I am a Registered Nurse and am two courses away from acquiring my COHN(C) certification in Occupational Health. I work on the "Occupational Health" side of OH&S for a large oil company in town.
My work may not be of relevance to you as I do not function in the role of a safety advisor but rather a Occupational Health nurse. Therefore I am removed from the role of having to perform site safety inspections and hazard identification, as well as incident investigations etc. We do perform A&D testing and assist safety advisors with the health component of worker incidents though.
I thoroughly enjoy what I do, the job is hardly stressful, there are no expectations to work overtime or weekend hours. Work hours are standard - Monday to Friday with EDO's. For a Registered Nurse looking to branch out from the hospital/clinical setting, I highly, highly recommend OH nursing.
From speaking with safety advisors in our company, their role can be rather stressful and often times demanding. This holds true especially if you are the only safety advisor for a site. However, majority seem to enjoy what they do.
I do believe that your workload as a safety advisor is extremely dependant on the company and how much focus, emphasis and importance your employer places on safety. From meeting other OH folks in the same and other industries, it struck me by surprise how much variation there was from one company/industry to another.
Salary wise, 3 years out of university with non-relevant (hospital and private clinic) experience under my belt, my starting salary was around $80K. Three years later and nearing completion of my certification, I am >$100K (excluding company matching, stocks etc.) and still no where near top out salary. The supposed "jump" in salary will occur once my courses are completed.
Last edited by carzcraz; 01-23-2012 at 11:15 PM.
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