Inside a factory, plant, or industrial workplace, the Industrial Nurse handles employee health — workplace injuries, return-to-work coordination, health screenings, OSHA-mandated programs — alongside the daily walk-ins of workers needing minor care or guidance during their shift.
Industrial Nurse pay typically runs $79K–$108K at this level, and jobs in this field are projected to grow 5% through 2034. The next title up is often Senior Industrial Nurse.
A typical day tends to involve a mix of unscheduled triage (lacerations, sprains, exposures), scheduled physicals or screenings, return-to-work case management, OSHA-related programs (hearing tests, respiratory fit), and the documentation occupational health requires. Visit volume cycles with shift changes, and quiet stretches turn busy fast when something happens on the floor.
Coordination spans workers across all shifts, supervisors, HR, the company physician (when there is one), workers' comp insurers, and outside specialty providers. The hardest part is often the dual loyalty — your patients are also employees, and the company pays your salary, which colors everything from injury reporting to return-to-work decisions. Workers' comp navigation is a learned skill.
Nurses who tend to thrive here are clinically broad, calm under industrial-injury triage, and comfortable navigating company politics. If you crave acute hospital pacing or struggle with the dual-loyalty dynamic, the role can wear. If you find meaning in a workforce that's healthier and safer because of the programs you run, the work can offer real impact and predictable hours rare in nursing.
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Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Healthcare roles →Inside a factory, plant, or industrial workplace, the Industrial Nurse handles employee health — workplace injuries, return-to-work coordination, health screenings, OSHA-mandated programs — alongside the daily walk-ins of workers needing minor care or guidance during their shift.
Median pay for an Industrial Nurse is about $94K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $66K to $135K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Social Perceptiveness, Active Listening, Service Orientation, Coordination, and Speaking.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 4.9% through 2034, with roughly 3.3 million people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Senior Industrial Nurse, General Duty Nurse, and Senior Rn Resident (Registered Nurse Resident).
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