Safety engineering is an engineering discipline which assures that engineered systems provide acceptable levels of safety. It is strongly related to industrial engineering/systems engineering, and the subset system safety engineering. Safety engineering assures that a life-critical system behaves as needed, even when components fail.

The scope of a safety engineer is to perform their professional functions. Safety engineering professionals must have education, training and experience in a common body of knowledge. They need to have a fundamental knowledge of physics, chemistry, biology, physiology, statistics, mathematics, computer science, engineering mechanics, industrial processes, business, communication and psychology. Professional safety studies include industrial hygiene and toxicology, design of engineering hazard controls, fire protection, ergonomics, system and process safety, system safety, safety and health program management, accident investigation and analysis, product safety, construction safety, education and training methods, measurement of safety performance, human behavior, environmental safety and health, and safety, health and environmental laws, regulations and standards. Many safety engineers have backgrounds or advanced study in other disciplines, such as management and business administration, engineering, system engineering / industrial engineering, requirements engineering, reliability engineering, maintenance, human factors, operations, education, physical and social sciences and other fields. Others have advanced study in safety. This extends their expertise beyond the basics of the safety engineering profession.

Providing a safe and healthy workplace is a top priority for employers. It is the role of a Health and Safety Engineer to ensure the health and safety of the workers, clients and visitors in a workplace. The skill set required for this position includes:

• A Bachelor’s degree in a safety or technical engineering field of study
• Possess excellent computer skills as well as technical communication skills
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team within the workplace
• Acquire knowledge of health and safety engineering technology and principles
• Provide health and safety training to staff and administration
• Undergo regular health and safety assessments and audits
• Capability to maintain accurate logs and reports of assessment information
• Develop corrective action plans for assessment results and mentor staff to follow through with corrective actions
• Attend to worker’s compensation cases and be knowledgeable about cases that occur in the workplace; determine details about the case and procedures that can be put into place to eliminate incident reoccurrence
• Determine the personal protective equipment (PPE) that is required for the workplace and ensure that inventories are stocked appropriately
• Comply with all health and safety laws and regulations and ensure that all staff are in compliance
• Desire to improve and maintain the health and safety of all employees in the workplace