distribution describes who is in the job today and can differ from the BLS entry requirement above.

| Education level | Share of workers |
| --- | --- |
| Bachelor's Degree | 47.6% |
| Associate's Degree or other 2-year degree | 19.1% |
| High School Diploma or the equivalent (such as a GED) | 9.5% |
| Some College Courses | 9.5% |
| Post-Secondary Certificate | 4.8% |
| Post-Baccalaureate Certificate | 4.8% |

## What the work involves

- Evaluate situations or make determinations when a worker has refused to work on the grounds that danger or potential harm exists.
- Supply, operate, or maintain personal protective equipment.
- Test workplaces for environmental hazards, such as exposure to radiation, chemical or biological hazards, or excessive noise.
- Provide consultation to organizations or agencies on the workplace application of safety principles, practices, or techniques.
- Verify availability or monitor use of safety equipment, such as hearing protection or respirators.
- Prepare or review specifications or orders for the purchase of safety equipment, ensuring that proper features are present and that items conform to health and safety standards.
- Plan emergency response drills.
- Review records or reports concerning laboratory results, staffing, floor plans, fire inspections, or sanitation to gather information for the development or enforcement of safety activities.

## Skills and knowledge

### Essential skills

- Active Listening — importance 4.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Reading Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Speaking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Critical Thinking — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Writing — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Monitoring — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Active Learning — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Learning Strategies — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Transferable skills

These are the skills that carry into other occupations, and they drive the related-occupation and career-change rankings on this site.

- Complex Problem Solving — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Judgment and Decision Making — importance 3.3 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Social Perceptiveness — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Persuasion — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Negotiation — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Systems Analysis — importance 3.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Coordination — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Instructing — importance 3.0 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Knowledge areas

- Education and Training — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- English Language — importance 4.1 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Public Safety and Security — importance 3.8 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Law and Government — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Engineering and Technology — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Mathematics — importance 3.7 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

### Abilities

- Oral Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Written Comprehension — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Oral Expression — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Problem Sensitivity — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Deductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale
- Inductive Reasoning — importance 3.9 on the O\*NET 1–5 importance scale

## Who it suits

O\*NET rates every occupation on the six Holland (RIASEC) interest areas, on a 1–7 scale. This occupation's strongest areas are Conventional (C), Realistic (R), Investigative (I).

| Interest area | Score (1–7) |
| --- | --- |
| C — Conventional | 5.56 |
| R — Realistic | 5.35 |
| I — Investigative | 4.88 |
| S — Social | 2.87 |
| E — Enterprising | 2.64 |
| A — Artistic | 1.00 |

### Personality fit

These scores are **derived by NueCareer**, not published by any government agency: they are cosine similarities between a personality type's trait profile and this occupation's O\*NET interest and work-style ratings, expressed 0–100. Treat them as a starting point for exploration, not as evidence that a type belongs in a job.

| Type | Fit score (0–100) |
| --- | --- |
| ISTJ | 94.1 |
| ESTJ | 78.6 |
| ISFJ | 77.9 |
| ISTP | 73.4 |
| INTJ | 70.4 |

Best-fitting types: ISTJ.

## Related occupations

O\*NET's primary related occupations, in its own ranked order.

- [Health and Safety Engineer, Except Mining Safety Engineers and Inspectors](https://nuecareer.com/careers/health-and-safety-engineer) — median $115,160
- [Occupational Health and Safety Specialist](https://nuecareer.com/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-specialist) — median $90,150
- [Environmental Compliance Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-compliance-inspector) — median $80,730
- [Environmental Scientist and Specialist, Including Health](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-scientist-and-specialist) — median $82,220
- [Environmental Science and Protection Technician, Including Health](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-science-and-protection-technician) — median $55,090
- [Environmental Engineer](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineer) — median $107,110
- [Construction and Building Inspector](https://nuecareer.com/careers/construction-and-building-inspector) — median $74,690
- [Environmental Engineering Technologist and Technician](https://nuecareer.com/careers/environmental-engineering-technologist-and-technician) — median $59,920
- [Government Property Inspector and Investigator](https://nuecareer.com/careers/government-property-inspector-and-investigator) — median $80,730
- [Paramedic](https://nuecareer.com/careers/paramedic) — median $60,600

## Sources

- **O\*NET** — O\*NET 31.0 Database, August 2026. https://www.onetcenter.org/database.html
- **BLS OEWS** — BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025. https://www.bls.gov/oes/
- **BLS EP** — BLS Employment Projections, Table 1.2, 2025–2035. https://www.bls.gov/emp/
- **BLS OOH** — BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2025–2035 edition. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/
- **BEA RPP** — BEA Regional Price Parities by State, 2024. https://www.bea.gov/data/prices-inflation/regional-price-parities-state-and-metro-area

---

This bank includes information from the O\*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). O\*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA. NueCareer has transformed the data by joining it to BLS wage and projection data and deriving facet, personality-fit and AI-resilience scores. BLS and BEA data are public domain (17 U.S.C. §105).

O\*NET content is used under [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). How these figures are sourced and derived: https://nuecareer.com/careers/methodology

JSON representation of this page: https://nuecareer.com/api/v1/careers/occupational-health-and-safety-technician