The MSc in Occupational Health is a part-time programme delivered wholly online and runs over 22 months. The programme is designed to provide students, from a range of professional backgrounds, with a flexible yet structured online learning experience.

Candidates for the MSc programme in Occupational Health Online must meet one of the following criteria:

1. A NFQ 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 experience¹ or work placement in an associated Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare area;
OR
2. A minimum of a NFQ Level 8 Diploma/Higher Diploma in Occupational Safety, Health and Welfare (minimum Second Class Honours, Grade 1), from UCC, or an equivalent qualification² from another Institution (NFQ Level 8 Diploma, minimum Second Class Honours, Grade 1) and a minimum of two years' relevant professional work experience¹ in an area associated with Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare;
OR
3. Applicants with a minimum of three years' professional work experience in an associated area¹ of Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare may be invited for interview to satisfy the selection committee of their suitability for the programme.
   

¹ 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.

² 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.

To access and interact with the course content, assignments and assessments etc., students will require access to at least a PC/Laptop running Windows 7 or later and Mac OSX 10.7.4. Common plug-ins such as Microsoft Silverlight, Java and Flash will also be required. Students must have access to MS Office or an equivalent suite of applications such as Libre Office. They must also have access to a modern standards compliant web browser. UCC recommends either Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox.

To engage productively and successfully with the content, basic technical computer skills such as familiarity with word processing, web browsing and email is recommended.

Students who commenced in August 2018 take modules to the value of 90 credits as follows:

Year 1

Part A:
EH6107 Principles and Practices of Occupational Health and Safety (10 credits)
EH6109 Occupational Health and Safety Management in the Workplace (10 credits)

Part B:
EH6108 Management of Psychosocial Workplace Risks: Theory & Practice (10 credits)
EH6110 Risk Assessment and Implementation of Health and Safety Management Programmes (10 credits)
LW6109 Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Law (10 credits)

Year 2

Part C:
AD6008 Training and Development in Occupational Safety and Health (10 credits)
EH6093 Introduction to Research Methods and Epidemiology (10 credits)

Part D:
EH6114 Dissertation in Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing (20 credits)

Module Semester Information may be found here. Module Descriptions may be found here.

Examinations
Full details and regulations governing Examinations for each programme will be contained in the Marks and Standards 2019/2020 Book and for each module in the Book of Modules, 2019/2020.

Exit Awards:
Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health (NFQ Level 9, Minor Award)
A candidate who passes EH6107, EH6108 and EH6109 may opt to exit the programme and be conferred with a Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health. A student who subsequently applies to complete the MSc in Occupational Health must do so within 5 years (60 months) from the date of award of the Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health.

Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (NFQ Level 9, Major Award)
A candidate who achieves a pass mark of 40% in six of the following seven modules AD6008, EH6093, EH6107, EH6108, EH6109, EH6110 and LW6109 may opt to exit the programme and be conferred with a Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health. A student who subsequently applies to complete the MSc in Occupational Health must do so within 5 years (60 months) from the date of award of the Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health.

Students commencing in August 2019 take modules to the value of 90 credits as follows:

Part I - Year 1

EH6107 Principles and Practices of Occupational Health and Safety (10 credits)
EH6109 Occupational Health and Safety Management in the Workplace (10 credits)
EH6153 Quantitative Research and Epidemiology (10 credits)
LW6109 Occupational Health, Safety and Welfare Law (10 credits)
AD6073 Training and Development Issues in Occupational Health (5 credits)

Part I - Year 2

Core Modules
EH6110 Risk Assessment and Implementation of Health and Safety Management Programmes (10 credits)
EH6141 Psychosocial Epidemiology (5 credits)
EH6142 Risk Assessment and Management of Psychosocial Risks (5 credits)

Elective Modules
Students choose one module from:
EH6000 Implementation Science in Health (5 credits)
EH6130 Critical appraisal of publications for research and practice (5 credits)
EH6140 Environmental Health: Principal Aspects and Burden of Disease (5 credits)
EH6159 Health Promotion II (5 credits)

Part II - Year 2
EH6114 Dissertation in Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing (20 credits)

Module Semester Information may be found here. Module Descriptions may be found here.

Examinations
Full details and regulations governing Examinations for each programme will be contained in the Marks and Standards 2019/2020 Book and for each module in the Book of Modules, 2019/2020.

Exit Awards:
Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health (NFQ Level 9, Minor Award)
A candidate who passes EH6107, EH6109, EH6141 and EH6142 may opt to exit the programme and be conferred with a Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health. A student who subsequently applies to complete the MSc in Occupational Health must do so within 5 years (60 months) from the date of award of the Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health.

Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (NFQ Level 9, Major Award)
Upon successful completion and passing of core taught modules to the value of 60 credits, students may opt to exit the programme and be conferred with a Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health. A student who subsequently applies to complete the MSc in Occupational Health must do so within 5 years (60 months) from the date of award of the Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health.

Programme Learning Outcomes for MSc (Occupational Health) (Online) (NFQ Level 9, Major award)

On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an awareness of occupational health from a multidisciplinary perspective including occupational medicine, epidemiology, psychology, public health, safety science, law and training and development;
• Practise measures to prevent disease and injury, and to protect and promote health and safety in occupational settings with application of the newest research evidence;
• Perform risk assessments and management in the workplace for both physical and psychosocial risk factors;
• Employ skills to critically appraise publications and statistics and stay up-to date with the newest research evidence;
• Design occupational health and safety training and development programmes in line with organisational policy;
• Design and carry out an ethical piece of scholarly research and health and safety programme evaluation;
• Systematically search and select credible and accurate sources of information for Occupational Health and Safety practice and research;
• Demonstrate an understanding of a specialised area and develop critical personal reflection of experience to shape future professional practice and development;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the major legal principles relevant to occupational health and safety, employment and the environment.

Programme Learning outcomes for Postgraduate Diploma in Occupational Health (Online) (NFQ level 9, Major award)
On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• Demonstrate an awareness of occupational health from a multidisciplinary perspective including occupational medicine, epidemiology, psychology, public health, safety science, law and training and development;
• Practise measures to prevent disease and injury, and to protect and promote health and safety in occupational settings with application of the newest research evidence;
• Perform risk assessments and management in the workplace for both physical and psychosocial risk factors;
• Employ skills to critically appraise publications and statistics and stay up-to date with the newest research evidence;
• Design occupational health and safety training and development programmes in line with organisational policy;
• Systematically search and select credible and accurate sources of information for Occupational Health and Safety practice and research;
• Demonstrate an understanding of a specialised area and develop critical personal reflection of experience to shape future professional practice and development;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the major legal principles relevant to occupational health and safety, employment and the environment.

Programme Learning outcomes for Postgraduate Certificate in Occupational Health (Online) (NFQ level 9, Minor Award)
On successful completion of this programme, students should be able to:

• Practise measures to prevent disease and injury, and to protect and promote health and safety in occupational settings;
• Demonstrate an understanding of the core principles of risk assessments and management in the workplace for both physical and psychosocial risk factors;
• Systematically search and select credible and accurate sources of information for Occupational Health and Safety practice and research;
• Develop critical personal reflection of experience to shape future professional practice and development.