Jobs / Management and business operations / 13-1041.01
Environmental Compliance Inspectors
Inspect and investigate sources of pollution to protect the public and environment and ensure conformance with Federal, State, and local regulations and ordinances.
- US jobs
- 417,070 (SOC 13-1041 group, "Compliance Officers")
- Median wage
- $80,730 a year
- Job family
- Management and business operations
Can agents do the work of environmental compliance inspectors?
We read the evidence at the level of the job family, Management and business operations:
- Task levelPartialOnly adjacent evidence. On TheAgentCompany, which gives agents workplace tasks inside a simulated software company, the best agent resolves 42.9% of tasks (a November 2025 result). No task-level benchmark in our collection maps directly to management or business operations.
- Project levelPartialMixed. OpenAI reports that GPT-5.5's GDPval deliverables won or tied against professionals' work in 84.9% of comparisons, and the best agent passes 73.5% of APEX-Agents tasks on the first try. Running a business is weaker: on Vending-Bench 2 the best model ends a simulated year with $15,515, about a quarter of Andon Labs' estimate for a good strategy.
Benchmarks for the job family
These cover work in management and business operations, not always this occupation's tasks.
- 1846 EloClaude Opus 5.5 (Adaptive Reasoning, Max Effort, Default Fallback) · 23 Sep 2026Unrated
- 42.9%TTE-MatrixAgent + DeepSeek-V3.2 · 10 Nov 2025Emerging
Typical tasks
From O*NET 31.0. Core tasks first. Few of these tasks have a benchmark today.
- Determine the nature of code violations and actions to be taken, and issue written notices of violation, participating in enforcement hearings, as necessary.
- Prepare, organize, and maintain inspection records.
- Investigate complaints and suspected violations regarding illegal dumping, pollution, pesticides, product quality, or labeling laws.
- Determine which sites and violation reports to investigate, and coordinate compliance and enforcement activities with other government agencies.
- Interview individuals to determine the nature of suspected violations and to obtain evidence of violations.
- Inform individuals and groups of pollution control regulations and inspection findings, and explain how problems can be corrected.
- Verify that hazardous chemicals are handled, stored, and disposed of in accordance with regulations.
- Learn and observe proper safety precautions, rules, regulations, and practices so that unsafe conditions can be recognized and proper safety protocols implemented.
- Monitor follow-up actions in cases where violations were found, and review compliance monitoring reports.
- Examine permits, licenses, applications, and records to ensure compliance with licensing requirements.
- Prepare written, oral, tabular, and graphic reports summarizing requirements and regulations, including enforcement and chain of custody documentation.
- Observe and record field conditions, gathering, interpreting, and reporting data such as flow meter readings and chemical levels.
Other job titles for this occupation (42)
Air Permitting and Enforcement Inspector · Compliance Investigator · Enforcement Officer · Environmental Compliance Inspector · Environmental Inspector · Environmental Protection Specialist · Environmental Quality Analyst · Resource Conservation and Recovery Act Enforcement Officer (RCRA Enforcement Officer) · Toxics Program Officer · Waste Management Specialist · Agricultural Chemicals Inspector · Agricultural Chemicals Registration Specialist · Air Pollution Inspector · Authorized Inspector · Certified Erosion, Sediment, and Storm Water Inspector (CESSWI) · City Sanitarian · Compliance Analyst · Compliance Coordinator · Compliance Representative · Compliance Representative Dealer · Environmental Advisor · Environmental Compliance Coordinator · Environmental Compliance Engineer · Environmental Compliance Manager · Environmental Compliance Specialist · Environmental Compliance Technician · Environmental Field Specialist · Environmental Health and Safety Advisor (EH & S) · Field Examiner · Field Investigator · Hazardous Waste Management Specialist · Hazardous Waste Specialist · Health Inspector · Industrial Waste Inspector · Permit Specialist · Pesticide Control Inspector · Property Preservation Specialist · Regulatory Analyst · Regulatory Compliance Specialist · Sanitation Inspector · State Inspector · Water Pollution Control Inspector