Year
2024Credit points
10Campus offering
Prerequisites
OHSE601 Principles of OHSE Management AND OHSE602 Occupational Health, Safety, and Environmental Management Systems AND OHSE603 Physical Hazards in Occupational Environments AND OHSE612 Occupational Health and Wellbeing
Teaching organisation
3 hours per week (two hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial) for 12 weeks or equivalent in intensive mode or onlineUnit rationale, description and aim
The workplace encompasses advanced risks to worker health, safety, and the environment including chemical process hazards and cybersecurity risks that must be managed in a practical manner. In addition, recovery after workplace incidents involves rehabilitation to return the person, the workplace and/or the environment to a state as close as possible to the pre-event state and incident analysis to prevent the event occurring again. This requires unique advanced knowledge, skills, abilities, and responsible judgment for OHSE professionals. In this unit the importance of key concepts of incident analysis, worker rehabilitation, local national and global environmental impact management are critically analysed and applied. Students will have the opportunity to explore, discuss and apply skills in process safety, cybersecurity, applied incident analysis models and methods, workers compensation and return to work processes, environmental impact analysis and to communicate information about these to organisational stakeholders. This unit aims to provide students with the necessary knowledge, understanding and applied skills in incident analysis and mitigation, remediation of work associated harm to people and the environment using an evidence-based approach while respecting human diversity to support practice as an OHSE professional.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
| Learning Outcome Number | Learning Outcome Description |
|---|---|
| LO1 | Examine the importance of process safety, workplace hazards, cybersecurity and recovery in OHSE risk management |
| LO2 | Apply complex incident analysis models and worker rehabilitation methods to OHSE incidents affecting the workplace, work systems and the local, national and global environments |
| LO3 | Recommend strategies to maximize opportunities for workers to return to pre-injury/illness state through responsible judgment and application of knowledge of workers compensation systems, return to work principles and respect for human diversity |
| LO4 | Conduct an evidence-based environmental impact assessment to manage impacts of business decisions upon the environment and communicate findings to business stakeholders |
Content
Topics will include:
- Process safety
- Cybersecurity and OHSE
- Applied models and methods of incident analysis - simple linear models, complex linear models, complex non-linear models
- Workers compensation: worker and employer rights and responsibilities
- Workers compensation: injuries and suitable duties
- Workers compensation: facilitating stay at work: return to work
- Applied environmental impact analysis
- Reading and interpreting environmental lab results
- Environmental management modelling concepts and product lifecycles.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This Unit employs a learning and teaching strategy that combines active learning (engaging with online lecture videos, reading, writing and case-study based problem solving) and peer learning methods (discussion forums with lecturer input). Live online classrooms will be offered at regular intervals throughout the teaching period to allow students’ synchronous access to their lecturer and peers at defined times or ACU Online 10 week asynchronous delivery mode. Use of applied case studies and scenarios, with reference to legislation and standards as well as national and international contexts, are used to facilitate applied action learning. The provision of timely student feedback is also a key aspect of the learning and teaching strategy as this allows students to direct future learning behaviours and performance in a meaningful way. The online learning environment can be challenging in terms of encouraging student interaction and participation, and the Unit’s teaching methods have been chosen because they are most likely to support the achievement of learning outcomes and participation by a geographically diverse cohort of students.
ACU Online
This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.
Assessment strategy and rationale
Three assessment items are required in this Unit. The first, based around online activities and discussion, requires students to combine their own views and experiences of process safety, incident analysis, and cybersecurity with weekly learnings from lectures and research from the academic literature. It also requires students to consider and respond to views expressed or questions posed by the lecturer and other students. The second is a workplace report and requires students to demonstrate their ability to use research and practice skills to conduct a design and facilitate safe return to work for injured or ill workers. The third assessment task allows students to appraise their knowledge of environmental impact assessment in the form of a presentation to business stakeholders.
To pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall mark of at least 50% and must make an attempt at all three assessment items. The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome. Although these assessment tasks are practical/applied in nature, students must also supply academic references to support arguments.
Overview of assessments
| Brief Description of Kind and Purpose of Assessment Tasks | Weighting | Learning Outcomes |
|---|---|---|
Assessment Task 1: Discussion Forum Activities This assessment task consists of a 1200-word submission entailing six curated posts from the discussion forum (including three of the student’s own posts as well as their responses to three other students’ posts). This task requires students to apply OHSE communication skills, as well as evaluate key issues including process safety, cybersecurity and incident analysis. Submission Type: Individual Assessment Method: Discussion Forum Activity Artefact: Written discussion forum posts | 20% | LO1 |
Assessment Task 2: Assignment – Workers compensation and return to work report This assessment task consists of a 1800-word written report. This task requires students to produce a report appraising their knowledge of and ability to facilitate the timely and safe return to work for employees who have sustained a work-related injury or illness while respecting the human diversity. Submission Type: Individual Assessment Method: Workers Compensation and Return to Work Report Artefact: Written report | 40% | LO2, LO3 |
Assessment Task 3: Video presentation This assessment task consists of a 10 minute video presentation. This task requires students to conduct an environmental impact assessment to manage impacts of business decisions upon the environment and to effectively communicate findings to business stakeholders using knowledge, skills, approaches covered in this unit. Submission Type: Individual Assessment Method: Presentation Artefact: Audio presentation / PowerPoint Slides | 40% | LO4 |
Representative texts and references
ACSI (2019) “The Future of Health and Safety Reporting” https://acsi.org.au/research-reports/the-future-of-health-and-safety-reporting-a-framework-for-companies/
Aitken, M. (2018). Life in Cyberspace. European investment bank DOI: 10.2867/890925
Ferrera, G. R. (2018). The legal and ethical environment of business : an integrated approach (Second edition.). New York: Wolters Kluwer Law and Business.
Harms-Ringdahl, L 2013 Guide to safety analysis for accident prevention, IRS Riskhantering AB, Stockholm.
Katz, J. A., & Green, R. P. (2018). Entrepreneurial small business (Fifth edition.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education
Safe Work Australia (2018). Comparison of Workers’ Compensation Arrangements in Australia and New Zealand, 26th Edition Safe Work Australia.
Safe Work Australia (2018) National Return to Work Strategy 2020–2030
https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/system/files/documents/1909
Schultz, I. Z., & Gatchel, R. J. (Eds.), 2016). Handbook of Return to Work: From Research to Practice, New York: Springer Science & Business Media. DOI 10.1007/978-1-4899-7627-7_12
Sklet, S., Methods for accident investigation, NTU 2002
Sonnemann, G & Margni, M (Editors) 2015, Life Cycle Management, Springer, Netherlands, DOI10.1007/978-94-017-7221-1
Toft, Y, Dell, G, Klockner, K and Hutton, A, (2012), Models of Causation: Safety. In HaSPA (Health and Safety Professionals Alliance), The Core Body of Knowledge for Generalist OHS Professionals. Tullamarine, VIC. Safety Institute of Australia.
Wilson, J., Hinz, S., Coston-Guarini, J., Mazé, C., Guarini, JM., et al.. (2017) System-Based Assessments-Improving the Confidence in the EIA Process. Environments, MDPI, 2017, 4 (4), pp.95. ⟨10.3390/environments4040095⟩. ⟨hal-02613246⟩