What is Environmental Health? Definitions and Careers in Environmental Health

By Indeed Editorial Team

February 22, 2021

Environmental health is a subject in science and medicine that people can study at a college or university. Being knowledgeable in environmental health can open you up to several career possibilities. For this reason, learning about environmental health could be the start of your career journey. In this article, we teach you about environmental health as a subject and how it translates into several fulfilling professions for you to choose from.

What is environmental health?

Environmental health is a public health discipline that includes the identification, tracking and resolving of environmental risks. Environmental risks are things like germs and bacteria, asthma triggers, poisons, allergens and other components of the world around us that could be potentially dangerous. Environments studied in environmental health are both natural and man-made.

One critical focal point of environmental health is prevention. Environmental health professionals research safety risks, like disease, and educate the public on how to avoid them. They may lobby to improve public policy or have their research used to inspire new laws on public health.

Similarly, if an environmental threat becomes hazardous, it’s environmental health principles that researchers, scientists and medical professionals turn to to find a resolution. There are five main areas of environmental health and each contains many occupations:

Environmental science: This is the study of human exposure to various contaminants in the environment. It serves as a foundation for prevention and policy.
Environmental engineering: This is a specialty where the design of effective prevention and protection methods serve to keep humans from being exposed to environmental hazards.
Environmental law: Attorneys who work in environmental law have a specialized practice that’s concerned with regulations, treaties, legislation, litigation and other legal standards all having to do with environmental risk, hazards and concerns.
Toxicology: These professionals study environmental exposure to toxins and the impact it has on humans and the greater population.
Environmental epidemiology: This is the study of how exposure to environmental hazards impacts overall human health and wellness.

Types of environmental health professionals

People who work in environmental health usually specialize in a certain area like reducing air and water pollution, ensuring housing is safe and implementing workplace safety assessments. Below are some titles, salaries and descriptions for jobs in environmental health:

1. Environmental Health Technician

National Average Salary: $35,610 per year

Primary Duties: These professionals work in a lab environment and in the field. They collect specimens like soil or water samples, perform tests and make determinations to the end of improving public health and safety conditions.

2. Environmental Scientist

National Average Salary: $69,419 per year

Primary Duties: Environmental scientists perform tests, conduct research and practice the scientific method to prove or disprove a hypothesis. These professionals use experimentation and research to determine environmental hazards and how to resolve them.

3. Public Health or Environmental Engineer

National Average Salary: $79,341 per year

Primary Duties: Environmental engineers design systems that inform policies around public safety. They usually work for private companies or government agencies doing things like addressing the public about health and safety, creating research that informs policy changes, inspecting and analyzing private facilities for improvements to environmental health and more.

4. Environmental Health and Safety Officer

National Average Salary: $88,841 per year

Primary Duties: This is a position often concerned with health and safety regulatory compliance at a private business or government agency. These professionals investigate issues of public health and make determinations about environmental causes of health issues.

How to become an environmental health professional

Environmental health professionals are important to overall public health and safety. If you’re considering becoming a public or environmental health professional follow these three career-path steps:

Get the right education

In general, the minimum qualification for working in a field like environmental health is to have a bachelor’s degree. In some cases, a student with the right two-year degree, for example, horticulture, could get an entry-level position and continue their education to advancement. For specialization, a higher degree might be required, like a master’s degree or the completion of a doctoral program in a subject like hydrology or environmental policy.

Work in the field

Government agencies are a good place to look for entry-level work experiences in environmental health. Agencies like the National Park Service or Department of Natural Resources can offer environmental health career paths and occupations. However, once some experience has been gained, many environmental health workers move into the private sector.

Specialize through certification

No certification is required to work in the field of environmental health. However, you could improve your skillset and become a more marketable employee by choosing a profession where you can certify.

One such certification is Board Certified Environmental Scientist. This certification is earned from the American Academy of Environmental Engineers & Scientists (AAEES) Admissions Committee. Another option is Certified Environmental Scientist (CES) through the National Registry of Environmental Professionals (NREP).

Where can environmental health professionals work?

Environmental health professionals can work in several exciting places with a variety of work conditions. Some of those are listed below:

In a government office: Some professionals in this field will work in a government office. They may perform daily duties to ensure public policy is being followed or inform new policies around public health concerns. These may be professionals who work with the public on issues of public health or people who research behind the scenes.
In the field: Some people work in the field collecting samples or performing other activities. These can be individuals from government agencies or private industries and can range from public park workers to surveyors to scientists.
In a private company: Some environmental health professionals work in the offices of private companies, researching, experimenting, testing conditions and designing and implementing corporate policy.
In a lab: Scientists, technicians and others in the environmental science discipline may find themselves working in a laboratory conducting tests and experiments that make way for public safety.