A new degree of synergy in Galway

Based on its experience with health and safety at postgraduate level and a graduate diploma in quality assurance, NUI Galway looked at the synergy of the management of these activities in industry - the result is the new BSc degree in health and safety systems.

"We feel that there is a requirement for professionals in that area," says Enda Fallon, lecturer in ergonomics and director of the new course. A four-year honours degree programme, students can opt out at the end of third year with a pass BSc. As it is a new course, there is no way of assessing accurately what the points will be. They will depend on the demand, says Fallon, but would be expected to be in "the middle to the top range of the undenominated programmes" already offered by NUI Galway. There will be an intake of up to 20 students this autumn.

"We would generally expect to get Leaving Cert people but we think it might be attractive to mature students. It is an applied-type programme in the sense that it is directly relevant to what goes on in industry. So people with experience might be able to glean that from the programme literature much easier than Leaving Cert students."

Prospective students, he says, should have an interest in the basic sciences because they are the foundation of the programme. "They will also have an interest in working with people and for people, because health and safety is basically concerned with the health and welfare of people." Increasingly, there are issues of safety with equipment - if it is not safe there is a risk to the business. The course will deal with health and safety as well as the implications of technology systems that are brought into an organisation. Because the programme is multi-disciplinary, there are contributions from a range of departments - anatomy, botany, chemistry, experimental physics, health promotion, industrial engineering, legal studies, management, mathematics, physiology, microbiology and zoology. "First year is similar in structure to all BScs in that people study biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics and then they have an introduction to health and safety systems and policy." First year is somewhat theoretical, but moves from a theoretical base to a more practical area in second year. By third year it is more practically based, says Fallon. Year two continues with more applied science subjects and an introduction to industrial systems and the formulation of safety statements as well as a module in legal studies. Third year, Fallon says, provides more specialist courses such as occupational hygiene, epidemiology, ergonomics and quality. "One of the reasons we've got quality in there is that, we feel, there is quite a significant amount of evidence to say that the way in which quality, health and safety and environmental issues are managed in an organisation are very similar. We see these things being managed under the one umbrella. We see that happening to a greater extent in industry and other organisations." There is a work placement at the end of third year. The expectation is that the students would go out on placement in April. There is also the possibility of studying abroad under the EU Socrates programme, either for an entire year or one semester.

In the final year students can specialise in one of two areas. "There is a common coursework around topics such as human and systems reliability, human and organisational aspects of operations - and then there is a stream, so you stream into the area of safety or into the area of occupational health." The stream covers over 50 per cent of the work in the final year. The initial opportunities are for working as a health and safety officer, engineer or manager - it depends on the job title of the organisation, Fallon says. "More and more we see these people moving into this area of management of health safety, quality and environment. Also, we see possibilities in the area of regulatory affairs."