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Engineering Online

ISE 541 Occupational Safety Engineering

3 Credit Hours

Safety history and litigation; accident causation; safety organizations and agencies. Approaches to occupational safety and risk management. Product defects and safety program development; product liability; safety in the legal arena; consumer product safety commission. Hazard communication standard. Workers’ compensation. OSHA and OSHact; safety standards and codes; OSHA record keeping. Workplace stress and safety; Thermal stress; electrical hazards; industrial noise and vibration hazards; fall hazards and protection; fire protection; emergency planning; ionizing radiation.

Prerequisite

Graduate standing.

Course Objectives

To develop: 

  1.  a familiarity with safety and historical litigation.
  2. knowledge of the pillars of occupational safety and methods for application.
  3. an understanding of product safety programs and risk management.
  4.  knowledge of hazard communication methods.
  5. an understanding of Workers’ Compensation systems.
  6.  a familiarity with OSHA standards and codes and recordkeeping; 
  7.  knowledge of human behavior as related to safety.
  8. knowledge on industrial hazards and related safety standards.
  9. familiarity with safety activities related to accidents.

Course Requirements

Homework:
There will be four homework assignments during the term including a library assignment, Workers’ Compensation (WC) benefit calculations, an accident record keeping exercise, and noise exposure calculations. I will provide detailed descriptions for each assignment. All late assignments will be deducted one-letter grade for each additional week of submission time beyond the due date in the course schedule.

Exams:
There will be two exams as part of the course. The exams will be closed book and closed notes. You will be permitted use of a one-page “cheat sheet” (single-sided, 8.5” X 11”). The second exam will occur during the final exam period but will not be comprehensive in nature. I will grade the exams on a 100-point, standard scale. There will be no make-up for missed exams unless arranged for in advance. Missed exams will be recorded as zeros in final grade calculations.

Textbooks

Goetsch, D. (2011). Occupational Safety and Health for Technologists, Engineers, and Managers (8th ed.). Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

Updated: 11/08/2022