ASP vs CSP: Which Safety Certification Should You Get First? (2026)

Most people asking this question already know they want the CSP. The real question is whether to take the ASP first or skip straight ahead. Those are different decisions, and the answer depends almost entirely on where you are in your career right now.

What These Credentials Actually Are

Both the ASP and CSP are issued by the Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP). They’re built around the same competency framework and administered as computer-based exams at Pearson VUE testing centers. The CSP is the senior credential. The ASP is the associate-level stepping stone that BCSP designed for people who are working toward the CSP but don’t yet qualify for it.

That framing matters. The ASP was built to give early-career safety professionals something to hold while they accumulate experience. It’s not a permanent destination for most people. If you’re early in your safety career and you need three or four more years of experience before you qualify for the CSP, the ASP gives you a credential in the meantime. If you already qualify for the CSP, taking the ASP first is a waste of time and money.

ASP Requirements

To sit for the ASP exam, you need one of the following:

An associate’s degree in any field, plus one year of preventive safety professional experience. Or a bachelor’s degree in any field, with no additional experience required before sitting for the exam. Or a “safety degree” at the associate level or above, which BCSP defines as a degree where at least 50 percent of coursework covers safety topics.

The application fee is $155. The exam fee is $229. You’ll pay roughly $385 total to earn the ASP if you pass on the first attempt.

Once you hold the ASP, you maintain it with 32 continuing education points (CEPs) every five years. The ASP doesn’t automatically convert to a CSP. You have to apply separately for the CSP when you meet its requirements.

CSP Requirements

The CSP has more gates.

You need a bachelor’s degree in any field, or an associate’s degree in safety, health, or the environment. Your degree must be from an accredited institution. On top of the degree, you need four years of preventive safety professional experience if your degree is in safety or a closely related field. If your degree is in an unrelated field, you need five years.

There’s also an exam prerequisite: you must hold the ASP (or certain other BCSP credentials) before you can sit for the CSP. That’s the only scenario where taking the ASP isn’t optional. If you don’t hold a qualifying credential and you want to take the CSP, you have to go through the ASP first.

Application fee is $155. Exam fee is $354. Budget around $510 for the first attempt.

The CSP recertifies on a five-year cycle as well, requiring 40 CEPs.

The Skip-ASP Decision Tree

Work through this before you spend money on either application:

Do you have a bachelor’s degree? If no, you need the ASP first regardless. You can’t qualify for the CSP without a bachelor’s degree unless your associate’s degree is specifically in safety, health, or the environment.

Do you have at least four years of preventive safety professional experience? If no, take the ASP now. Hold it while you accumulate the remaining years. When you hit the four-year (or five-year) mark, apply for the CSP.

If the answer to both questions is yes, check your degree. If it’s in safety or a closely related field, you need four years. If it’s unrelated, you need five. Do you meet that threshold? If yes, skip the ASP entirely and go straight to the CSP.

The only reason to take the ASP when you already qualify for the CSP is if you want the credential sooner and you’re not ready to study for the CSP exam yet. That’s a valid reason. But be honest with yourself about it. You’re paying $385 for a credential you’ll need to upgrade anyway.

When the ASP Makes Sense

The ASP is the right move in three specific situations.

You have the degree but not the experience years. This is the most common scenario. You’re a safety coordinator or safety technician with two years under your belt. You know you want the CSP eventually. The ASP gives you a BCSP credential now, which looks better on a resume and signals to employers that you’re on the path. You earn the ASP, keep doing safety work, and in two to three years you apply for the CSP.

Your employer will pay for it. If your company has a tuition reimbursement or professional development budget and they’ll cover the ASP fees, take it even if you’re close to CSP eligibility. The credential is worth having, the cost is covered, and you’ll be better prepared for the CSP exam having taken the ASP first.

You want to test the exam format before attempting the CSP. The ASP and CSP use similar question styles. Taking the ASP first gives you real exam experience with lower stakes. Some people benefit from that. Others prefer to study once and sit for the CSP directly. Know your own test-taking pattern before you decide.

Exam Format: What You’re Actually Signing Up For

The ASP exam is 200 questions over four hours. The CSP is 200 questions over five hours. Both are multiple choice, administered at Pearson VUE testing centers.

Content domains overlap heavily. Both exams cover safety management systems, emergency response, incident investigation, and hazard recognition. The CSP extends into industrial hygiene principles, math-heavy risk analysis, environmental management, and a broader range of regulatory topics. The BCSP’s Examination Blueprint documents list the competency areas for each exam. Download both before you decide which one to study for.

Pass rates aren’t published by BCSP. Based on consistent reports across BCSP forums, study groups, and ASSP chapter discussions, the CSP exam requires more preparation time than the ASP. Most candidates studying for the CSP plan 100 to 200 hours of study. For the ASP, 60 to 100 hours is a more common range.

If you’re deciding based on difficulty alone, that’s not a good reason to take the ASP first. The right question is whether you meet CSP eligibility.

Salary Impact: The Honest Picture

The ASP produces a modest salary increase on its own. The ASSP Salary Survey (2023 data) consistently shows a significant earnings gap between safety professionals with the CSP and those without any BCSP credential. The ASP sits between those two data points, but it’s closer to the uncredentialed side than to the CSP side.

Per BLS OEWS data (2023), occupational health and safety specialists earned a median annual wage of $77,560. That’s for the occupation broadly, not credential-specific. The ASSP survey data slices it more precisely: CSP holders earn well above the median for the category.

The ASP is worth getting if you don’t yet qualify for the CSP. It’s not worth getting as a substitute for the CSP if you already meet the requirements.

One more salary point: the CSP is a gate credential for some positions. Certain safety director, senior EHS manager, and corporate safety roles list CSP as a requirement or strong preference. The ASP won’t satisfy that requirement. If you’re targeting senior-level roles, there’s no substitute for the CSP.

What the Study Process Actually Looks Like

The BCSP sells an official study guide for both exams. The CSP study guide is the more valuable purchase, because the CSP content is harder to self-study from random sources. For the ASP, many candidates use a combination of the BCSP guide and free resources from ASSP chapter libraries.

Third-party prep providers also exist. Bowen EHS and Prism Safety are two common names that come up in ASSP forums. Neither is officially affiliated with BCSP. They’re exam prep businesses that have developed materials based on the BCSP blueprint. If you learn well from structured courses, they’re worth evaluating.

Flashcard apps work well for the math-heavy topics that appear on both exams. You need to know the industrial hygiene math formulas for the CSP: TWA calculations, noise dosimetry, ventilation equations. The ASP has less math but it’s not zero. A handful of practice exam questions will show you exactly what to expect.

Don’t over-rely on practice tests alone. Some candidates pass practice tests consistently and then fail the real exam because the practice questions don’t match the actual difficulty or format closely enough. Use practice tests to identify weak areas, then go back to the source material.

One realistic number: allow three to four months of consistent study for the CSP if you’re working full time. The people who fail tend to either underestimate how much the CSP extends beyond the ASP content, or they spend all their study time on the topics they already know instead of drilling the weak areas.

The Common Mistake

People take the ASP when they already qualify for the CSP because the ASP feels like a lower hurdle. It is a lower hurdle. But clearing a lower hurdle when you can clear the higher one just costs you time and money.

If you’ve been in a hands-on safety role for four or five years and you have a bachelor’s degree, check the BCSP CSP eligibility requirements directly at bcsp.org. You may already qualify. If you do, apply for the CSP, not the ASP.

The ASP made sense for your career at a specific moment in time. Before you had enough experience for the CSP. If that moment has passed, start studying for the exam that actually moves your career forward.