Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into university ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into university educationE u r o p e a n Ag e n c y f o r Sa f e t y a n d He a l t h a t Wo r kFor example, in a report by an investigation board following a major train derailmentin the UK, caused by failures in rail maintenance, a variety of recommendations weremade. These include the recommendation that the ‘Education of engineers shoulddeliver professionals who understand their professional responsibilities for [the]safety…and who can apply the principles of risk management.’ 1This report looks mainly at how OSH education is included in the curricula of universitydegree courses. A curriculum approach to mainstreaming OSH into education iswhere the integration of safety and health into the curriculum is not limited to onespecific, stand-alone subject. Safety and health is integrated as a ´transversal´ topic, inother words throughout all levels of education and in different subjects. It is importantto embed safety into formal education curricula in order to achieve consistency and asystematic approach to risk education, as well as sustainability and durability.The Member States set learning objectives or outcomes in their education curricula.These objectives or outcomes for students are expressed in terms of attitudes anddispositions, knowledge and understanding, and skills or competences. Accordingto the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in Ireland, the outcomeregarding safety and health in the curriculum would be to develop dispositionsaround and attitudes towards health and safety matters, such as accident prevention,risk assessment and awareness of hazards. To act on these dispositions and attitudescertain skills and competences on health and safety are needed. And to exercise thedispositions and attitudes and apply the skills and competences, learners requirecertain information, knowledge, and understanding (for further information seeMainstreaming OSH into the education curriculum (European Agency for Safety andHealth at Work, 2009)).Getting OSH embedded in the curricula is only part of the process. For universities asfor schools there are three main aims regarding mainstreaming of OSH which shouldbe linked together in a ‘whole-university’ approach:OO Safety and health integrated as a transversal topic into degree programmesthroughout all levels of university education, with it embedded as a compulsorypart of curricula. This means that, for example, all engineering students receivesome risk education, and that it is not just an optional module or only part of aspecialist OSH and engineering degree. Likewise, all business studies studentsreceive some risk education that is relevant to their course and an intrinsic part ofit.OO A safe and healthy university environment for both students and staff.OO Learning about OSH as an integral part of any work practice or student placementswithin companies etc., with organisations offering such placements having in placethe necessary preventive measures for the safety of the students that they receive.Previous findings relating to mainstreaming OSH into tertiaryleveleducationSome previous research relating to OSH in tertiary-level educationOO A Finnish study of teaching occupational safety in schools showed that there arelarge differences between different school levels. For example, Finnish teacherslectured occupational safety issues for an average of 14.5 hour per term varyingfrom two hours in secondary schools to 23 hours in vocational schools. Lecturing1 Hatfield train derailment investigation - interim recommendations, Health and safetyCommission, 2002, http://www.rail-reg.gov.uk/upload/pdf/incident-hatfield-investigationb1.pdf14
Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into university educationOOOOOOOOand discussions with students were the teaching methods most often used, andthe most common teaching materials were photocopies and textbooks. However,one out of three teachers had no formal education in occupational safety issues.The conclusion of the study was that the implementation of the penetrationprinciple, according to which safety issues are taught in connection with work skills,depends on the initiative of the teacher (Salminen and Palukka, 2007).In a more detailed comparison, some differences between polytechnic institutesor universities of applied science and other / generic universities were found.Teachers in polytechnics gave an average of 20 hours tuition in occupationalsafety issues whereas, in other / generic universities, they taught these topics for 16hours per term. Lectures and discussions with students were the most frequentlyused teaching methods in both institutes. Teachers in polytechnics used textbooks most often, whereas professors and lecturers in universities mostly usedphotocopies. Over half of the teachers in polytechnic institutes had taken extracourses in occupational safety, whereas teachers in universities mostly did nothave any formal safety training. It can be concluded from this study that teachersin Finnish polytechnic institutes were more active in safety issues than teachers inother / generic universities (Salminen, 2007; Salminen and Palukka, 2007).In a study at Potsdam University in Germany students were divided to two groups:the first group received lectures on occupational safety as a part of their course,whereas the second group worked without safety lectures. Students who receivedOSH lectures or who had prior work experience demonstrated better safetyknowledge, but the differences were minor and not as high as was expected,with the safety lectures only slightly increasing the safety awareness of students.Overall, the knowledge of students concerning health and safety at work provedinsufficient and the researchers recommended a more effective integration of OSHtopics in students’ education and to offer this as a comprehensive approach forseveral different fields of this study. Consequently, the education of future teacherswas expanded to include a cycle of lectures on OSH. (Ceglarek, 2007a, 2007b).Several relevant studies have been carried out for the Health and Safety Executive(HSE) in the UK. A report that they published in 1999 on the extent of riskeducation in undergraduate degree courses in engineering in the UK suggestedthat the uptake of risk education was in its infancy and had not yet been formallyimplemented in any comprehensive manner across degree courses. In addition,it was found that universities generally had many different interpretations of theaccrediting bodies’ guidelines for the content and extent of risk education (Lee JF,Education of undergraduate engineers in risk concepts – scoping study, HSE BooksC2.5 10/99).Another study published by the HSE established a very limited coverage ofoccupational safety and health, in full-time Masters of Business Administration(MBA) courses, in a sample of UK business schools. The study found that theexplicit occupational health and safety content of the eight MBAs was either nonexistentor very limited. Many schools commented that there was a lack of welldocumentedand suitably-presented case studies appropriate for MBA teaching.The report suggested that the only executable way to encourage considerationof OSH in MBA programmes would be the development of high-quality casestudy materials that meet the needs of business schools. (HSE, 2007. Coverage ofoccupational health and safety on full-time MBA courses in GB business schools).E u r o p e a n Ag e n c y f o r Sa f e t y a n d He a l t h a t Wo r k15
Page 1: European Agency for Safety and Heal
Page 4 and 5: Editor and Project Manager:Sarah Co
Page 6 and 7: Mainstreaming occupational safety a
Page 23 and 24: European Agency for Safety and Heal
Page 29: Mainstreaming occupational safety a
Page 67 and 68:
Mainstreaming occupational safety a
Page 69 and 70:
Page 71 and 72:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
European Agency for Safety and Heal
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
European Agency for Safety and Heal
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154:
Page 155 and 156:
Page 157 and 158:
Page 159 and 160:
Page 161 and 162:
Page 163 and 164:
Page 165 and 166:
Page 167 and 168:
Page 169 and 170:
Page 171 and 172:
Page 173:
Page 176:
TE-WE-09-007-EN-CIn order to improv
show all

Mainstreaming occupational safety and health into university ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?