What Do Product Safety Engineers Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Product Safety Engineers develop and conduct tests to evaluate product safety levels and recommend measures to reduce or eliminate hazards. They also investigate causes of accidents, injuries, or illnesses related to product usage to develop solutions to minimize or prevent recurrence.

Other tasks include:

• Conduct research to evaluate safety levels for products.
• Report accident investigation findings.
• Evaluate product designs for safety.
• Recommend procedures for detection, prevention, and elimination of physical, chemical, or other product hazards.
• Evaluate potential health hazards or damage that could occur from product misuse.
• Participate in preparation of product usage and precautionary label instructions.

We asked Product Safety Engineers how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

---

70% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 60% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Product Safety Engineers recommend procedures for detection, prevention, and elimination of physical, chemical, or other product hazards. They investigate causes of accidents, injuries, or illnesses related to product usage to develop solutions to minimize or prevent recurrence.

• Conduct research to evaluate safety levels for products.
• Evaluate product designs for safety.
• Evaluate potential health hazards or damage that could occur from product misuse.
• Report accident investigation findings.
• Participate in preparation of product usage and precautionary label instructions.

We asked some Product Safety Engineers a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	90% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	52% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	72% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	31% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	0% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	36% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Product Safety Engineers also conduct research to evaluate safety levels for products. They may also participate in preparation of product usage and precautionary label instructions.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Product Safety Engineers Evaluate potential health hazards or damage that could occur from product misuse. They might also Develop industry standards of product safety.

In addition, they Report accident investigation findings.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Evaluate product designs for safety.

To some Product Safety Engineers, it is also their responsibility to Recommend procedures for detection, prevention, and elimination of physical, chemical, or other product hazards.

Working life

More than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Product Safety Engineer, you can expect to work more than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally..

They also like work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They like working with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/architecture-and-engineering/health-and-safety-engineers.htm

http://www.asee.org/

http://www.asse.org/

http://www.asse.org/education/cert-prog/