KE6019 - Public Health and Occupational Safety

You will learn through lectures, seminars, IT workshops, field visits, independent learning and directed tasks. Lectures and seminars will cover theories and concepts, case study material, key exemplars, and module staff’s own research and consultancy. Learner centred approaches are used to allow you to explore topics and issues in greater depth and tackle guided exercises. Beyond timetabled sessions, your independent study will be guided and supported through your engagement with a range of directed resources and/or tasks available online via the module eLP site. Please note you will be given rapid research exercises and be expected to engage and deliver short presentations on your findings to your peers. Field visits will allow you to experience high standards of environmental protection and health and safety management in practice. As part of your assessment you will be tasked with assessing safety risks in a real life working environment, this gives excellent practical employability skills that are valued by employers.
Formative feedback opportunities in lectures and seminars will consolidate your learning as well as helping to improve your performance in the module assessments. You will be supported and encouraged to critically reflect and develop your skills through independent research, facilitated discussions, report writing and presentations to develop your communication skills.

This module is an introduction to employability within Safety, Health and Environment sectors in particular and is a foundation module for students wishing to consider further study in the fields of Environmental Health and Health, Safety and Environment.

Support will be provided during lectures and particularly seminars where you will engage in small group activities and receive guidance and feedback from academic staff. For example during the student led Seminars, in small groups you will present on key topics and receive feedback allowing you to feed this forward into your own learning and preparation for the summative assessment. This will also allow you to learn from your peers. Further resources will be available on-line via the module eLP this includes an interactive reading list with on-line access to a number of key textbooks, articles, links and other materials that are aligned with each lecture or seminar. Academic staff will respond to questions by email and will share common issues with the wider group so all can benefit.

All modules at Northumbria include a range of reading materials that students are expected to engage with. Online reading lists (provided after enrolment) give you access to your reading material for your modules. The Library works in partnership with your module tutors to ensure you have access to the material that you need.

Knowledge & Understanding:
MLO 1: Critically discuss and assess the harm and health impact from communicable, occupational and environmental hazards and apply this knowledge to inform and deliver risk assessed responses to incidents, accidents and outbreaks.
MLO 2: Critically review the current statutory requirements and supporting resources aimed at securing compliance aimed at protecting health, safety and wellbeing of populations.

Intellectual / Professional skills & abilities:
MLO 3: Critically appraise, measure, interpret and investigate hazards to health and safety within defined populations. It is important for employability to be able to critically evaluate risk and approaches, based on current evidence and research.
MLO 4: Critically assess the role of professions and organisations with responsibility for protecting health, safety and wellbeing of populations against exposure to communicable, occupational and environmental hazards.

Personal Values Attributes (Global / Cultural awareness, Ethics, Curiosity) (PVA):
MLO 5: Discuss the professional and ethical issues around protecting human populations from harm including workforce health, safety and welfare.

You will produce an individual written report of 2,500 words that critically evaluates a public health incident. The report is summatively assessed and represents 50% of the weighting for this module and assesses MLO 1, 2, 4 and 5.

You will be then be assessed by a 15 minute individual presentation which will be prepared following a health and safety risk assessment of a real life workplace. This workplace can either be the field visit site or a workplace of your own choosing. The suitability of your chosen workplace which will be confirmed following communication and agreement with the Module Tutor. You will present the findings of your risk assessment in the role of a health and safety consultant to notional clients. You will receive written feedback on your presentation. This summative presentation represents 50% of the weighting for this module and assesses MLO 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5


Throughout the semester as part of a small group you will lead a series of seminars focussing upon key concepts in environmental protection and health and safety. The groups will receive detailed verbal feedback on their performance in these seminars. Throughout the module you will also receive formative verbal feedback when participating in discussions and debates in class.

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‘Public Health and Occupational Safety’ provides real world practical experiences which prepare you for the world of work and/or further study. The module addresses 10 out of 11 of the wider programme learning outcomes which demonstrates how relevant the subject is. You will develop your practical, theoretical and critical skills that are attractive to employers, particularly within the Environmental Health and Safety, Health and Environment sectors. You will be involved in a series of challenging, student led research based seminars and will get the opportunity to practice a key safety intervention in a real workplace, alongside case studies and desk top exercises of major incidents linking theory with current practice. Transferable skills which employers value, such as research skills, working effectively as part of group, report writing and oral presentations skills are integral parts of the teaching and assessment on this module. Your learning will be supported and enhanced through engagement with learning resources on the module eLP site and an interactive electronic reading list. Assessment is via a written report that critically evaluates an major health protection incident and a presentation of the findings of real workplace risk assessment. You will receive formative guidance throughout the assessment process to support achieving your potential.