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Product Safety Engineer

A product safety engineer is someone who determines whether products are safe for use by consumers. They are responsible for developing and carrying out tests and experiments to gauge the safety levels of these products, and come up with recommendations and solutions for any safety hazards so that safety risks can be reduced.

Product safety engineers also compile product usage instructions and safety warnings for consumers, and participate in recalls when issues have been reported. 

In addition, they are to develop designs based on budget market research and customer interests by creating rough product designs using computer software and sketches. 

Product Safety Engineer

What does a Product Safety Engineer do?

Product Safety Engineer
Product Safety Engineer

Product engineers are mechanical engineers that specialize in the design and development of products and their corresponding manufacturing processes. As a product engineer, you are to coordinate with the product development team to make ideas into marketable products on the basis of market regulations and industry research. This means that you are to analyze market and industry product trends and determine product feasibility costs

Product safety engineers develop procedures and system designs that protect people from illness and injury and property from damage. They combine their engineering and health and safety knowledge to ensure that chemicals, machinery, software, furniture, and other products do not harm people or damage property. They maintain and apply their knowledge of current health and safety policies, regulations, and industrial processes and review plans and specifications of new machinery and equipment to ensure they meet safety standards.

Product safety engineers identify and correct potential hazards by inspecting facilities, machinery, and safety equipment and evaluate various industrial control mechanisms’ effectiveness. They ensure buildings or products comply with health and safety regulations, paying careful attention after conducting an inspection that requires changes. 

They direct and oversee the installation of safety devices on machinery, and review employee safety programs, recommending necessary improvements as needed. Product safety engineers need a bachelor’s degree in environmental safety or engineering.

  • Evaluate Safety

    Product safety engineers evaluate safety levels for products and potential health hazards that could occur from product misuse. They also perform audits and report the effectiveness of the system safety program.

  • Recommendations

    These engineers recommend procedures for detection, prevention, and elimination of physical, chemical, or other product hazards. They perform audits & report the effectiveness of safety programs.

  • Investigate accidents

    These engineers investigate causes of accidents, injuries, or illnesses related to product usage. They support incident investigations with business units, determine root causes and drive corrective actions.

  • Solutions

    Product safety engineers develop solutions to minimize or prevent recurrence of accidents, injuries, or illnesses related to product usage. They also conduct research of product safety.

Process Safety Engineer

Process safety engineers are responsible for developing risk assessments and designing safety operating practices for construction and manufacturing companies. Process safety engineers provide technical leadership and support to identify hazards, assess risks and provide cost-efficient management solutions.

EHS Engineer

Environmental health and safety engineers are responsible for facilitating environmental safety, health and strategy in an organization and also ensure compliance with all Federal, State, and Local SHE policies and standards relevant to the organization. They also function as a technical resource in developing/revising training programs and providing expertise on all SHE-related issues within the operations. They also offer guidance to site team on risk assessment and risk prediction to mitigate risk of task-based activities as well as facilitate safety team meetings, problem solving teams/meetings and EHS planning meetings within the organization.

Safety Engineer

Safety engineers manage the design and implementation of safety procedures to ensure the well-being of employees. They combine their knowledge of engineering with their safety skills to produce effective workplace safety plans. Learning the specialized education and experience that these professionals need may help you on your journey to become a successful safety engineer. 

Salary

Salary

Product safety engineers earn an average yearly salary of $99,040. 

Starting-level

Starting-level product safety engineer earnings begin at:

 
$28.12 per hour
$58,490 per year
Senior-level

Senior-level product safety engineer earnings begin at:

 
$60.95 per hour
$126,780 per year
Mid-level

Mid-level product safety engineer earnings begin at:

 
$47.62 per hour
$99,040 per year
Top-level

Top-level product safety engineer earnings begin at:

 
$72.46 per hour
$150,720 per year
Junior-level

Junior-level product safety engineer earnings begin at:

 
$36.85 per hour
$76,650 per year

These are 2021 national salary averages and may fluctuate based on location.

What does the workplace for a Product Safety Engineer look like?

Learn More

Product safety engineers work in teams that include other engineering specialties, quality assurance, quality improvement, regulatory compliance specialists, educators and lawyers.

Product safety engineers have to be diligent about getting facts from other engineers. It is common for a product safety engineer to consider software, chemical, electrical, mechanical, procedural, and training problems in the same day. Often the facts can be very uncomfortable as many safety related issues point towards mediocre management systems or worse, questionable business ethics.

How to Become a Product Safety Engineer?

Product Safety Engineer

A bachelor’s degree in an engineering discipline is usually the minimum education requirement for product safety engineers. Possible majors include electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical engineering and aerospace engineering. Knowledge of mechanical, chemical and systems engineering is essential. This engineering specialty may take longer to complete than most other bachelor’s degree programs; some programs can last five to six years.

Not all states require product safety engineers to be licensed. However, licensure typically entails holding a bachelor’s degree from an ABET-accredited school, passing exams and having a certain amount of work experience, which may vary depending on the state. Product safety engineers may increase their job prospects by earning the Certificate in Safety Management from the American Society of Safety Engineers (ASSE).

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Sources: 
Bestaccreditedcolleges.org, 2022 | Canva.com, 2022 | Career Explorer, 2022 | Glassdoor.com, 2022 | Yourfreecareertest.com, 2022 | Zippia.com, 2022

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