Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

Although the association between health and occupation has been recognised for centuries, the extent of the impact of work on health and health on work has not been addressed adequately. It is now generally accepted that environmental factors are major determinants on health. As approximately one third of a person's life is spent at work, it is not surprising to note that occupation-linked diseases, injuries, and deaths are receiving greater attention. It is no longer accepted that death, life-shortening, and disablement are an acceptable risk to be faced by working people.
The joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health developed the following definition of occupational health in its first session in 1950:
¿Occupational health should aim at: the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations; the prevention among workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; the placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological ability and, to summarise; the adaptation of work to man and of each man to his job¿.
This unit concentrates on the various agents in the workplace capable of adversely affecting the health of workers, as well as human response to toxic and imperilling environments. Occupational health covers identification, prevention and management of risks to health in the workplace, the disease process, occupational rehabilitation and health & wellbeing surveillance and management in the workplace.

Aims

To understand cause, characteristics and classification of the most important occupational diseases, as well as health management at the workplace.

Objectives

On completion of this unit, you will:
1. Research emerging occupational health hazards
2. Critically analyse and synthesise the complexities of the pathogenesis, treatment and control of dominant occupational diseases
3. Present the findings to specialist audiences

Content

Major topics include: principles of occupational health; the body and the workplace; principles of toxicology; routes of entry; distribution, metabolism, excretion and storage of toxins in the body; psychosocial stressors; musculoskeletal disorders; occupational cancer; infectious diseases; occupational lung diseases; occupational skin diseases and health management in the workplace.

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

To maximise your engagement with the learning materials in this unit, a combination of face to face and regular technologically - supported communication, online discussion, web tools and podcasts will be used to generate a rich, social learning environment. Lectures and web conferences will be recorded to enable some flexibility in the location, time and mode of study, with respect to work and life commitments.

Assessment

Each assessment type in this unit will be subject to internal /external moderation, such as cross unit discussions and regular meetings of assessors, to ensure that marks awarded by different teaching staff are internally consistent and meet appropriate academic standards (MOPP C/5.2).Assessment will be spaced throughout the semester to provide the opportunity for feedback on your learning to that point. You will be provided with feedback on all your assessments as you progress through the unit.

Assessment name: Literature Review
Description: You will be required to undertake a systematic literature review about an emerging occupational health hazard - negotiated topic.
Relates to objectives: 1-2
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 5

Assessment name: Case Study
Description: Building on your first assessment, you will select either a classical biochemical hazard or a social hazard for critical analysis.
Relates to objectives: 2-3
Weight: 50%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 9

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Prescribed Text:
Levy, B.S. (2011) Occupational and Environmental Health: Recognizing and Preventing Disease and Injury(6th ed.), Oxford: University Press. ISBN: 9780195397888

Access to a webcam and headsets will benefit your participation in web conferences.

Risk assessment statement

Assessment for this unit will involve substantial computer-based work. You should refer to the guidelines for safe work at VDUs contained in the SPH Guidelines to Students. Also ensure that your workstation is adjusted in accordance with these guidelines and that regular rest breaks are taken.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 25-Oct-2012