Public administration covers a range of positions and work settings, including in government agencies and healthcare systems. Most jobs focus on implementing programs to serve the public good and/or the needs of a particular population. Two specific examples are public health administrators and public services administrators. Public health administrators coordinate and oversee various medical and health services. They may work to improve health services and ensure that their facility complies with all laws and regulations regarding healthcare. Public services administrators manage community organizations and social services programs. They work closely with community members and consistently evaluate the effectiveness and need of their programs. The following chart gives an overview of two of the paths you could take to enter this field.

Public administration is the field of service that maintains a civil society and provides for the needs of the public. There are many career paths. Most positions require some business or management skills and a college degree. Programs may focus on a specific area of public administration, such as public policy, public finance, program development, public relations, or labor relations

Public administration is the implementation of government policy and an academic discipline that studies this implementation and prepares civil employees for working in the public service. As a "field of inquiry with a diverse scope" whose fundamental goal is to "advance management and policies so that government can function". Some of the various definitions which have been offered for the term are: "the management of public programs"; the "translation of politics into the reality that citizens see every day"; and "the study of government decision making, the analysis of the policies, the various inputs that have produced them or produce alternative policies."

Public administration is "centrally concerned with the organization of government policies and programs as well as the behavior of officials (usually non-elected) formally responsible for their conduct". Many non-elected public employees can be considered to be public administrators, including heads of city, county, regional, state, and federal departments such as municipal budget directors, human resources (HR) administrators, city managers, census managers, state mental health directors, and cabinet secretaries. Public administrators are public employees working in public departments and agencies, at all levels of government.

Non-profit organizations also hire individuals to plan and oversee various departments. Non-profit institutions encompass a wide variety of organizations, including environmental or human rights advocacy organizations, charities, and arts organizations.

The following table represents only the potential occupational health concerns related to public administration based on a job task or work activity, and any related OSHA standards for regulatory compliance. The information presented does not indicate or suggest a relative risk of exposure based on the location within the table nor provides any exposure information. Health risks associated with fatigue, working long hours, stress living away from home, and other psychosocial disorders are not addressed.

The focus of this information is to provide guidance to understand the occupational health hazards from chemical substances, physical and biological agents, radiological, ergonomic, and environmental hazards from exposure to plants and animals. Potential occupational health exposures in this industry were contrived from the OSHA Integrated Management Information System database between 1984 to 2020. There were only a few relevant NIOSH Health Hazard Evaluations identified in the literature between 1978 and 2020.

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