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If well qualified safety professionals are highly regarded and earn good salaries, why is it so hard to attract and retain OHS students and develop and maintain nationally consistent OHS courses at universities?

OHS professionals are in demand, with high paying job vacancies for well qualified professionals available across Australia. Yet, if student numbers are anything to go by, it continues to be a difficult profession in which to attract students. 

Currently, OHS tends to be a secondary discipline, studied part-time by fee paying mature aged students who undertake postgraduate university degree courses or vocational courses offered by registered training organisations, leading to diplomas and advanced diplomas. The number of students participating in undergraduate degree programs is so small that university OHS courses are continually under challenge from university administrators seeking to close them down.

To make matters worse, a recent national survey of OHS professionals found that only one in three professionals were happy with the education they had received to advance their knowledge. Others complained about a lack of industry experience among their educators, inappropriate course structures and a lack of consistency across courses.

The survey was part of a major scoping project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council which explored the issues in OHS education. It involved a consortium of six universities across the nation, educators and members of the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA).

In addition, NEBOSH maintains Investors in People (IIP) status and is also an ISO 9001:2008 registered organisation. 

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Srinivasan,