How to become an environmental health professional
Official title: Environmental health professionals
Also called: Port health officer, Port health inspector, Public health officer, Public health inspector, Environmental health manager, Environmental health officer, Environmental health inspector, Professional enforcement officer, Food inspector, Shops inspector, Smoke inspector, Sanitary officer
Environmental health professionals use specialist technical skills and knowledge to protect people from health risks associated with the environment in which they live and work. They maintain and safeguard standards, including taking legal action to enforce relevant legislation with regard to public health policy.
Main tasks
- Inspects businesses for compliance with legislation on health and safety, food hygiene and food standards and takes appropriate action in the event of non-compliance
- Follows up complaints of unsafe workplaces, investigating accidents
- Investigates outbreaks of food poisoning, infectious diseases or pests
- Monitors radiation activity, levels of noise, air, land and water pollution and takes appropriate action when safety levels are exceeded
- Ensures animal welfare for compliance with legislation, issues licences for premises such as pet shops, zoos and abattoirs
- Gives talks at public enquiries and meetings, ensures compliance through education, advice and enforcement
- Initiates legal proceedings and gives evidence in court
How to become one
Entrants normally require a degree accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) or the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS). To gain chartered status an additional period of work experience is required or successful completion of the CIEH's chartered practitioner programme.
Ways in
- Apprenticeship (England): Environmental health practitioner (integrated degree) (level 6). England. Typically 48 months. Skills England standard ST0714.
- University: Health & Public Health degrees, Offered by 23 universities in the UK
Pay · Outlook
- Median full-time pay: £41,725 a year
- About 13,400 people work in this job now, and about 15,100 are projected by 2035. (+12.2%)
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Questions people ask
How do I become an environmental health professional?
Entrants normally require a degree accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) or the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland (REHIS). To gain chartered status an additional period of work experience is required or successful completion of the CIEH's chartered practitioner programme.
How much does an environmental health professional earn in the UK?
Median full-time pay is £41,725 a year (Office for National Statistics).
Is an environmental health professional a growing career in the UK?
Yes. Employment is projected to grow 12% by 2035, from about 13,400 to about 15,100 people (Department for Education).
Do you need a degree to become an environmental health professional?
Usually. 89% of people in this job hold a bachelor's degree or higher.
Sources
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Population Survey: employment by occupation (April 2025 to March 2026), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: SOC 2020 Volume 1: structure and descriptions (2026-08-27 edition), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Department for Education: Skills Imperative 2035: employment projections by occupation (2021 to 2035 (Warwick IER / Cambridge Econometrics)), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
- Office for National Statistics: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Table 14 (2025 provisional), OGL v3.0, retrieved 2026-10-03
Updated 2026-10-03
Graduate outcomes: Discover Uni dataset, HESA (www.hesa.ac.uk), licensed under CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0). Aggregated by subject and adapted by Peernovo.