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University College Cork

Occupational Health

The MSc in Occupational Health is an integrated course in occupational safety, health and welfare.

It will provide you with a multidisciplinary approach to occupational health including:
public health
occupational medicine and hygiene
psychology
law
risk assessment and management
training and development
ergonomics
epidemiology

It is suitable if you are already working in occupational safety and health, or if you have a strong interest in occupational health and a primary degree in a related area.

On completion of this course, you will be able to:

-demonstrate an awareness of occupational health from a multidisciplinary perspective including epidemiology, psychology, public health, safety science, law and training and development, occupational medicine

practice measures to prevent disease and injury, and to protect and promote health and safety in occupational settings

-perform risk assessments in the workplace including psychosocial risk factors

-identify the role of psychology in improving the quality of work life

-develop skills to protect and promote the safety, health and well-being of workers

-employ skills to critically appraise publications and statistics and stay up-to-date with the newest research evidence

-apply research evidence to occupational health and safety interventions and health promotion strategies by taking relevant legislation into account

-design occupational health training and development programmes in line with organisational policy

-carry out a focused piece of scholarly research and health and safety programme evaluation.

Further details on the content and modules are available on the Postgraduate College Calendar

Lectures, tutorials, practicals (computers), seminars, student presentations.

This course offers you the opportunity to study modern cutting-edge scientific concepts and research evidence on the causation, prevention and management of work-related accidents, injury and disease.

The interactive format of the teaching sessions helps student networking, sharing of knowledge and practical experience. In several modules, you will work with practical case studies, engage in project work and reflective inquiry.

Throughout the course, you will be invited to master classes held by experts in the field. The experience and expertise of our previous graduates is also deployed through lecturing, mentoring new students and student tutoring

We support our MSc students to professionally engage in health and safety practice and research and to provide leadership to others.

Entry requirements

Candidates for the MSc programme in Occupational Health must meet one of the following criteria:

1. A Level 8 honours primary degree (minimum second class honours, grade 2) in a relevant area, for example health-related (Public Health, Nursing, Medicine, Environmental Health, Psychology/Behavioural Science, Physiotherapy); Engineering and Human Resource Management and relevant professional experience* or work placement in an associated Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare area.

2. A minimum of a Diploma/Higher Diploma in Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare (minimum second class honours, grade1), from UCC, or an equivalent qualification** from another Institution (Level 8 Diploma, minimum second class honours, grade 1) and a minimum of two years relevant professional work experience* in an area associated with Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare;

3. Applicants with a minimum of three years professional work experience in an associated area* of Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare will be invited for interview to satisfy the selection committee of their suitability for the programme.

* Relevant professional work experience, job title examples: Health and Safety Officers/Advisors/Managers/Coordinators; Environmental Safety Officers/Managers; Safety Engineers, Health Promotion Officers; HR Officers/Managers; Occupational Health Nurses, Health Scientists, Professional Trainers, Health and Safety Consultants.

** Level 8, Examples: Diploma/Higher Diploma/International Diploma in Occupational Health and Safety; Diploma in Environment Management, Diploma in Health Promotion, Diploma in Learning, Development and Work-based Training.

If you are applying with Qualifications obtained outside Ireland and you wish to verify if you meet the minimum academic and English language requirements for this programme please click here to view the grades comparison table by country and for details of recognised English language tests.

Fitness to Practise

Commencing with the 2013/2014 intake, this programme will be subject to the University's Fitness to Practise Policy

Duration

18 months Part-time

The part-time option will be taught during weekday working hours for 18 months over 2 years.

Careers or further progression

Skills and Careers Information

The course encourages a proactive approach in assessing and controlling both physical and psychosocial work hazards in an effort to prevent disease, injuries and accidents at work; to promote health and to create safe and healthy work cultures and conditions.

After completion of this MSc in Occupational Health, some of the many career options open to you include:

managerial responsibilities in industry or public sector
consulting
lecturing
research
human resources, welfare
Health Service Executive
Health and Safety Authority

Further enquiries

Contact details for this course
Michelle Syron
+353 21 4205520
michelle.syron@ucc.ie
https://www.ucc.ie/en/publichealth/

Birgit Greiner
b.greiner@ucc.ie

Subjects taught

The course consists of three elements — formal course work, self-directed learning using case studies and project work leading to a thesis.

The course will cover topics including:
health and safety management
research methods
disease prevention and health protection
health promotion
training and development issues
development and interpersonal skills in occupational settings
legal aspects of health and safety
risk assessment

Students take taught modules to the value of 60 credits and complete a research dissertation (EH6062) to the value of 30 credits.

Students take 90 credits as follows:

Year 1

EH6008 Research Methods and Information Retrieval in Occupational Health (5 credits)

EH6015 Occupational Health and Safety Management in the Workplace (10 credits)

EH6041 Psychology Applied to Occupational Health and Safety (5 credits)

EH6059 Principles of Psychosocial Epidemiology (5 credits)

EH6060 Applied Psychosocial Epidemiology (5 credits)

EH6073 Critical Appraisal of Publications in Occupational Health (5 credits)

LW6107 Legal Aspects of Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare (5 credits)

Year 2

AD6800 Training and Development Issues in Occupational Health (5 credits)

EH6017 Risk Assessment and Management Programmes in the Workplace (10 credits)

EH6061 Applied Research for Occupational Health (5 credits)

EH6062 Workplace Health, Safety and Wellbeing Dissertation (30 credits)

Assessment method

There are four written exams in year 1 of the course. In addition to exams, there will be continuous assessments through oral presentations, group work and written essays.

During year 2, you will be required to undertake a group project and a reflective case study. An important aspect in this year is the formulation of a research project. The thesis assessment will involve submitting a dissertation and journalistic article based on your dissertation.

Application date

Applications for 2019 start dates will open on November 1st 2018.

EU Applicants: UCC operates a rounds closing date system for the majority of postgraduate taught courses, which means we offer places four times a year on a rolling basis. Some courses have one specific closing date, please check your course prospectus page for this information.

The UCC rounds EU application system closing dates for postgraduate taught courses are below. We advise applicants to apply as soon as possible.

Deadline for receipt of Applications:

For all completed applications received by January 11th 2019
Offers will be made:Offers will be made by January 25th 2019

For all completed applications received by March 1st 2019
Offers will be made: Offers will be made by March 15th 2019

For all completed applications received by May 1st 2019
Offers will be made: Offers will be made by May 15th 2019

For all completed applications received by July 1st 2019
Offers will be made: Offer will be made by July 15th 2019

Late applications may be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis for any courses that have remaining capacity for places.

While there is no official closing date for Research courses applicants are advised to submit their application at least two months ahead of their proposed start date. There are four official Research start dates – September/October, January, April and July.

Non-EU Applicants:
Not currently open to Non EU applicants