Course Coordinator: A/Prof Sharyn Gaskin
Phone: +61 8313 4957
Email: sharyn.gaskin@adelaide.edu.au
Location: Adelaide Exposure Science and Health Laboratory, 28 Anderson St, Thebarton

Student & Program Support Services Hub
Email: askhealthsc@adelaide.edu.au
Phone: +61 8313 0273

1	Describe the nature of environmental health hazards and the ways in which they impinge upon communities and occupational groups.
2	Outline the types of factors that influence the distribution of health disorders, within an exposed population.
3	Explain “risk” as a central concept in describing, evaluating and managing EOH problems.
4	Describe the roles and relationships of key disciplines (including epidemiology, toxicology, occupational and environmental hygiene and ergonomics) in the prevention, investigation and management of EOH problems.

Specific readings and learning resources will be provided on MyUni.

1. Department of Health and Aging, enHealth Council (2012) Environmental Health Risk Assessment – Guidelines for Assessing Human Health Risks from Environmental Hazards (Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra) – downloadable.

2. Reed S, Pisaniello D, Benke G. (2020) Principles of Occupational Health and Hygiene – An Introduction. 3rd edn. Allen and Unwin, ISBN 9781760528508. Available via Booktopia (or 2nd edn available in the Barr Smith Library).

This course uses the MyUni learning management system. Here you will see announcements, instructions and content
related to the course as well as Discussion Boards where you will submit tutorial responses and conduct discussions with your fellow students.

As an dual mode course much of the contact you have with fellow students and staff will be via MyUni. You will be assigned to an online discussion group to which you will submit your answers to tutorial questions. Following submission of your assignment there is a period where you will have the opportunity to read, and provide constructive comment, on the work of your fellow Discussion Group members. Participants in this course have a wide range of backgrounds and this is your opportunity to gain an insight into different problem-solving perspectives (and remember your contribution is assessable).

The University expects full-time students (i.e. those taking 12 units per semester) to devote a total of 48 hours per week to their studies. This means that, for this course, you are expected to commit approximately 12 hours per week to private study.

Lectures, demonstrations and field activities for locally-based students may be offered during the Semester, as a supplement to the online learning. Students are encouraged to attend where possible.

While this is an on-line course a series of supplementary lectures may be offered for locally-based students who are able to attend.

The course is set up in two major sections, namely occupational health (4 modules) and environmental health (3 modules). Each section includes a tutorial, a quiz and one assignment which are to be submitted online by the due date.

The tutorials are submitted into the relevant Classroom (Electronic Discussion Board). Your commentary on other participants’ assignments is also submitted to the Discussion Board. You will note that from the due date for lodgement of each assignment, a further period is allowed for you to make commentary on what other participants have said.

You can also conduct informal discussion with other participants in Cafeteria. Submissions to the

Cafeteria are not assessable.

MODULE 1 - OHS MANAGEMENT, LEGISLATION & DISEASE CAUSATION
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT
Hazard Management; Disease Causation; OHS Legislation

MODULE 2 – CHEMICAL HAZARDS
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT
Hazardous Substances; Health Surveillance and Biological Monitoring

MODULE 3 – PHYSICAL HAZARDS
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT
Ionising Radiation; Non Ionising Radiation; Heat Stress

MODULE 4 – SPECIAL TOPICS
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT
(to be confirmed) Healthy Worker stratety; Musculoskeletal disorders

MODULE 5 – INTRODUCTION TO ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT (EHRA)
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT
Introduction to EHRA; Contaminated land risk assessment

MODULE 6 – CORE ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH ISSUES
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT
Air Quality; Food Quality; Water Quality; Infectious Disease

MODULE 7 – SPECIAL TOPICS
NOMINAL TIME PERIOD: TBA
MODULE CONTENT (to be confirmed) Climate change and health; Ecosystems and Public Health

N/A

N/A

Assessment Task	Assessment Type	Weighting	Learning Outcome(s) being addressed
OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH
Tutorial  Occupational Health Quiz	Summative Summative	20% 10%	1- 4 1, 2
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Tutorial  Environmental Health Quiz	Summative Summative	20% 10%	1-4 1,2
Major Occupational or Environmental Health Assignment	Summative	30%	1-4
Participation	Formative &Summative	10%	1-4

Tutorials

The tutorials provide an opportunity to respond to challenging questions and to comment on the responses of other students. You are encouraged to make comments - indeed you are required to make at least 10 comments during the semester.

SUBMITTING YOUR RESPONSE TO THE TUTORIAL QUESTIONS:

Your responses are to be submitted as a Word document attachment uploaded to the relevant discussion board on MyUni. It is advisable to write some free text commentary or preface to your submission in the text box. You can download other student’s responses by clicking on the relevant attachment relating to the individual response.

The comments that you make on other students work can be typed directly into the text box unless you wish to attach some supporting information.

NOTE: Please label the attachment as student name tutorialnumber.doc (e.g. FredSmithtutorial1.doc), and don’t forget to put your name on the document itself. Please do not submit PDF documents.

The tutorial topics relate to:

1. AGEING WORKFORCE

2. MIGRANT WORKFORCE

3. ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH RISK ASSESSMENT

4. INFECTIOUS DISEASES

The questions will be suitable for high level discussion and adult learning. They will draw upon the experiences and perspectives of the students and staff.

Word length: about 500 words (no more than 600)

Major Assignments:

There are two major assignments, one for Occupational Health and one for Environmental Health. Assignments relate to a topic of your choice, but you must use the Occupational Health Hazard management paradigm in addressing the first topic and the Environmental Health Risk Assessment paradigm in addressing the second topic.

The EnHealth 2012 document provides a very detailed description of the paradigm for Environmental Health Risk Assessment.


Using the OHS management framework presented in the first half of this course and the skills learnt in the tutorials, the task is to report on a hazard in a workplace of your choice. If you have a part time job, you might want to relate this assignment to your workplace.
If you cannot easily visit a workplace, please contact the coordinator, who will assign a workplace or workplace topic for you.

The assignment should consist of:

(i) A brief description of the industry, processes, tasks, equipment and workgroup (up to 400 words).

(ii) An overview of the nature of the hazard and the potential health effects which may arise from exposure, as described in the scientific literature. (up to 400 words)
You should outline the strategy you adopted in searching the literature (up to 100 words)

(iii) How the risk is assessed. (up to 500 words)

(iv) The practicalities of controlling the hazard. (up to 400 words)

(v) A critical overview of the problem e.g. In your opinion, are problems such as these being assessed and managed adequately at present? What research, if any, is called for? (up to 200 words)

(vi) References. Presented in standard format. e.g. Author, Date.

The written presentation is aimed to test your report-writing skills. It should not exceed 2000 words in length (excluding the references). Inclusion of photographs and diagrams is encouraged but is not compulsory (some workplaces may not permit photos to be taken). Jargon should be kept to a minimum but where necessary, should be thoroughly explained.

If you have any doubts as to whether your choice is appropriate please discuss your proposed topic with the course coordinator.

Important: This assignment is designed to promote your understanding of how to search the scientific literature, interpret exposure levels in relation to standards and how to write a report of a professional standard. It is expected that students will have conducted a search using Medline (PubMed) or Scopus.


Using the Environmental Health Risk Assessment framework presented in the second half of this course and an environmental health issue of your choice, provide:

(i) A brief description of environmental health issue (up to 500 words).

(ii) An overview of the nature of the hazard and the potential human health effects which may arise from exposure, as described in the scientific literature (up to 500 words).. You should outline the strategy you adopted in searching the literature (up to 100 words)

(iii) How the risk is assessed. (up to 500 words).

(iv) The practicalities of controlling the risk and managing the hazard. (up to 500 words).

(v) References.

You should structure the report along the lines of the Risk Paradigm presented in the enHealth EHRA report, i.e. Issue & Hazard Identification, Exposure Assessment, Risk Characterization, Risk Management and Communication.

Expected length: 2000 words.

If you have any doubts as to whether your choice of environmental health issue is appropriate please discuss your proposed topic with the course coordinator.
Note: There is no need for any field visits.



In addition to the major assignments, there are two mini assignments related to Occupational Health and two mini assignments related to Environmental Health.

Word length: about 500 words (no more than 600)

Major assignments should be submitted electronically to the Course Coordinator, or as otherwise instructed. You should retain a copy of the assignment submitted. Assignments will not be accepted by other means unless there are exceptional circumstances.

Policy on Lateness and Extensions

The Discipline of Public Health reserves the right to refuse to accept an assignment that is more than 7 days late. Please adhere to the set dates for submitted work to facilitate class discussion and feedback.
Extensions must be requested, at the latest, by the last working day before the due date of submission. They will generally be granted only on medical and genuine compassionate grounds. Only the course coordinator, or a person authorised by him or her, may grant extensions.
Lateness: marks will be deducted when assignments for which no extension has been granted are submitted late.Marks will be deducted from the mark (awarded on merit) at the rate of 5% per day.

Plagiarism

Plagiarism is a form of academic dishonesty that amounts to theft or fraud. It is the unacknowledged use of the thoughts or writings of another person, as if they are one's own. This may occur as a result of deliberate misuse of another person's work, or through ignorance or inexperience about the correct way to acknowledge other work. Plagiarism includes presenting information or paraphrasing ideas from books, articles, etc. or other students' work, without clear identification of the source through proper use of referencing; and quoting directly from a source, without indicating that it is a direct quote.
This is considered an extremely serious matter, which may lead to failure of an assignment, or even suspension from University.

The University of Adelaide has a policy on plagiarism that can be viewed at http://www.adelaide.edu.au/clpd/plagiarism/students/
You should be aware that any of your submitted assessment work may be submitted for electronic checking of plagiarism. Turnitin (http://www.turnitin.com) is an online plagiarism prevention service. You should check your drafts of your major assignments via Turnitin (see the Assignments section on MyUni), prior to submission.

Policy on Unsatisfactory Progress

Unsatisfactory Academic Progress by Coursework Students Policy http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/1803/

Guidance on length of assignments:
Although we encourage students to submit assignments that demonstrate their understanding of the topic, the length of assignments should be within the expected word length. Being succinct is an important skill. A penalty of 10% of the mark (awarded on merit) may apply in the case of an obvious breach of this guidance.

	High Distinction	Distinction	Credit	Pass	Fail
General description	Outstanding or exceptional work in terms of understanding, interpretation and presentation	A very high standard of work which demonstrates originality and insight	Demonstrates a high level of understanding and presentation and a degree of originality and insight	Satisfies the minimum requirements	Fails to satisfy the minimum requirements
Reading	Strong evidence of independent reading beyond core texts and materials	Evidence of reading beyond core texts and materials	Thorough understanding of core texts and materials	Evidence of having read core texts and materials	Very little evidence of having read any of the core texts and materials
Knowledge of topic	Demonstrates insight, awareness and understanding of deeper and more subtle aspects of the topic. Ability to consider topic in the broader context of the discipline	Evidence of an awareness and understanding of deeper and more subtle aspects of the topic	Sound knowledge of principles and concepts	Knowledge of principles and concepts at least adequate to communicate intelligently in the topic and to serve as a basis for further study	Scant knowledge of principles and concepts
Articulation of argument	Demonstrates imagination or flair. Demonstrates originality and independent thought	Evidence of imagination or flair. Evidence of originality and independent thought	Well-reasoned argument based on broad evidence	Sound argument based on evidence	Very little evidence of ability to construct coherent argument
Analytical and evaluative skills	Highly developed analytical and evaluative skills	Clear evidence of analytical and evaluative skills	Evidence of analytical and evaluative skills	Some evidence of analytical and evaluative skills	Very little evidence of analytical and evaluative skills
Problem solving	Ability to solve very challenging problems	Ability to solve non-routine problems	Ability to use and apply fundamental concepts and skills	Adequate problem-solving skills	Very little evidence of problem-solving skills
Expression and presentation appropriate to the discipline	Highly developed skills in expression and presentation.	Well developed skills in expression and presentation.	Good skills in expression and presentation. Accurate and consistent acknowledge-ment of sources.	Adequate skills in expression and presentation.	Rudimentary skills in expression and presentation. Inaccurate and inconsistent acknowledgement of sources.

On the basis of student feedback, more face to face sessions will be provided, along with the opportunity for field visits and other practical activities.