Surveys the history of occupational health, the continuum from exposure to disease, the hierarchy of controls in the workplace, workplace medical screening and surveillance, occupational health hazards, legal and regulatory issues, the provision of occupational health services, the core disciplines in occupational health and safety, and current issues in occupational health.

• Describe some of the historical aspects of occupational health and safety (OHS) and define how these events helped to shape OHS today
• Discuss the societal costs of occupational illnesses and injuries and the importance of prevention in the field of OHS
• Illustrate how the concepts of exposure assessment, the hierarchy of controls, biological monitoring, medical screening and surveillance are used to prevent occupational injuries and illnesses
• Explain the contributions of the core OHS disciplines to the multi-disciplinary OHS team
• Discuss and compare the key laws that govern the workplace and the executive agencies that are responsible for the regulation and enforcement of these laws
• Assess the complex environment in which the occupational health professional works
• Judge the rationale for health promotion/improvement activities in the workplace
• Explain concepts related to OHS, such as, workers’ compensation, disability, employee assistance programs, worker groups, unions, and emerging issues in the workplace
• Compare and contrast OHS as practiced in the U.S. to OHS practiced in international workplaces

• Historical Aspects of Occupational Health
• Burden of Occupational Diseases and Injuries in the United States
• Continuum of Exposure to Disease
• Components of an Occupational Health Program
• Occupational and Environmental Hygiene
• Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing
• Biologic Monitoring
• Medical Surveillance
• Clinical Occupational Medicine
• Injury Epidemiology
• Impairment and Disability, the Americans with Disabilities Act and Workers' Compensation
• Health Promotion in the Workplace
• Unions, Special Issues of Worker Groups, Emerging Issues in the Workplace  Issues
• International Occupational Health 

The required materials are:
 

• Levy BS, Wegman DH, Baron SL, Sokas, RK (editors). Occupational and Environmental Health: Recognizing and Preventing Disease and Injury (5th edition). Philadelphia: Lippincott, Williams and Wilkens, 2006. This text can be ordered through Amazon and the Matthews Book Center at the following address:
  Matthews Johns Hopkins Medical Book Center
  1830 East Monument Street Baltimore, MD 21205 USA
  (410) 955-3931 or (800) 266-5725
  Fax (410) 955-0576 
• Course reading materials: The course reading list is available in the Online library and the journal articles are availabe via the Welch Library eReserves. Please make sure you review both these items. 
• Articles and newspaper reports are available in the online library 

Bulletin Board Exercises

During this course, there will be four Bulletin Board (BBS) exercises. In the first exercise, students are asked to introduce themselves to the rest of the class and to discuss  how the course will be beneficial to their career. Two BBS sessions are exercises that will involve assigned readings. The final BBS exercise will be based on a subject chosen by the class.  You will receive individual grades based on participation in these exercises. You are expected to post a well-thought out response to each of the BBS discussion topics. Good quality replies are those that are thoughtful, original and motivate more discussion. Discussion will be generated based on these responses.

Grades will depend on the quality of the discussion that is generated. Good quality questions are those that require thoughtful replies, build on course concepts, and require respondents to use the Internet and its resources. 

LiveTalk Sessions

There are four LiveTalks scheduled for the course. Students should plan to be available for the LiveTalk sessions and the dates and times are listed on the course schedule.  Please post questions and issues for the topic to be discussed during the LiveTalks on the respective BBS category at least 1 day prior to each LiveTalk session. LiveTalk 3 will be a group exercise. Groups will be assigned the first week of the course.

Faculty will respond to as many issues/questions, time permitting. Further discussion can be continued on the BBS.

If it is not possible to attend a LiveTalk session, please listen to the archived version as soon as possible.  The class participation grade is based on attending or listening to the archived livetalks. If you are not able to attend LiveTalk 3, please work with your group to develop your presentation for the discussion.

Group members will be asked to complete a peer evaluation for their group. The Peer Evaluation Forms will remain strictly confidential; only the course instructor and TA will view them.  Each student will receive only their final participation score, not the comments/scores from their peers.

20% of grade: Your midterm exam

30% of grade:  Class participation and interaction on the BBS. Your participation in the course can be monitored. Timely responses to the four BBS exercises, participation in LiveTalks or listening to archived versions of the LiveTalks, and accessing and viewing all course material determine this part of your grade. Please check the course schedule for all BBS assignments. Remember that LiveTalk 3 is a group assignment with a peer evaluation. 

50% of grade:  The final exam is an online slide presentation of an industrial facility. The presentation will only be available for 2 days. Please be sure to make time to view the presentation on the days that it is available. Once it is closed, it will not be re-opened without permission. Responses must be typed, double-spaced, and no more than 6 pages. Please see further instructions on the final exam page from the course schedule. 

Grading will be based on well-reasoned, coherent arguments that are scientifically supportable. An "A" grade will be given for work that utilizes both texts and primary literature, and also shows that you thought about and synthesized the material based on your own experiences and information gathered. The degree to which you synthesize the course material and other sources will be important determinants of your grade. You must also discuss the advantages and disadvantages of any choices or recommendations that you make in the assignment. 

Lecture, LiveTalk and Course Evaluations: Feedback from students each year has greatly enhanced the course. An online evaluation form is available after each lecture and LiveTalk and a course evaluation at the end of the course. Please complete these evaluations as your input is valued and used to improve future offerings.

Director Maureen Cadorette, PhD, MPH, BSN  Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Division of Occupational and Environmental Health 615 North Wolfe Street, Room 7503B Baltimore, MD 21205 (410) 955-4587 (410) 955-1811 (Fax) mcadoret@jhsph.edu TA Dionne Williams diwillia@jhsph.edu

The Course Schedule outlines all the important course dates and deadlines but does not contain links to access course material. The Course Content page (password-protected) is set up like the Schedule page but provides access to course materials.

Working in groups: Students are encouraged to work in groups (online or in person) during the course and to learn from each other. In particular, they are encouraged to work with people with training and experience in disciplines other than their own. The purpose of these discussions is not to "give" answers to other students. Rather, it is to allow everyone a more equal chance to understand the issues by sharing information and resources among those with different training and experience in the topical areas. Please abide by the following rules:

• All written work is to be prepared individually, unless specifically indicated by the course director.
• Although discussion is encouraged, sharing text with others in your group is not acceptable.
• Do not consult with previous class participants or use their work.

Using online resources: You are encouraged to use online resources, including occupational and environmental health bibliographic databases. The following are rules established by the Department of Environmental Health:

• No block downloading of text, even if referenced, is permitted.
• No material is to be copied, quoted, or paraphrased from online databases, or from print sources, without appropriate bibliographic citation. Copied text of a sentence or two can be used, but must be placed in quotations (or set off and single-spaced, or formatted in a smaller font) and appropriately referenced.
• Make sure you use one of several standard formats to appropriately reference source material. The appropriate citation of Internet-downloaded material includes the URL address and date of download.
• If you read a review article, you reference it, not the six original sources it used that you didn’t read.
• If you use previously published text (from online or print sources) and only minimally edit it, this also requires a reference directly following the copied material.
• Failure to comply with these restrictions constitutes plagiarism, which is a violation of academic ethics. The academic ethics code, as discussed in the Policy and Procedure Memorandum for Students, March 31, 1998, will be adhered to in this class. Please review this memorandum.