Unit rationale, description and aim
Improving OHSE performance is one of the core aims for OHSE practitioners as doing so reduces the risk or likelihood of harm to workers and others, including organisations and communities, both nationally and globally. This unit will help students understand practical OHSE data characteristics, applications and limitations. It will also assist students to interpret and make recommendations from third party research and reports. Students will develop skills in influencing decision makers through the persuasive interpretation of empirically grounded data, such as leading and lagging indicators of OHSE performance, and alignment with organisational culture and values and understand ethical practice for OHSEM. The unit also provides students with the opportunity to develop a business case for an OHSE intervention evaluating the time-line for financial return as well as appraising the non-financial benefits for organisations and workers. Students will be exploring the relational paradigms in gaining the best outcomes from their own auditing and audit teams; as well as effectively communicating results and recommendations to boards and key decision makers. Finally, students will have the opportunity to explore, and use, emerging global reporting frameworks which provide a platform to demonstrate corporate social responsibility as a form of best practice in OHSEM. The aim of this unit is to provide students with the necessary knowledge, acumen and skill to not only make valid interpretations of technical data but to value add by its successful translation into influencing business stakeholders' responsible and ethical decision-making through recognising their responsibility to workers' rights and dignity, the environment and society.
Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Apply and appraise contemporary measures of OHSE p...
Learning Outcome 01
Critically compare and apply techniques used to im...
Learning Outcome 02
Critically appraise the steps and processes in OHS...
Learning Outcome 03
Communicate effectively with business stakeholders...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics include:
- Introduction to OHSE Performance and the common good
- Application of OHSE Performance Measures – their derivation and use
- Critical Review of OHSE Performance Measures
- Strategic Planning and Business Case for OHSE
- Communicating OHSE with Senior Management and Boards of Management
- Communicating for Influence with Employees – Psychology of Safety Behaviour
- OHSE Performance and the Role of Audit
- The Audit Process
- OHSE Auditing
- Interview Skills for OHSE Practitioners
- Leading OHSE Teams
- Ethical Issues for OHSE Practitioners
Assessment strategy and rationale
Three assessment items are required in this Unit. The first assessment is participation in a guided discussion which requires engagement in discussions on topical issues related to Improving OHSE Performance. The task requires students to respond to the questions/activities and respond to other students through online discussion. The second assessment task is a business report which requires students to develop the business case for an OHS intervention and then to show through a cost -benefit analysis the financial and non-financial outcomes from the proposed intervention. The third assessment item requires the bringing together key learnings from the Unit into a sustainability report in the role of an OHSE manager. In this report students will need to make a case for any recommendations from the report in the context of ethical practice and the stated values of their organisation.
To pass this unit, students are required to achieve an overall mark of at least 50% and must make an attempt at all three assessment items. The assessment tasks for this unit are designed for students to demonstrate their achievement of each learning outcome.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Discussion Forum Activity This...
Assessment Task 1: Discussion Forum Activity
This task consists of a 1000-word report compiled from a series of six online guided discussions. It requires students to analyse and apply key OHSE concepts presented weekly and introduces the techniques of collaboration in student-directed learning with their cohort, through demonstrating values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession and recognising their responsibility in applying ethical decision making frameworks.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Forum Report
Artefact: Written Report
25%
Assessment Task 2: OHS Business Case This task c...
Assessment Task 2: OHS Business Case
This task consists of a 1500-word written Business Case Report. This task requires students to translate of research data into an intervention for better OHS outcomes in a realistic scenario. It requires students to explore and critically reflect on all opportunities and challenges to their intervention and to quantify the net result in light of knowledge covered in the unit.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Business Case Report
Artefact: Written report
35%
Assessment Task 3: Sustainability Report This as...
Assessment Task 3: Sustainability Report
This assessment task consists of a 1500-word written Sustainability Report. This task requires students to prepare a draft sustainability report for the Director of a hypothetical company which will ultimately be presented to stakeholders at the annual general meeting of organisation. This task is a summation of the learnings from the unit and requires students to build on earlier risk assessment and auditing techniques to interpret results into an international framework to generate a report which is reflective of both social and ethical responsibility and effectively communicate this to various stakeholders.
Submission Type: Individual
Assessment Method: Sustainability Report
Artefact: Written report
40%
Electronic submission, marking and return is being used for this unit. Submission will be via Turnitin and checking for academic honesty will occur.
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This Unit employs a learning and teaching strategy that combines active learning (engaging with online lecture videos, reading, writing and case studies to analyse, synthesise and problem solve) and peer learning methods (engaging with peers and the lecturer via online tools to collaborate, query and elaborate). Live online classrooms will be offered at regular intervals throughout the teaching period to allow students synchronous access to their lecturer and peers at defined times or ACU Online 10 week asynchronous delivery mode. Use of applied case studies and scenarios with reference to legislation and standards as well as national and international contexts are used to facilitate applied action learning. The provision of timely student feedback is also a key aspect of the learning and teaching strategy as this allows students to direct future learning behaviours and performance in a meaningful way. The online learning environment can be challenging in terms of encouraging student interaction and participation, and the unit’s teaching methods have been chosen because they are most likely to support the achievement of learning outcomes and participation by a geographically diverse cohort of students.
ACU Online
This unit uses an active learning approach to support students in the exploration of knowledge essential to the discipline. Students are provided with choice and variety in how they learn. Students are encouraged to contribute to asynchronous weekly discussions. Active learning opportunities provide students with opportunities to practice and apply their learning in situations similar to their future professions. Activities encourage students to bring their own examples to demonstrate understanding, application and engage constructively with their peers. Students receive regular and timely feedback on their learning, which includes information on their progress.