Safety and health engineers comprise one of the fastest-growing jobs that pay $75,000 a year, according to an article in CareerBuilder titled “7 Jobs that pay $75,000 a year.”

The information was based on projected growth and annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

“Not only have we seen an increase in job openings on our own ASSE career web site at www.nexsteps.org, but in businesses globally,” said ASSE President Richard A. Pollock, CSP. “As more  businesses have seen the positive results in their bottom line of not only employing occupational safety, health and environmental (SH&E) professionals in their companies, but working with them and developing and implementing effective safety programs and systems for their workplaces, the demand continues to grow globally.”

Pollock said that not only has demand increased for SH&E professionals, so too has their value. “We’re seeing this at the 101-year-old ASSE where our membership, despite the down economy, continues to go up. We have nearly 35,000 members, about a 17 percent increase over recent years. And, through professional development opportunities, our members continue to increase their knowledge on how to prevent workplace injuries and illnesses now and for the future.”

Safety engineers work in all industries around the world developing systems and procedures to prevent harm to people, property and the environment. The BLS estimates the SH&E profession’s job growth will increase by 13 percent from now until 2020.

Pollock notes that people can go to the ASSE SH&E Education Resource Center  web site to find out how one can become an SH&E professional, for school listings, ASSE student member chapters and more. Additionally, the ASSE Foundation provides scholarships and grants for students of all ages pursuing a degree in occupational safety and health. Scholarship information and applications can be found at ASSE Foundation.

Money magazine’s recent feature “The 50 Best Jobs in America” listed the ‘environmental, health and safety specialist’ job as number 22, the ‘environmental engineer’ job as number five, and, the ‘risk-management manager’ job as number 14.  Additionally, the University of California San Diego Extension listed the SH&E profession as among a ‘dozen hot careers for college graduates.’