Also called: Occupational Hygienist, Exposure Scientist
Measures workers' exposure to chemicals, noise, dust, and radiation and designs ways to protect them.
You clip air pumps onto workers' collars to measure what they breathe during a shift, test noise levels with a meter, and investigate whether a building's air is making people sick. Then you recommend ventilation fixes or protective gear.
Occupational health and safety specialists; CIHs earn more.
Approximate: anchored on Bureau of Labor Statistics data for a broader job group.
Bachelor's degree (4-year), about 5 years after high school. Bachelor's in a science; master's common; Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH) credential.
Ways in: 4-year college, Graduate school, Certification. Training cost: $15k – $60k.
Majors to look at: Industrial Hygiene, Environmental Health, Chemistry.
Growing about average (about 4% over 10 years). Occupational health and safety specialists.
Low risk for 10 years. Wearable sensors and AI flag exposures; on-site sampling and designing worker protections stay human.
Classes: Chemistry, Biology, Physics.
Official data: O*NET occupation 19-5011.
Career Universe is an early version. Pay, training and AI-risk figures are estimates to start your own research, not verified facts. The research was written with AI research assistants, checked by validation scripts and spot-checked by hand. Check anything important with schools, employers and official sources. How the numbers work.