Occupational health and safety specialist

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Source: LEARNETIC SA, licencja: CC BY 4.0.

The field of Occupational Health and Safety keeps being one of the most dynamically developing employment areas. More and more often the entrepreneurs seem to decide to hire a person whose job would be to inspect and guarantee that the OHS guidelines and procedures are respected in their company. All that makes the profession of an OHS technician a job well‑paid and in high demand on the labour market.

An Occupational Health and Safety technician’s job is mostly to check if the guidelines and procedures are followed in the companies that hire employees on a large scale. The remaining duties of an OHS technician include determining the exposure to occupational risks and both the circumstances and the causes of the actual accidents. Moreover, such person is also responsible for teaching courses on health and safety in the work environment. If needed, they must offer assistance or advice. An OHS technician is obliged to keep records of the ongoing issues related to the OHS procedures. Additionally, they are held accountable for making the employees aware of what may be the potential consequences of not complying with the OHS guidelines. It is thanks to OHS technicians that more and more workers wear protective helmets, clothes, and high visibility vests.

A person who wishes to become an Occupational Health and Safety technician should have a strong sense of responsibility and an analytical mind. Spatial imagination and determination to constantly broaden one’s knowledge of the field is also highly desirable. An ability to work both alone and in a team is a must in this profession. A candidate for an OHS technician must be aware of the fact that the job involves frequent business trips related to the professional duties or self‑improvement.

A well‑qualified OHS technician will find a wide range of employment possibilities. Most of all, these are broadly‑defined production companies or research institutions. Once they have obtained their certificate, an OHS technician who intends to develop their skills may also go the the university and run their own business after graduation.