How To Become A Process Safety Engineer: What It Is and Career Path

What is a process safety engineer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Process safety engineers work mainly in construction and manufacturing industries. Their job is to assess the safety of processes and identify potential risk factors to make sure operations are safe. Functioning as technical leaders, they design practices that prioritize safe working conditions while keeping management solutions as cost-efficient as possible.

As a process safety engineer, you will analyze equipment from safety aspects and design machinery that allows for safe and efficient operation. You will also contribute to creating safety measures and regulations related to the equipment you monitor.

You will need strong technical skills and an aptitude for troubleshooting to be successful in this role. A degree in engineering in mechanical or chemical areas will be necessary to get hired, building on majors such as biology, mathematics, and physics.

ScoreProcess Safety EngineerUS Average

Salary

6.6

Avg. Salary $84,412

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability Level

7.2

Growth Rate 4%

Growth Rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.7

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.17%

Asian 12.58%

Black or African American 4.69%

Hispanic or Latino 11.52%

Unknown 3.94%

White 67.09%

Gender

female 22.99%

male 77.01%

Age - 41

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 41

Stress Level

7.2

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

6.6

Complexity Level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

4.4

Work Life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a process safety engineer

Explore process safety engineer education requirements

Most common process safety engineer degrees

Bachelor's

73.1 %

Master's

14.3 %

Associate

4.5 %

Start to develop specific process safety engineer skills

Skills	Percentages
Safety Management	10.04%
OSHA	8.25%
Risk Management	6.27%
PHA	5.78%
EHS	5.30%

Complete relevant process safety engineer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New process safety engineers learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a process safety engineer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real process safety engineer resumes.

Research process safety engineer duties and responsibilities

Manage chemical process operations risk and EHS programs.
Lead troubleshooting of PLC, electrical, pneumatics, and hydraulic equipment.
Manage hazardous and special waste programs and profiles including audits/inspections, vendor compliance, documentation and recordkeeping.
Participate as an active member in the review of documentation and citation items relate to the OSHA PSM regulation.

Prepare your process safety engineer resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your process safety engineer resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a process safety engineer resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose From 10+ Customizable Process Safety Engineer Resume templates

Build a professional Process Safety Engineer resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your Process Safety Engineer resume.

Apply for process safety engineer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a process safety engineer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do process safety engineers rate their job?

5/5

Based On 1 Ratings

5 Stars

4 Stars

3 Stars

2 Stars

1 Star

Process Safety Engineer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2023

Cons

It takes time to implement and see the safety culture grow.

A zippia user wrote a review on Sep 2019

Pros

The interaction with all employees. Knowing everyday you job is to help all. Able to be the Go To Person who leads by example.

5.0

A zippia user wrote a review on Jun 2019