The Associate Safety Professional (ASP) credential is a professional designation accredited by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP). By achieving the ASP credential, professionals prove their broad scope of knowledge within the Health, Safety, and Environmental (HSE) field. An ASP is a person who performs professional level safety duties at least 50% of the time. These duties range from making worksite assessments to determine risks, potential hazards and controls, evaluating risks and hazard control measures, investigating incidents, maintaining and evaluating incident and loss records, and preparing emergency response plans.
Other duties of ASPs may include hazard recognition, fire protection, regulatory compliance, health hazard control, ergonomics, hazardous materials management, environmental protection, training, accident and incident, investigations, advising management, record keeping, emergency response, managing safety programs, product safety and/or security.
Am I Eligible to Become an ASP?
All ASP candidates must meet certain educational and experiential requirements before sitting for the ASP exam. Browse the following requirements to ensure your eligibility for this BCSP-approved credential.
Education Background
Applicants must meet one of the following educational requirements to sit for the ASP exam:
- Bachelor's degree in any field
- Associate's degree in any relevant health, safety, or environmental (HSE) field
Safety Experience
In order to sit for the ASP exam, all candidates must have 1 year of prior professional safety experience.
What Are the Next Steps?
Review the areas of eligibility above and ensure that you have met all prerequisites for the ASP exam. If you do not meet all of these requirements you can either continue your studies and experience to work up to the ASP requirements or you can look at one of the other health and safety certifications that the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) has to offer.
If you meet the requirements, you are eligible to apply and sit for the ASP certification exam. Many potential ASPs enroll in training courses to better prepare them for their upcoming ASP exam. If you are interested in preparing for the ASP exam through a training course, browse health and safety courses!
Retaining the ASP Certification
Upon successful completion and passing of the ASP exam, all professionals must remain active to keep their designation. In order to remain eligible and up to date in their certification, ASP professionals must pay an annual renewal fee and earn 25 recertification points every 5 years. These points can be earned by fulfilling activities outlined by BCSP's recertification guide.