OH Learning – A global scheme Erica Joseph

1. OH Learning – A global scheme Erica Joseph GSK House, 980 Great West Road, Brentford, Middlesex, TW8 9GS. United Kingdom. Purpose This poster describes a global scheme for training and accreditation in Occupational Hygiene. Occupational Hygiene, sometimes known as Industrial Hygiene, is the specialist discipline concerned with the assessment & control of health & safety risks arising from workplace exposures to hazards such as chemicals, dusts, fumes, noise, heat and cold. Within North America, the profession of Industrial Hygiene has been practised for over 70 years. The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) was formed in 1939, and has over 10,000 members. In the opinion of experienced hygienists, the demand is constant and may even be declining. In contrast, many industrialising countries have fewer hygienists to cover areas of huge growth where demand for their expertise is growing. A statistical analysis by the International Labour Organisation shows diseases related to work cause the most deaths among workers. Hazardous substances alone are estimated to cause more than 430,000 deaths a year (ILO 2005). Globally, occupational hygienists, with the skills to recognise, assess and control these hazards are scarce. Methods The need for quality occupational hygiene practitioner level training throughout the world has been widely recognised. Many companies, including GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), struggle to recruit people with the right skills in countries where national training courses are sparse or non-existent. Over the last 5-years an international scheme of modular training and qualifications has been developed and is in widespread use across the world to raise capability in occupational hygiene. The scheme is supported by the International Occupational Hygiene Association and its member societies. A number of multinational companies, including GSK, have been working with the International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) and educational establishments to generate up to date training packages that will encourage a sustainable supply of competent resources for industry. The scheme is based on 5-day modular training courses that have been developed, peer reviewed and tested across the world. Each course package includes student manual, slide packs, lesson plans practical assignments and syndicate studies, all of which can be accessed free of charge from www.OHLearning.com. GSK (and other multinationals) contributed to the development of the training materials to ensure they are suitable for use by industry. Courses that are delivered by approved training providers that have demonstrated technical and logistical capabilities are offered with a student assessment. Successful candidates can build up modules toward qualifications that are recognised by the occupational hygiene community globally. Findings The global skills gap operates at several levels. For this reason, different levels of training resources have been developed. These range from foundation level courses to introduce the breadth of occupational hygiene topics; through intermediate level courses to develop competent occupational hygiene practitioners; to advanced level courses for those leading Occupational Hygiene programmes at their place of work. Eight modules have been developed so far. All are designed to be delivered in one week by face-to-face classroom instruction (around 40 hours contact time). The scheme includes a process for student assessment that focuses on assisting students to learn and make practical use of the course material, rather than testing memory recall. The intention is that the courses, which will be freely available to competent training organisations, will be run in various languages at venues around the world. They will be examinable by an external body, leading to recognised qualifications which will be internationally transferable without duplicating existing systems. • Discussion • In December 2008, GSK ran the first "Control of Hazardous Substances" course W505 in English to an international group. The course was well received, and was repeated in English and Spanish in early 2009. • The photo shows the delegates who attended the inaugural session. They came from many countries around the world including Australia, Indonesia, China, India, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK. • Delegates were a mixture of EHS professionals and engineers. All took the open book exam and practical examination in English. The pass rate was good, and the feedback excellent. • As a result of experience with running W505 and feedback from GSK delegates who attended some of the other intermediate level modules, GSK has committed to training its hygiene staff using the international qualifications scheme. • Materials are being translated into other languages, including French, Mandarin, Norwegian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. • Courses have been run or are planned in countries such as Australia, Azerbaijan, Canada, Chile, China, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, UK and USA. The scheme is now listed as a WHO project supporting the 2009-12 Global Network Workplan to increase technical knowledge and capacity in industrial hygiene (WHO 2009). Conclusions • The International Scheme offers an excellent grounding in Occupational Hygiene. It also offers many additional benefits • You can start to study at any level, and build up your qualifications to a level that suits you • Your qualifications are recognised in many countries around the world, giving you international mobility • The training programmes have been widely reviewed by professional hygienists and tutors to ensure high quality, consistency and relevancy. • References • ILO International Labour Organisation (2005) : World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2005: A Background Paper, available at http://tiny.cc/9i6oa • WHO Workplan of the Global Network of WHO Collaborating Centres for Occupational Health for the period 2009-2012 • Acknowledgements • GSK would like to acknowledge the Occupational Hygiene Training Association Ltd. (OHTA), a non-profit voluntary organisation dedicated to furthering the profession of Occupational Hygiene. What is Occupational Hygiene? Delegates attending the inaugural W505 What is the global demand for Occupational Hygienists? Fig.1 Areas of growth and maturity Fig.2 Training Levels Fig.3 Available Modules So how is this being addressed?