Careers in the Environmental and Occupational Health Field

by

Scott Rhymes

Introduction

There are many career choices within the Environmental and Occupational Health major. This section provides a list of those careers and a few words of advise to help you on your way. It is a myth that you can go through college, graduate, and get 10 job offers in the first month. This might have been true years ago, but it certainly is not today. Experience and internships are mandatory in order to stay competitive in today's market. Our program at California State University Northridge offers a wide variety of courses that can lead to a wide variety of occupations (perhaps the largest selection on campus). The whole focus of the program is on being a generalist, and being general means that you can do many tasks or be useful to many people. The most important step that a person can take is to make their career choice as early as possible. The sooner you do, the sooner you can take the right courses and get involved in the right internships. It is understandably difficult to do this early on, but the more you get involved in EOHSA and internships, the more information you will have for this difficult choice. The list that follows outlines the many different careers that are out there. I hope that this list will help you on your path to a fulfilling career.

Certifications

Certifications play a large part in getting a job. They are a sign that you have been specifically trained in certain areas. Certain Certifications can be useful and others, quite frankly, can just be a waste of time and money. Some recommended certifications are listed in the chart below. In some cases certifications are helpful for jobs but not mandatory. The chart below lists certifications that can be applied to the different jobs. Many of these certifications can only be acquired after several years of work. One example of this is the CIH (Certified Industrial Hygienist). This certification is difficult to get, but is nice to have if you are doing industrial hygiene work. This certification also requires about 5 years of work experience in the field before you can even apply. Many employers that are looking for safety people like to see this certification, but it is not mandatory for that type of position. Below are some basic explanations of certifications that are listed in the chart:

CSP: Certified Safety Professional

CIH: Certified Industrial Hygienist

RS / REHS: Registered Sanitarian or

Registered Environmental Health Specialist (in California)

HAZWOPER (40-hour) Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response

PE: Professional Engineer

WATER OP. There are numerous certifications in this area.

REA: Registered Environmental Assessor

RHSP: Registered Hazardous Substances Professional

RHSS: Registered Hazardous Substances Specialist

CHMM: Certified Hazardous Materials Manager

CHP: Certified Health Physicist

REPA: Registered Environmental Property Assessor

Experience

Unfortunately, experience is what all employers want and no new college grad has (except CSUN students). It is the catch-22 we all have to deal with upon graduating from school. Fortunately this department has what some call one of the best internship programs in the nation. Internships are the key to experience before you graduate. In fact they are crucial to getting your first job. Experience is a hard pill to swallow but with the help of internships it can be a bit easier to get down. In many cases internships even lead to jobs! Many companies use internships as a screening method to find the people that they like. It gives a sort of "Test Drive" on a perspective employee. The more internships that you do, the better chance you have of ending up with a job when you graduate. After all, that's what you went to school for in the first place! Doing many internships also gives you the opportunity to see what you really want to do. It is the one of the worst things to get your first job out of college and find out that you hate it. It is better to find out what you want to do for the rest of your life before you graduate than to be pigeon holed in a position that is not suited for you. Be sure to talk with your counselor about getting involved in internships at the soonest possible time.

Career Focus

The wide variety of career choices can be boiled down to a few basic groups. The class electives that are needed for these different occupations are often very similar. In fact after you have finished your degree you will have taken most of the classes anyway. There are a few generalities that can be followed however. If you want to pursue a career in the Occupational and Safety arena then you should take the safety related electives. If you are heading towards a career in Environmental Management you should be taking the water management elective as well as safety and industrial hygiene. If you are heading towards a career in community environmental health, then the Housing and Vector control classes may work for you. Many companies today are downsizing and people working in Environmental Health and Safety departments are wearing many hats. It is very beneficial to have experience in many areas when you are working in private industry. This again will make you more of a generalist and more valuable to many more people. In fact, a generalist with experience and training can be thought of as a specialty much as a GP is in the medical profession.

Some large companies and government agencies will still have specialists that do a very defined job. There are also certifications that you can get by taking certain elective groups. General occupational groups can be categorized as follows: Occupational Health, Environmental Management, and Government. For any of these groups, however, keep this in mind: if there are regulations, then a government enforcement professional must be near by.

Occupation, Description, and

Recommended Certifications:

Occupational Health

Safety Manager

Safety Managers are often utilized in the manufacturing, construction, and other environments. From the education received in this program we know that government regulations govern a lot of what goes on at an industrial or construction site. The safety manager is a liaison for companies to government. It is their job to make sure all regulations are being met and to provide a safe working environment no matter what the situation. Training is also a large part of the job as required by law. This gives you the chance to be a teacher as well. Training includes Respirator, Hazard Communication, fork lift training, confined space, etc.etc.etc. The Safety manager also works closely with outside consultants to do chemical, noise and other monitoring to ensure a safe working environment

CSP, CIH

Industrial Hygiene

Industrial Hygienists are an integral part of any safety program. Industrial Hygienists are especially concerned with monitoring chemical levels in air in order to determine compliance with government regulations. Of course, they are also concerned with physical and biological risks. The biggest part of the job is the anticipation, recognition, and control of hazards. For example, they often give advise on how to prevent or correct problems with chemical exposure by possible chemical alternatives, ventilation systems, or personal protective equipment. This type of position is a very technical career and requires high level certifications. It also offers higher pay rates and often the opportunity to travel.

 CIH, CSP

Risk Manager

Risk Managers often are found in insurance companies. As a service to their insured customers, insurance companies offer experts in all fields as a free consultants. These experts go to the workplace to identify and offer suggestions on how to prevent future problems. They essentially try to lower the risk to the employees as well as to the insurance companies financial output. Risk experts can include safety, industrial hygiene, and environmental engineering.

Government Services

Environmental Health Specialist

County and City environmental health specialists are responsible for restaurants, housing, and anything else that deals with the public health. In your job you are assigned a specific area and you must make sure that it is publicly safe. The cities and counties are often hiring which means there are many employment opportunities in this field. The environmental health field, whether at the local, state, or federal level, is MUCH more than just inspection -- it requires someone with the training to reduce morbidity and mortality due to injuries and and environmentally related diseases. This requires the ability to assess the health of the community, direct resources to the appropriate issues, and evaluate the results.

RS, REHS

Vector Control

Counties and Cities also have Vector Control specialists. This is more true in the Los Angeles area than other as it depends on the city budgets. The Vector Control Specialist handles complaints of the public dealing with any sort of pest or insect problem. They are experts in prevention and control of these sorts of problems.

RS, REHS

FDA Inspector

This position is very similar to the environmental health specialist, only on the Federal level. The FDA also has many facets that can lead to other career paths once you are employed there.

RS, REHS

DTSC Inspector

The DTSC is the Department of Toxic Substances Control. This position would involve the inspection of hazardous waste generators, transporters, treatment facilities, and disposal facilities for compliance with the state and federal hazardous waste regulations

HAZWOPER

OSHA Inspector

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) inspectors are responsible for the safe working conditions of the American worker. These inspectors go out to places of work and inspect the working conditions and offer fines if need be.

CSP, CIH

Health Physicist (NRC)

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission regulates the use of radioactive materials. Inspectors in this capacity are generally from a Health Physicist background but junior positions have been offered to people from our program. An important class to take is the Radiation Safety class here at Northridge.

CHP

Environmental Services

Environmental Engineer

The term environmental engineer is an often loosely used term. It can also incorporate the area of Environmental management. Typically Environmental Engineers develop systems for water and waste water management, air pollution control and other pollution control applications. Most often they have an engineering background and are Licensed Professional Engineers. People in our field, being generalist, will often see situations where Environmental Engineers are needed and the utilize them for a specific task.

PE, REA

Environmental Manager

Larger corporations and companies often have the need for someone on staff that can handle the extremely large volume of governmental compliance that must take place. This can include permits, record keeping, and training requirements. Often the Environmental Manager is involved with the companies process engineers in new chemicals and new process that may be introduced to the facility. These managers are responsible for keeping companies out of trouble with the government and to provide an environmentally aware and chemically safe facility. In most companies they are also responsible for Hazardous Waste disposal and water management. This is the generalist position that most companies are moving toward to take care of all of their environmental and safety concerns

HAZWOPER, REA, RHSP, CHMM

Remediation Specialist

These people are responsible for the clean-up of hazardous waste sites. This involves a large understanding how chemicals react with soils and water tables and often an increased understanding in the area of Engineering. This career often involves travel and can be quite rewarding when you have been involved in cleaning up a hazardous waste site.

HAZWOPER, RHSP, CHMM

Hazardous Waste Manager

Companies often do not have specific hazardous waste managers anymore. This function is often handled by the Environmental Manager on site. It involves the classification of waste, segregation, and preparation for shipment. You must also determine what the best methods are to get rid of it and what companies to use. You will also be responsible for possible source reduction in the facility. There is the opportunity to work for a company that does hazardous waste collection and consultation. These companies serve the producers of the hazardous waste and make sure that the waste is disposed of in a compliant manner.

HAZWOPER, RHSP, CHMM

Environmental Services

Air Pollution Control specialist

Many companies have a large air pollution problem, and in that case they need someone to handle and monitor those emissions. Smaller companies also have some of these problems but they are generally handled by the Environmental Manager. Air Pollution control is a rapidly changing area because of the changing regulations. Much of the job is keeping up on the regulations and making sure that the facility stays compliant and tries to reduce their emissions.

Water Specialist

There are many jobs that deal with water. They are generally with municipal water districts and county agencies. The position involves the maintenance of the water quality and where the water is obtained from. This includes doing microbiological testing of the water for contamination and maintaining the correct chemical balance for distribution. On the flip side is waste water management. In this case you would work in a treatment and disposal facility.

State Water certifications

Site Assessment

This function is generally carried out by a consulting firm. When any property is purchased it is a good idea to do site assessments. These assessments determine the location of possible hazardous waste ,underground storage tanks, or other problems with the property. This job mixes the education and background of people from this major with the sleuthing ability of a detective.

REPA

Haz Waste Clean-up Tech

This position involves a lot of extra training to be certified. Clean- up can involve hazardous waste dumps, superfund sites, and asbestos removal. It requires the use of an extensive amount of personal protective equipment.

HAZWOPER