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Many professions recognize the need for certification to identify competency in their respective fields. Just as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in accounting denotes a measurable standard of competency, the CSP is recognized as having met the professional challenge of illustrating competency through education, experience, and examination.

The CSP credential is the mark of the safety professional. Like the Professional Engineer designation for engineers or the Certified Public Accountant designation for accountants, the CSP certification marks individuals who have met educational and experience standards and passed rigorous examinations validated against the practice of hundreds of safety professionals.

• No other safety certification today is nationally accredited.
• No other safety credential is recognized in a wide range of federal, state, and local laws, regulations, and standards.
• No other safety certification holds the same level of demand by employers and government agencies.
• No other safety credential has the same impact on salary.

In the past twenty years, the responsibilities of safety professionals have expanded. Safety issues have become more complex and today’s safety professionals must be continually better qualified. CSPs are among the most highly trained,educated, and experienced in the safety field. In general, those who hold the CSP credential are more likely to be hired, earn higher salaries, and receive more promotions and leadership assignments than their peers who do not hold the designation.

Benefits of Certification

Hiring Preferences and Salary Increases. Advertisements for safety professionals published in Professional Safety, the American Society of Safety Engineers' (ASSE) journal, often identify the CSP certification as a desired or required qualification along with education and experience. Over 50% of all safety position ads within the last few years identified the CSP credential. Human resource managers and those hiring people for government positions depend on professional certification to ensure candidates have met minimum qualifications.

A 2003 salary survey conducted by the American Society of Safety Engineers shows the average CSP earns about $17,000 more per year than peers without certification. The average benefit is $300,000 or more over the course of a career in safety. In 2004, BCSP found the average CSP earned $84,245 annually. The current salary survey calculates a mean salary of $100,000.

Enhance Your Self-Esteem. The most frequent reported value derived from achieving the CSP credential is increased self-esteem and personal satisfaction. Over two-thirds of new CSPs report that achieving the CSP certification increased their personal worth. A major factor is having met standards established by peers for professional safety practice. It indicates that you have risen above the competition because you have been evaluated by professional peers against those standards.

Share Your Knowledge for Professional Safety Practice. Having achieved the CSP certification shows you have mastered the core knowledge required for professional safety practice. In a recent survey of CSPs, 62% noted the CSP process made them learn the field.The certification did what it is intended to do - ensuring the knowledge necessary for practice.

Gain an Advantage Over Your Peers. Because the CSP credential is high quality, as demonstrated by its compliance with internationally recognized standards for certification of persons, most holding it have created an edge for themselves. As recognition for the CSP credential grows among employers, government agencies, peers and the public, those holding it have a competitive advantage for safety positions and assignments.

Review and Study Sources

Because candidates for BCSP examinations often ask where to locate review courses and materials, BCSP maintains a list strictly as a courtesy. For a detailed list, click on the Review and Study Sources page. Additionally, BCSP has created a Library of Safety Practice where anyone can find the most up-to-date source material for every domain on the exams.

International Expansion

After being contacted by several Australian safety organizations, BCSP chose to use Australia as a pilot program to learn how to begin meeting international requests. Currently, the Safety Institute of Australia, the Industrial Foundation for Accident Prevention, the Western Australia Chapter of ASSE, and the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists are participating in the project.

Activities underway include:

• Formation of an Advisory Council in support of the CSP process
• Creation of agreements between BCSP and Australian professional safety and health organizations
• Limited revisions to CSP examinations and adjustment of qualifications
• Review of the viability of transportability of credentials across borders

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