Salary survey results

Many thanks to the 172 survey respondents, who not only filled in the multi-choice questions but in many cases also added their comments about the state of OHS salaries in New Zealand.

Headline results are:

• Median salary was $71,333, compared to a little over $68,000 last year.
• 46.5% of respondents have been in OHS for 10 years or more.
• 29.6% had a bachelor’s or higher degree in OHS as their highest OHS qualification.
• 91.9% of respondents described themselves as employees.
• Manufacturing (23.8% of respondents) was the biggest industry sector, followed by local and central government (16.3%) and construction (13.4%).
• 68.0% of respondents were safety practitioners, 12.2% private sector advisors, 11.6% health nurses, 7.6% government advisors, and 0.6% were occupational hygienists.
• 73.8% of respondents work for organisations with 100 or more staff.
• Before-tax annual income was below $60,000 for 30.3% of respondents, and from $60,000 to $79,999 for 34.8%. A tad under 20% earned at least $100,000.
• Most respondents (50.0%) felt their salary was lower than non-OHS roles of similar responsibility; only 4.7% felt it was higher.
• Experience pays more: the gap between Intermediate experience level (4 to 9 years in OHS), and Senior level (10 years or more), is $11,000 compared with $6000-odd last year. Also, median salaries for Junior and Senior experience levels were $4000 to $5000 higher than last year.
• Of the four industry sectors with more than 10% of respondents, manufacturing pays least (median $63,750) and construction the most (median $77,000).

Read an edited selection of respondents’ comments (strictly anonymised).

The full Safeguard salary survey 2009 dataset, stripped of any text responses to guarantee respondent anonymity, is available for sale for $95 + gst so you can conduct your own analysis. Order from our customer care team at 0800 10 60 60 or email service@brookers.co.nz