Master in Occupational Safety and Health

Public and private-sector organizations throughout the world are increasingly concerned with improving occupational safety and health (OSH). In both developed and developing countries, the rapid pace of technological change, combined with the persistence of unsafe or environmentally hazardous working conditions, has served to focus attention on the need to create safe, healthy working environments and promote a new safety culture in the workplace. Organizations are increasingly seeking OSH professionals who can catalyze these processes, and it is not always easy to find professionals with the right skills. Becoming a safety and health professional requires multidisciplinary training. The OSH profession calls for a broad-based educational background, including specialized knowledge of the physical sciences (medicine, physics, chemistry, and engineering) and the social sciences (behavior, motivation, and communication), together with an understanding of the principles and concepts of management. Accordingly, the University of Turin, Italy, in partnership with the International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ITCILO), the International Labour Office (ILO), and the International Commission of Occupational Health (ICOH), is offering a Master in Occupational Safety and Health. This one-year Master, to be delivered in English, includes an Internet-based distance-learning phase, a face-to-face residential period on the ITCILO's campus in Turin, and another distance-learning phase for the preparation of the dissertation. The proposed Master combines the advantages of the academic knowledge and the international training experience of the organizing partners in the field of OSH. An international approach has been applied to the content and methodology, as well as to the composition of the training team. This Master involves participants from both developing and developed countries, who will thus have an opportunity to share their different experiences. It also features a range of learning situations in which participants can enhance their analytical and problem-solving skills.

Key features

• Modern Methods: Learn by doing, through case studies, workshops, and group exercises
• Inspiring discussions: Exchange ideas with international students and faculty
• High-Level Resources: Engage with experts from the ILO and the ITCILO, practitioners, and university professors.

Contents, Methodology, and Resources

The Master course will have three phases, one consisting of 19 weeks of online distance learning, another consisting of 11 weeks of residential training at the ITCILO campus in Turin, Italy, and a final distance phase of 26 weeks for the preparation of the dissertation.

General Objective

Develop the required competencies for effectively managing safety and health in the workplace.

Specific Objectives

At the end of the master program, participants will be able to:

• Organize the efforts of an enterprise to improve its OSH.
• Formulate, implement and evaluate a safety and health management system for an enterprise, incorporating essential OSH concepts and fundamental techniques of OSH management.
• Manage the resources to conduct all prevention activities that are required in an OSH management system.
• Advise employers and workers on the OSH technical requirements of OSH and on the decisions to be made for adequate management of the OSH.

Who attends this Master?

The Master has been specifically designed for hygienists, physicians, chemists, engineers, inspectors, practitioners, and officers, with a university degree but without a previous specialization in OSH, who are working, or wish to work, as OSH specialists.