University at Buffalo, SUNY Occupational Safety and Health Training Project

 描述(由申请人提供)：纽约州立大学布法罗分校职业安全与健康培训项目(UB OSH培训项目)培养出高素质的安全与健康硕士毕业生，以影响纽约及其他地区的职业安全与健康(OSH)实践。在过去的两个资助周期中，我们的24名见习校友中有许多人从事与职业安全健康相关的工作，3人成为职业安全与健康管理局合规官员。该计划的受训人员参加了近100项职业安全和健康专业发展活动，并通过一门独特的工业卫生课程接受了专门的指导，该课程强调通过实地工作来应用课程材料。此外，该项目的工作人员与当地ASSE分会和布法罗OSHA办公室建立了密切的关系。目前的提案寻求通过将高质量的多学科教育与安全相关的研究要求和实习经验的应用实践相结合来扩大和加强该计划。工业与系统工程(ISE)的硕士研究生将完成职业安全与健康主题的课程，包括安全、人体工程学、工业卫生和流行病学，毕业时将专注于职业安全与职业安全，同时获得ISE学位。他们还将完成OSHA认证培训，以扩大他们的知识，超越传统的课程。通过与美国安全工程师协会尼亚加拉前沿分会和当地纽约州职业和环境医学中心合作，完成一个有指导的论文研究项目和一个必要的实习机会，将获得进一步的专业化。学员将从实习中获得工作经验，为毕业后进入职业安全卫生工作做好准备，而研究经验将鼓励他们成为职业安全卫生公民和终身学习。在整个计划中，将鼓励学员参与发展活动，并在地方、地区和国家会议上与当地安全专业人员接触。完成这个项目后，学员将进入职业安全卫生专业，为满足行业需求做好准备，并成为该领域的领导者。该计划得益于ISE部门、毒理学研究中心、大西洋OSHA培训中心和职业与环境医学中心之间的密切合作。来自每个小组的教职员工与课程中的所有学员密切合作，在实习期间，并同时建议他们的论文研究。学院在职业安全、人体工程学和毒理学方面的专业知识将使受训人员能够在这些领域中的一个领域专门从事研究工作。该计划教职员工的优势领域和学生项目的主题领域包括解决职业健康差距，以保护弱势群体，并促进工人的整体健康。由于评估对于确保培训项目的成功和从一年到下一年持续改善学生体验至关重要，因此将使用调查、面试、课程评分、研究成果和对受训人员的职业跟踪来评估该计划的有效性。此外，反馈是 来自当地职业安全卫生专业人员的顾问委员会。我们建议在下一个资助周期通过以下方式提高该项目的影响力：1)要求一个更全面和更具挑战性的职业安全与健康学术计划，以提高学员的职业安全技能，具体内容侧重于解决与弱势工作人口相关的职业安全与健康问题；2)要求一个正式的实习计划，为学员提供宝贵的工作经验；以及3)建立新的招聘和职业发展活动，以增加毕业后留在纽约的学员数量。UB职业安全卫生培训项目将继续对纽约的职业安全卫生实践和整个国家的职业产生积极的影响。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The University at Buffalo, SUNY Occupational Safety and Health Training Project (UB OSH Training Project) produces highly qualified safety and health M.S. graduates to impact occupational safety and health (OSH) practice in NY, and beyond. For the past 2 funding cycles, many of our 24 trainee alumni have pursued OSH- related work and 3 have become OSHA compliance officers. Trainees within this Program participated in close to 100 OSH professional development activities and received specialized instruction through a unique industrial hygiene course that emphasized application of course materials through field work. Additionally, the project's staff has developed close relationships with the local ASSE Chapter and Buffalo OSHA Office. The current proposal seeks to expand and enhance the Program by combining a high quality, multidisciplinary education with safety-related research requirements, and applied practice through an internship experience. Master's level students from Industrial and Systems Engineering (ISE) will complete courses on OSH topics, including safety, ergonomics, industrial hygiene, and epidemiology, and will graduate with a concentration in OSH while obtaining their ISE degree. They will also complete OSHA certification training to expand their knowledge beyond traditional coursework. Further specialization will be received through the completion of a mentored thesis research project and a required internship provided in cooperation with the Niagara Frontier Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers and the local New York State Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Trainees will gain work experience from the internship, preparing them to enter the OSH workforce upon graduation, and the research experience encourages OSH citizenship and life-long learning. Throughout the program, trainees will be encouraged to participate in development activities and to engage with local safety professionals at local, regional, and national meetings. After completing this program, trainees will enter the OSH profession prepared to meet industry needs and become leaders in the field. The Program benefits from the strong collaboration between the ISE Department, the Toxicology Research Center, the Atlantic OSHA Training Center, and the Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. Faculty members from each of these groups work closely with all of the trainees in the courses, during the internship, and while advising their thesis research. Faculty expertise in occupational safety, ergonomics, and toxicology will allow for trainees to specialize their research work in one of these areas. Areas of strength among the program faculty and theme areas for student projects include addressing occupational health disparities to protect vulnerable populations and promoting total worker health. Because evaluation is critical to ensuring the success of the training project and to continuously improve the student experience from one year to the next, surveys, interviews, course grades, research output, and career tracking of trainees will be used to evaluate the Program's effectiveness. In addition, feedback is elicited from an advisory board of local OSH professionals. We propose to increase the project's impact in the next funding cycle by: 1) requiring a more comprehensive and challenging OSH academic program to enhance trainee OSH skills, with specific content focused on addressing OSH issues relevant to vulnerable working populations, 2) requiring a formal internship program to provide trainees with valuable work experience, and 3) establishing new recruitment and career development activities to increase the number of trainees who stay in NY upon graduation. The UB OSH Training Project will continue to have a positive influence on OSH practice in NY and on the profession throughout the country.