Environmental Health Careers: What They Are and How to Start

Careers in environmental health involve studying the environment, how it affects humans, and taking the necessary steps to help prevent disease and other health issues. Those steps could include identifying asthma triggers, solving a water pollution crisis, or working to stop a worldwide health crisis. It’s an exciting and dynamic career field where you can make a real difference. Discover the day-to-day role of an environmental health practitioner (EHP), how to become one, the salary you might expect, and more.

What is environmental health?

Environmental health incorporates all the external forces that impact human health, including air, food, water, and hazardous materials. Poor environments often lead to poor health for those in them, which is why environmental health practitioners are vital to public health.

Several topics fall under the scope of environmental health. Some of the more prominent ones include:  

• Air and water quality and safety

• Climate and health relationships 

• Protection and disaster response

• Food safety and food standards

• Health practices related to the military

• Housing health issues, like preventing lead poisoning 

• Noise control

• Occupational health and safety

• Pollution control

• Public health

• Sanitation

• Waste management

What are five examples of environmental health and safety 

The National Health Service (NHS) identifies five primary areas of environmental health. They include: 

• Environmental pollution and noise

• Occupational health

• Public health

• Food safety

• Housing standards

The World Health Organisation (WHO) breaks environmental health into six specific themes, providing additional global context for how you look at the field. WHO’s six themes include:

• Outdoor air quality

• Ground and surface water quality

• Hazardous waste and toxic substances

• Homes and communities

• Infrastructure and surveillance

• Global environmental health

Environmental health careers

Environmental health professionals work in diverse areas, from protecting UK citizens from ecological dangers to assessing health risks in the workplace to investigating outbreaks of illnesses caused by food-borne pathogens. It’s a meaningful career. However, the UK is experiencing an ongoing shortage of environmental health professionals, with too few individuals entering the field to replace those leaving. For those with the drive, skills, and qualifications, that could translate to solid opportunities. 

By opting to work in this field, you could become a scientist or science professional who studies how humans interact with the world. You’ll use your technical skills and knowledge to develop, implement, and enforce policies related to people’s health and well-being. 

Many environmental health careers fit into one of five categories:

• Environmental science: The general study of how the human body reacts to various aspects of the environment

• Environmental engineering: The practice of improving or maintaining the environment to enhance or protect human health

• Environmental law: Creating or opposing laws and regulations that impact human health or create ecological concerns

• Toxicology: The study of how exposure to toxins affects the human body or a large population

• Environmental epidemiology: The study of how the environment impacts the occurrence and spread of disease

What does an environmental health officer do?

Much of the role of an environmental health professional falls into two categories: prevention or response, no matter the subspeciality of environmental health. On the prevention side, you might teach prevention or help create laws to prevent health hazards in the community. On the response side, you might seek ways to slow or stop a health hazard that has already occurred within a community or determine the cause of an environmental threat at a particular location. 

As an environmental scientist or specialist, you will work to analyse a specific problem and devise a solution for it. Day-to-day tasks could include:

• Conducting business inspections to ensure they meet required health and safety standards

• Conducting investigations regarding outbreaks, including infectious diseases and pests 

• Gathering samples for laboratory testing to ensure air and water quality or as part of the inspection process 

• Advising, educating, and enforcing environmental health laws

• Devising a plan to solve a problem or prevent future threats

• Investigating accidents at work or complaints from the general public

• Giving talks to educate specific communities about environmental threats and preventative measures

• Monitoring radiation activity and taking appropriate action as needed

• Analysing collected data to write records and reports

• Advising on all environmental health matters based on research and experiments

What are the environmental factors that affect health in the UK? 

Public Health England points to various factors impacting health in the UK, including the quality of green spaces and housing, air quality, and water sanitation. It also notes that disadvantaged communities may face more frequent exposure to elements like poor housing and air quality and less access to green spaces.

How to become an environmental health officer

Becoming an environmental health professional, sometimes called an environmental health officer or specialist, requires immersion in environmental health. It might also involve gaining hands-on experience through an internship or entry-level job or earning specific certifications. Following these steps can help you enter the field. 

1. Get the proper education. 

To become a qualified EHP in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, you must first obtain an honours degree or master’s in environmental health from a university accredited by The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH). In Scotland, you’d look for accreditation from The Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS).

If you studied another subject or have equivalent qualifications and experience, you may also be able to enrol in an accredited postgraduate course. Apprenticeships may also allow you to mix your education and practical work experience.

Read more: Is a Master’s Degree Worth It in 2024?

2. Work in the field.

Once you have earned your degree, you will also need real-world environmental health experience. The CIEH expects candidates to spend six months working in the field and developing a portfolio. The portfolio demonstrating interventions in each area of environmental health needs to be supported by a workplace supervisor.

Within the UK, you can find environmental health jobs with employers, including:

• Local governmental bodies in charge of issues like environmental protection, public health, and housing conditions

• National government agencies include the NHS, the Environment Agency, Foods Standards Agency. Health and Safety Executive, and Scottish Environment Protection Agency

• University research

• Charities and international development organisations

• The Courts

• A business office with a need to comply with workplace safety concerns

• The armed forces

3. Sit for a professional discussion.

To complete your qualification, you must also have a professional discussion with experienced EHPs. Typically, they will give you hypothetical environmental health scenarios in a video conference. You must discuss how you would address those issues based on your education and professional experience.

Like an oral exam, this professional discussion tests your scientific knowledge and technical understanding, communication ability, and decision-making skills.

4. Continue your professional development

As with your education, any certifications you need will vary by job. However, professional development and environmental health certifications look good on a resume and may help you break into a specific area of environmental health. You might take training offered by CIEH, colleges, or private companies in subjects including:  

• Food safety and hygiene  

• HACCP changes  

• Allergen and anaphylaxis awareness 

• HMO enforcement

• Health and safety 

• Waste management

• Food allergen enforcement

• COVID-19 awareness 

• Commercial gas safety

• Pest control

• Asbestos awareness

• Noise nuisances

How to report an environmental incident

Whether you work in environmental health or not, if you find an environmental problem, such as flooding, illegal fishing, pollution, or damage to river banks or other elements of the environment, you can call the 24-hour hotline appropriate for where you are:

England: The Environment Agency at 0800 80 70 60

Wales: Natural Resources at 0300 065 3000 

Northern Ireland: Northern Ireland Environment Agency at 0800 80 70 60

Scotland: Scottish Environment Protection Agency at 0800 80 70 60

Important skills required for environmental health specialists

Degrees, work experience, and certifications can help you get environmental health jobs. Additionally, a certain number of workplace skills to impress prospective employers will be beneficial. 

Knowledge and background in natural sciences

A background in natural sciences is a must for environmental health professionals. If you're in school or college and know you want this career path, take as many courses as possible and even look for volunteer opportunities or internships. Natural sciences deal with natural matter and energy on Earth. The field usually includes biology, chemistry, earth sciences like geology and oceanography, physics, and space sciences like astronomy. 

Persuasive communication

When environmental scientists and specialists make discoveries, they have to share them with various people. You may write technical reports for other scientists, create presentations to provide to the general public, or report your findings to government officials. But you must do it in such a way that you persuade your audience to take action in response to the information. 

Deductive and inductive reasoning

Deductive reasoning starts with a premise or theory, proven true or false through observation and experimentation. Inductive reasoning involves taking specific information and making generalisations based on the data. Both are essential parts of working in the environmental health field. 

Service orientation (focus on helping people)

Anyone entering the environmental health field should want to help others, whether to improve the lives of others, a particular community, or the entire world. After all, the primary purpose of the job is to determine how to improve the lives of others.

Critical thinking 

As with any science career, you must be a critical thinker to analyse data and find patterns. You'll need to take everything you learn or observe and find a way to solve or prevent a problem by thinking critically.  

Ability to work in varied environments

As an EHP, you may have to work in difficult working conditions. Those conditions could include dirty, loud, infested, or hazardous environments. You could also have to work in stressful and confrontational situations.

Where do environmental health professionals work?

Environmental health professionals work in a variety of locations. You may need to be onsite in the field, or you could be working in an office environment. You may also need to conduct research in a lab or the field.   

In a lab or the field 

Whatever EHP path you choose, you may work in a lab, the field, or some variety of the two. For example, you may spend time in the field collecting water samples from a specific area and take them back to a lab to analyse and conduct experiments. You may also need to be onsite in the field to check whether standards are being met or to survey constituents about conditions. 

In the office

Working for a local authority or government agency, you may work behind the scenes to ensure compliance with public policies and laws or to help determine the steps necessary to protect the public from various issues. In the private sector, you might spend a lot of time in the office implementing or creating corporate policies and conducting research, testing, and experiments related to products or services. 

Career outlook and salary expectations

The outlook for environmental health practitioners in the UK is promising. Along with jobs with local authorities, government agencies, the armed forces, and environmental consultancies, private sector opportunities are also growing. The COVID-19 pandemic also helped to shine a spotlight on environmental health in a new way. According to August 2024 data from Glassdoor UK, an environmental health officer could expect an average base salary of £38,460 [1]. 

Environmental health and safety jobs

Whilst many people who choose to study environmental health and desire a career in the field go on to become environmental health scientists or specialists, many other career options are available in this industry. Explore a few different positions, including environmental engineers, hydrologists, and protection technicians, below.

Environmental engineers 

Average annual base salary in the UK (Glassdoor): £34,391 [2]

As an environmental engineer, you will combine a background in engineering with concepts like biology, chemistry, and soil science to solve ecological problems. Problems you address might include cleaning up drinking water, climate change, controlling pollution, or finding a better way to dispose of waste. 

Hydrologists 

Average annual base salary in the UK (Glassdoor): £31,691 [3]

As a hydrologist, you will focus only on water. You will study rain, snow, groundwater, surface water, and the water cycle to determine how it impacts the environment in a particular area. In this role, you can help increase access to water in specific regions or ensure a population has clean drinking water. 

Protection technicians

Average annual salary in the UK (Glassdoor): £35,583 [4]

As a protection technician, you will monitor a part of the environment to ensure nothing impacts human health. In the case of pollution or other problems, you'll investigate and prepare reports based on your findings. 

Discover more about environmental health on Coursera

Environmental health is an industry dedicated to improving the health and lives of others. If you're considering entering a career in environmental health or already working in the industry and want to broaden your knowledge, consider taking an online course to deepen your understanding and help guide your interests. You'll find related courses offered by some of the top universities in the world, such as Environmental Health: the Foundation of Global Public Health, part of the Impacts of the Environment on Global Public Health Specialization on Coursera.