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OHS Postgraduate Programme

Short Courses in Occupational Hygiene

Introduction

Globally, demand for occupational hygienists is increasing, albeit not necessarily in the traditional developed centres of the world. There is also evidence that the ability to recruit appropriate personnel in many parts of the world, and the lack of suitable training courses, are barriers to the development of the profession in these locations.

Many companies that operate globally are experiencing these issues and a number of workshops and meetings have been held in various parts of the world e.g. Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) Conference at the Gold Coast and Melbourne, British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) Glasgow, American Industrial Hygiene Convention & Exhibition (AIHCE) Philadelphia and the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) in Taipei, to seek input as to how this situation could be addressed.

One outcome from the above discussions has been the recognition that there is a lack of quality training programmes that fill the gap between the traditional “Basic Principles” courses offered by professional associations, and the higher level academic programmes currently offered by a number of universities. The concept for these “intermediate” training programmes was that they should provide a stepping stone for developing professionals in their early career, focusing on practical “hands on” aspects of occupational hygiene practice.

Development of Training Materials

The initial concept was to use the BOHS Occupational Hygiene Modules which have been in operation for many years. Through the generous financial support of BP International, the University of Wollongong was contracted to run a trial using UK training materials in October 2006 with students from Australia, Indonesia, China, Malaysia and the USA. It was clear from this trial that the material was UK centric and did not represent the varying international practices in use today.

As a result of the initial trial, BP International have funded the development of six one week modular short courses with the intent to provide a comprehensive quality teaching package that could be used by a variety of institutions across the world and was suitable for translation into local languages. Each module is part of a series but can be taken in isolation and so there is no ongoing long term commitment necessary in enrolling on one course.

The syllabi for each module have been developed in partnership with BOHS and in consultation with AIOH and other IOHA member organisations. The content builds on an established format used by BOHS but updated to reflect current developments and to remove all reference to National or local legislation. There is also a greater focus on the need for practical ‘hands on’ experience during the teaching sessions.