Attributes, Skills and Competencies

1
Attributes, Skills and Competencies

• Required to be a successful safety professional
  in todays global business world.

2
Attributes

• There appears to be three key attributes
  Education, Experience, and Practice (BCRSP) in
  which a health and safety worker must develop to
  be considered competent safety professional.
• Those attributes promote learning, skill
  development and commitment to the profession

3
Education

• Exposure to fundamental concepts, ideas and
  theories
• Discover alternative answers to the same old
  questions
• Expand the number of jobs you can apply for

4
Educational Options in Alberta

• A single course in OHS from Athabasca University
  IDRL 308 (distance learning)
• An safety association course, 3-5 days in Health
  and safety leadership, CSO, LSE etc
• 1 year certificate in OHS from U of A
• 1 year certificate in OHN from Grant McEwen
• 2 year technical diploma in Safety, Environment
  or Emergency Response from NAIT
• A certificate or diploma from BCIT or UNB
  (distance learning)

5
A Degree is possible

• You must consider location
• Cost
• Your family
• Current employer support
• You must have really thick skin as a person will
  be judging your work and you may not like what
  they have to say, but you must learn from those
  comments, marks, grades and criticisms

6
Options

• Canada UBC, Ryerson, Toronto, McGill,
  University College of Cape Breton
• Go to the USA. More than 30 American colleges
  and universities offer bachelor of science in
  safety
• Go to Great Britain. More than 20 British
  Universities offer MSc in Health and Safety
  Management

7
What I did

• University of Leicester in the city of Leicester,
  UK
• 6 Courses 6 Research Papers
• 1 Dissertation
• An Evaluation of the effectiveness of
  Musculoskeletal Injury Prevention Training
• Cost 25,000
• Time 10-21 hours per week between August 1,
  2002-September 9, 2004
• Combination, On-line and traditional distance
  learning deliver

8
What knowledge did I enhance?

• Corporate Governance
• Risk Management
• Cultural Theory and Human Needs
• Risk Perception
• Risk Communication
• Economic Factors and CBA
• Models for managing HS Risks
• Risk Assessment

• Risk Control
• Competency and Training
• Performance Indicators
• Research methods
• Safe Systems of Work
• Epidemiology
• Occupational Exposure Standards
• Ergonomics
• Theories of Accident Causation