The Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Diploma consists of four core management courses and six additional elective courses, which can be selected from nine courses on specific technical topics in OHS.
COHS 4111 Effective Communications
Instructor: Darrel Nickerson
To bring awareness to the importance of OHS and maintain a safe workplace, OHS professionals must be able to listen actively, think critically, speak persuasively, and deliver messages effectively. This requires a solid understanding of the different stakeholders and an ability to address their different needs and concerns. This course explores the role of communications concerning OHS in organizations, with an emphasis on negotiation and facilitation as tools to manage the OHS function more effectively.
COHS 4131 Human Performance Leadership
Instructor: Darrel Nickerson
This course is aimed at OHS professionals who are transitioning into a management position with a higher level of responsibilities and who wish to sharpen their leadership skills. It does so by providing tools and strategies to motivate employees, build partnerships, manage change and deliver results at the individual, team and organizational levels.
COHS 4141 Effective Workplace Training
Instructor: Susan Sawatzky
This course takes the student through all stages of the training and education process; from the planning phase, via how to design training components, to preparing instructional plans and conveying the necessary content by means of instruction. The last part will be addressing the evaluation of the process.
COHS 4151 Psychological Health and Safety
Instructor: Susan Sawatzky
This course is focused on providing the background in theory and information needed to be able to properly address this quickly evolving area of health and safety. It will examine theories relating to workplace stress and its interrelationship with mental health. Strategies for dealing with counterproductive workplace behaviours such as conflict, workplace bullying and workplace violence will be examined with practical approaches and tools provided to assist in addressing these concerns. Motivational theories and their applications in the workplace will be reviewed, showing ways to increase employee engagement in a safety culture. Finally, a comprehensive roadmap will be provided, based on the new CSA-Z1003 Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace Standard, to assist organizations in advancing toward a psychologically healthy workplace environment.
COHS 4211 Managing Substance Abuse in the Workplace
Instructor: Sue McLaren
This course identifies the multiple factors and realities of substance abuse in the workplace, and the role of the OHS supervisor or manager in addressing this issue. It also provides a process for implementing a culture change in the organization. The key elements of a drug and alcohol policy are identified, and include the many considerations involved in testing, as well as current general practices in Canada. The course emphasizes education and awareness for supervisors, managers and all staff; resources for treatment and support; and the need for an ongoing communication strategy to incorporate drug and alcohol awareness into the business/organizational structure.
COHS 4221 Disability Management
Instructor: Sue McLaren
This course lays out the best practices in the field of disability management (DM), and their application to the case and claim management process. The course also outlines the role of OHS professionals and affiliated stakeholders responsible for DM, and presents appropriate engagement and communication strategies, as well as legislation pertaining to DM.
COHS 4231 Safety in Complex Work Environments
Instructor: Jesse Martell
Confined spaces and other complex environments can present unusual risks for workers, such as hazardous atmospheres. Emergency response from these environments similarly needs to be carefully thought through before work can begin. This course is aimed at safety professionals responsible for providing advice and leadership to manage these risks. Participants will develop an ability to assess the risks associated with confined spaces and other complex environments, and to develop, communicate and implement a hazard management program to control these risks.
COHS 4241 Working at Elevation
Instructor: Glyn Jones
This course is intended to help the safety practitioner reduce the risks associated with working from elevations and is also appropriate for a fall protection program administrator in lieu of, or to compliment, a safety practitioner. At the end of the course, the participant will have the ability to develop, implement, and administer a fall protection code of practice (program) in order to effectively communicate appropriate controls that reduce the risk of working from elevations.
COHS 4251 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Instructor: Rob Morphew
This course considers all factors involved in the selection, care, and use of PPE, and gets rid of the confusion and misunderstanding that arises when people are confronted with misused or mixed terminology that is used by people to describe similar items. This course will examine hazard control and the hierarchy of control in the elimination and control of hazards workers may be exposed to in the workplace. It provides an extensive overview of PPE in regards to the topics: head, eye and face, hearing, fall arrest, respiratory, hand and arm, foot, and work clothing.
COHS 4261 Program Planning & Wellness in the Workplace
Instructor: Sue McLaren
This course guides OHS professionals through a multi-step program planning process. To establish a starting point and sense of direction, the course launches with strategies for conducting an employee health assessment. The planning and implementation sections provide critical content, as well as numerous examples of successful programs in action. The course then wraps up with techniques and tools for effective program evaluation.
COHS 4271 Fatigue Management
Instructor: Susan Sawatzky
The main objectives of this course are to help OHS professionals better understand fatigue and how to manage it. The course highlights modern research and knowledge relating to the causes and effects of fatigue, discusses fatigue as a safety issue, and introduces tools and methods to assess, manage and mitigate fatigue hazards. The history of fatigue management is also briefly surveyed to help participants better understand the components required to create a comprehensive fatigue risk management plan.
COHS 4291 Data Driven Decision Making
Instructor: Kari Dunfield
This course is intended for any individuals who have a stake in the day-to-day management and support of organizational processes, or those who would like to improve their organization’s performance through a process orientation and process control. In every aspect of our lives we are both consuming and creating vast amounts of information. However, much of the promise of data-driven approaches within organizations has failed to materialize because managers find it difficult to translate this data into decisive action. The general objective of this course is to fill this gap by providing the student with tools and techniques that can be used to make business decisions with confidence.
CCSL 4510 Understanding Your Leadership Potential (Know Yourself)
Instructor: Glyn Jones
Health and Safety leaders play a key role in driving positive change within their organizations. This course will not only help the student to recognize not only [SK1] their current leadership skills and abilities, but to recognizealso the key skills required of a competent safety leader.
