Public and environmental health and safety professionals
Public and environmental health and safety professionalsNOC 21120, TEER 1
NOC 21120 (Public and environmental health and safety professionals) is TEER 1.TEER 1
Occupations that usually require a university degree
- Express Entry
- IRCC counts TEER 0 to 3 work for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class, so work in NOC 21120 sits inside that range.
- 2026 categories
- IRCC's 2026 category lists do not include NOC 21120.
- Median wage
- $45.00 an hour across Canada, from Job Bank's 2025 wage release (2023-2024 data).
- Provincial programs
- Each province sets which occupations its streams take. From our registry: OINP Ontario Workforce Priority stream, status Open, verified November 12, 2026.
How to read this code
- Broad category
- The first digit is the broad occupational category, the widest grouping in the NOC.
- TEER
- The second digit, 1, is the TEER category: TEER 1.
- Group
- The first four digits, 2112, are the minor group: Public and environmental health and safety professionals.
- Occupation
- All five digits, 21120, are the unit group, the occupation itself: Public and environmental health and safety professionals.
Also called: environmental health officer, environmental officer, environmental safety advisor, hazardous waste inspector, pollution control inspector
This page shows the official duties for NOC 21120, where its TEER sits in immigration rules, and the wages Job Bank reports. It describes the rules. It does not decide anyone's case.
What the job involves
Statistics Canada text, quoted word for word. IRCC compares your duties with this description, not your job title.
Lead statement
Public and environmental health and safety professionals review, evaluate and monitor public health and environmental safety hazards and develop strategies to prevent, control and eliminate disease and environmental impact caused by biological and chemical factors. They inspect restaurants, industrial establishments, municipal water systems, public facilities and institutions to ensure compliance with government regulations regarding sanitation, pollution control and the handling and storage of hazardous substances. They are employed throughout the public and private sectors.
Example job titles
- environmental health officer
- environmental officer
- environmental safety advisor
- hazardous waste inspector
- pollution control inspector
- public health inspector
- public health inspectors supervisor
- public safety consultant
- public safety coordinator
- public safety officer
- restaurant inspector
- rodent control inspector
- water inspector
Main duties: check yours
IRCC's rule for the Federal Skilled Worker Program: you must have performed "the actions in the lead statement" and "most of the main duties listed". Tick the duties you do. The count helps you compare. It is not a decision.
Verify on canada.ca(opens in a new tab)Lead statement: not ticked. Main duties ticked: 0 of 8.
The rule asks for the lead statement and most of the main duties. IRCC gives no number for "most", and an officer decides.
Few ticks? Read "Classified elsewhere" below: it names the codes for jobs that sit close to this one.
Your ticks are kept in this browser only, so they are here when you come back. Nothing is sent. "Clear ticks" erases them.
If your duties look different
Statistics Canada names the jobs that belong in a different NOC. If one of these sounds more like your work, open that code and compare.
Classified elsewhere
- 43202By-law enforcement and other regulatory officers (See 43202 By-law enforcement and other regulatory officers)
- 22233Construction inspectors (See 22233 Construction inspectors)
- 22231Engineering inspectors and regulatory officers (See 22231 Engineering inspectors and regulatory officers)
- 41400Ergonomist (See 41400 Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers)
- 22232Occupational health and safety specialists (See 22232 Occupational health and safety specialists)
- 41400Occupational hygienist (See 41400 Natural and applied science policy researchers, consultants and program officers)
Usual employment requirements
- A bachelor's degree in a discipline such as food science, environmental studies, chemistry or health and safety is usually required.
- Public health inspectors employed outside Quebec require certification with the Canadian Institute of Public Health Inspectors.
- Environmental health and safety professionals may require certification with the Board of Canadian Registered Safety Professionals (BCRSP).
Where TEER 1 sits in immigration rules
Each row gives the rule, then what it means for this occupation. The programs set many other conditions too, so read the official page before you act.
Federal Skilled Worker Program and Canadian Experience Class
The rule: both programs count work experience only in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3.
What this means: NOC 21120 is TEER 1, so work in it is inside that range. The TEER is one condition, not the whole test. Both programs also set how much work you need (at least 1 year, or 1,560 hours), when you did it, and minimum language results.
Federal Skilled Trades Program
The rule: this program goes by NOC group, not by TEER alone. IRPR s. 87.2 lists Major Groups 72 (less Sub-major Group 726), 73, 82, 83, 92 and 93 (less Sub-major Group 932), Minor Group 6320 and Unit Group 62200, other than a restricted occupation.
What this means: NOC 21120 is not in one of the listed groups, so work in it is not skilled trade experience under this program.
Express Entry category-based selection, 2026
The rule: IRCC publishes a closed list of NOC codes for each category. NOC 21120 is not on any 2026 occupation list.
What this means: People in this occupation can still be invited in general or program-specific rounds. French-language proficiency is a separate category: it depends on test results (NCLC 7 in all 4 abilities), not on the occupation.
IRCC page modified October 16, 2026, checked November 12, 2026.
Atlantic Immigration Program
The rule: the program takes job offers in TEER 0 to 4 from designated employers in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island. The job must be full-time and non-seasonal.
What this means: A TEER 1 offer must last at least 1 year from the day the person becomes a permanent resident.
Provincial Nominee Programs
The rule: each province and territory sets its own requirements and streams, including which occupations and TEER levels a stream takes.
What this means: Check the stream's own page for this NOC code. One example from our program status registry:
Program status: OINP Ontario Workforce Priority stream: Open
The stream has launched and the expression of interest portal opened on August 4, 2026. It covers skilled workers with a qualifying job offer in any NOC occupation, plus self-employed physicians.
Verified November 12, 2026 · Official source
Labour Market Impact Assessment (LMIA)
The rule: an employer, not a worker, applies for an LMIA, and ESDC assesses each job offer. The wage offered, compared with the provincial or territorial threshold, puts the job in the high-wage or low-wage stream.
What this means: Service Canada refuses to process low-wage applications for jobs in census metropolitan areas where unemployment is 6% or higher. Some sectors are exempt, such as primary agriculture, construction, food manufacturing, hospitals, and nursing and residential care. ESDC updates the list of areas each quarter. When this page was checked (September 26, 2026), the ESDC page showed the list for July 10 to October 8, 2026; open the ESDC page for the list in force today. A separate pause covers low-wage jobs in Montréal and Laval.
Wages in Canada
The wages Job Bank publishes for NOC 21120, for Canada as a whole and for each province and territory.
- Low
- $29.33
- per hour
- Median
- $45.00
- per hour
- High
- $56.41
- per hour
What this means: half of the people in this occupation earn less than the median and half earn more. Pay changes with the province, the employer and your experience.
Median by province or territory
| Province or territory | Median (per hour) |
|---|---|
| Newfoundland and Labrador | $41.00 |
| Prince Edward Island | $41.00 |
| Nova Scotia | $41.58 |
| New Brunswick | $41.00 |
| Quebec | $45.64 |
| Ontario | $46.67 |
| Manitoba | $36.00 |
| Saskatchewan | $39.18 |
| Alberta | $45.43 |
| British Columbia | $45.00 |
| Yukon | $51.59 |
| Northwest Territories | $58.30 |
| Nunavut | $59.01 |
Reference period 2023-2024. Data source: Labour Force Survey. ESDC Job Bank wages, release revised 2025-11-19. (opens in a new tab)
Search jobs for NOC 21120 on Job Bank(opens in a new tab)ClearToEnter is not affiliated with Job Bank or ESDC.
Related occupations
Codes in the same NOC group as 21120, the closest first.
- 21112Agricultural consultantAgricultural representatives, consultants and specialistsTEER 1
- 21111Forestry professionalsTEER 1
- 21110BiologistBiologists and related scientistsTEER 1
- 21109MetallurgistOther professional occupations in physical sciencesTEER 1
- 21103MeteorologistMeteorologists and climatologistsTEER 1
- 21102GeologistGeoscientists and oceanographersTEER 1
Questions about this code
What is the TEER of NOC 21120?
NOC 21120 (Public and environmental health and safety professionals) is TEER 1: occupations that usually require a university degree. In NOC 2021, the second digit of a code is its TEER: in 21120, it is 1. Every job title in this unit group, such as environmental health officer, shares that TEER.
Is NOC 21120 eligible for Express Entry?
IRCC counts work experience in TEER 0, 1, 2 or 3 for the Federal Skilled Worker Program and the Canadian Experience Class. NOC 21120 is TEER 1, so work in it sits inside that range. IRCC's 2026 category lists do not include NOC 21120. People in this occupation can still be invited in general or program-specific rounds. IRCC decides each case.
What is the median wage for NOC 21120?
Job Bank reports a median wage of $45.00 an hour for NOC 21120 across Canada. The low figure is $29.33 and the high is $56.41. Medians by province and territory run from $36.00 in Manitoba to $59.01 in Nunavut. The figures come from Job Bank's 2025 wage release (Labour Force Survey, 2023-2024).
What job titles are under NOC 21120?
Statistics Canada lists 13 example job titles for NOC 21120, including environmental health officer, environmental officer, environmental safety advisor, hazardous waste inspector and pollution control inspector. The title alone does not set the code: IRCC compares your duties with the lead statement and main duties on this page.
Can an employer hire for NOC 21120 through an LMIA?
An employer, not a worker, applies for an LMIA, and ESDC assesses each job offer, including the wage. For low-wage jobs, Service Canada refuses to process applications in census metropolitan areas where unemployment is 6% or higher, with some exemptions.
Next steps
Read the rules behind this page, then compare pathways.
Guides
The law
Compare pathways for this occupation
The Pathway Explorer lists each major program and its published criteria. Take NOC 21120 and its TEER with you.
NOC 2021 Version 1.0: Statistics Canada and ESDC.