University College Cork

Occupational Health

Course Outline
UCC's MSc Occupational Health is a part-time programme delivered on Monday and Thursday evening from 6.15pm to 9.30pm. The programme integrates occupational health and safety into a multidisciplinary perspective. It offers students the opportunity to study modern, cutting-edge scientific concepts and research evidence on causation, prevention and management of work-related accidents, injury and disease and the promotion of physical and mental health and wellbeing.

The programme incorporates the following subject areas:
• Public Health & Health Promotion
• Psychology
• Risk Assessment and Management
• Ergonomics & Safety Science
• Occupational Medicine and Hygiene
• Law
• Training and Development
• Epidemiology & Environmental Health

This programme may be suitable for you 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. 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
• Disease prevention & Health protection
• Training and development issues
• Development of interpersonal skills for occupational settings
• Risk assessment
• Health promotion
• Legal aspects of health and safety
• Research methods

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

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

Why Choose This Course
This course offers you the opportunity to study 'classical' occupational health and safety issues, together with contemporary approaches that integrate and strategically combine workplace health and safety prevention with health and wellbeing promotion.

A particular focus of this course is on the management of psychosocial risks and work stress which constitute a growing concern for health, safety and wellbeing in industry and the private sector. 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.

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

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

24 months Part-time.

Additional Teaching Mode Information
The part-time programme will be taught on Monday and Thursday evenings from 6.15pm to 9.30pm, for 18 months over 2 years.

Careers or further progression

Skills and Careers Information
There is a continuous demand for experts trained in the area of occupational health, safety and wellbeing across all sectors of work with many career opportunities. 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 wellbeing, 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
• occupational health care specialist responsibilities
• consulting
• lecturing
• research
• human resources, welfare
• human factors ergonomics, safety engineering
• Health Service Executive
• Health and Safety Authority

Further enquiries

Contact details for this course
Michelle Syron
+353 21 420 5520
michelle.syron@ucc.ie
https://www.ucc.ie/en/publichealth/

Birgit Greiner
b.greiner@ucc.ie

Subjects taught

Students take 90 credits as follows: Students take taught modules to the value of 60 credits and complete a research dissertation (EH6062) to the value of 30 credits.
Year 1
• EH6008 Information Retrieval and Interpretation in Occupational Health and Safety (5 credits)
• EH6015 Occupational Health and Safety Management in the Workplace (10 credits)
• EH6059 Principles of Psychosocial Epidemiology (5 credits)
• EH6060 Risk Assessment and Management of Psychosocial Work Risks (5 credits)
• EH6061 Applied Research for Occupational Health (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 Principles, Theory and Practical Application of Risk Assessment and Management Programmes in the Workplace (10 credits)
• EH6041 Psychology Applied to Occupational Health and Safety (5 credits)
• EH6062 Workplace Health, Safety and Wellbeing Dissertation (30 credits)

Modules
Further details on the modules listed above can be found in our book of modules. Any modules listed above are indicative of the current set of modules for this course but are subject to change from year to year.

University Calendar
You can find the full academic content for the current year of any given course in our University Calendar.

Comment

Who teaches this course
• Professor Ivan Perry - Head of School of Public Health
• Dr Birgit Greiner – Senior lecturer, Head of School of Public Health
• Dr Christie Godsmark – Lecturer, School of Public Health
• Ms Colette Cunningham – Lecturer, School of Public Health
• Prof John Gallagher – School of Public Health, Cognate Health (Managing Director), Health Services Executive Southern Area
• Dr Susan Hill – Consultant Occupational Physician, Cognate Health
• Prof Stavroula Leka – School of Business, UCC
• Dr Dan Gallagher — EHA Soft Solutions (Managing Director)
• Dr Sara Leitao – Researcher, National Perinatal Epidemiology Centre
• Dr Dervla Hogan – Adjunct Lecturer School of Public Health
• Patricia Murray – Psychologist, Inspector – Health and Safety Authority Dublin
• Frank Power – Ergonomist, Inspector – Health and Safety Authority Dublin
• Una Feeney – Occupational Health and Wellness Consultant, Ely Lilly Kinsale
• Guest lecturers from the community of health and safety professionals

You can search UCC's Institutional Research Information System for UCC staff profiles.

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.