The Australian OHS Education Accreditation Board today announced accreditation of the first Bachelor of Science double degree in OHS and Health Promotion.

This combined qualification offers students the opportunity to develop skills to deliver an expanded role for OHS in the workplace compatible with the current approach to OHS by regulators, Safe Work Australia and a number of industry bodies and employers where health promotion principles are integrated with health and safety. An aging workforce, the support for healthy workplace programs and the importance of mentally healthy workplaces are a few examples of areas where such skills are required.

Pam Pryor, registrar of the Accreditation Board said that “in accrediting the double degree the Board required that the study of the second discipline add materially to the graduate outcomes of an entry-level OHS professional in the workplace”.

The accreditation assessment panel were impressed with the ability of the students interviewed to express themselves and their positive comments about the program overall. The students explained that their assessment activities and work experience were richer for being able to apply the OHS principles to health promotion activities and vice versa, even mentoring other students who were studying a single discipline.

Emeritus Professor Bruce King, education advisor to the Accreditation Board said the teaching team responsible for the program were to be commended on the attention given to structuring learning experiences that afforded a high level of knowledge and capacity for practical application for students. Generic support resources for students provided by the University were also extremely comprehensive.

Students interviewed believed that the extra year of study was more than returned in the increased employment opportunities as employers considered graduates of the double degree as having a broader set of skills in the workplace.

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