Welcome to the OHS Body of Knowledge
Welcome to the OHS Body of Knowledge (OHS BoK), a vital resource for the generalist OHS professional and practitioner. This platform captures the essential knowledge to understand and manage work, safety, and health complexities.
The chapters explore the key concepts and language, dive into the core theories, and discover substantial empirical evidence that underpins our field. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to apply this knowledge to create safer and healthier work environments.
While the OHS BoK is tailored for the Australian context, its principles and insights have broad international relevance, making it an indispensable tool for OHS professionals globally.
Why does the OHS profession need the OHS BoK?
A defined body of knowledge is an important pre-requisite of a profession. It is also required as a basis for professional certification and for accreditation of programs giving entry to the profession.
OHS practice draws on many disciplines and this lack of a disciplinary boundary has inhibited the recognition of OHS as profession. The OHS BoK provides a conceptual framework for the knowledge and defines the scope of the knowledge to inform professional practice.
Why is the OHS BoK important to OHS professionals?
The OHS BoK is primarily designed for OHS professionals to support shared understanding of causation and control of work-related fatality, injury, disease and ill-health. Such a shared understanding facilitates informed discussion and reflection to improve OHS professional practice.
If you are an OHS professional seeking professional certification then your practice will be assessed considering the scope of the OHS BoK and your Continuing Professional Development (CPD) will be structured with reference to the OHS Body of Knowledge.
Why is the OHS BoK important to educators and students?
If you are an OHS educator the OHS BoK will inform your program development and your learning materials.
If you are a prospective OHS student your selected accredited education program will have been developed taking account of the OHS Body of Knowledge. The OHS BoK chapters and resources provide you evidenced-based information that is both core and extension for your study topics. They should be the first step in your reference search.
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