UCC course breaks new ground

Work-related illness and injury is adding costs to industry due to absenteeism and lost productivity.  With this in mind, the prevention of accidents, injuries and work-related illness and the promotion of health, safety and well-being in the workplace are the overarching themes of the Masters in Occupation Health course at UCC. 

The MSc in Occupational Health offered by the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health has been attracting students from diverse professional and academic backgrounds and different career stages. Official statistics provided by the Health and Safety Authority and by the CSO show the magnitude of work-related health, safety and wellbeing problems in Ireland, fatal accidents remain a serious issue with 54 fatalities reported in 2011. On average each allowed claim to the Occupational Injuries Board in 2010 (11,813 cases) resulted in 36 days lost.  

In addition, work-related illnesses are a substantial problem across all industries.  They are often developing slowly over a  period of time with musculoskeletal problems accounting for the highest prevalence,  followed by stress, depression and anxiety and by respiratory problems. 

Many of these problems would have been preventable through education and training, supervision, engineering or work organisational solutions and policy. “Prevention is better than cure” does not just apply to medicine but also underpins the philosophy of the MSc in Occupational Health course through two specific notions.

Prevention can be more effective when knowledge from different disciplines is combined where an effective strategy for the prevention of work-related musculoskeletal problems may involve ergonomics, work psychology, occupational medicine and engineering. The success rate of prevention measures can be enhanced by utilising research evidence on the effectiveness (or non-effectiveness) of solutions.

For more information on the course visit ucc.ie/en/epid/postgrad/masters-occupation-health