General Information

What is the Programme Handbook?

The Programme Handbook is a reference document that contains programme specific information (or signposts to the information) that you require throughout your programme of study.

Useful contacts

If you have any questions or encounter any problems during your studies, please contact a member of the Programme Admin team and we will endeavour to deal with your query or re-direct it appropriately.

Key Academic Staff
Martie van Tongeren	Professor of Occupational and Environmental Health	martie.j.van-tongeren@manchester.ac.uk
Anne Clayson	Senior Lecturer in Occupational and Environmental Health Programme Director for MSc Occupational Hygiene, MSc Occupational Medicine and CPD Occupational Hygiene	anne.clayson@manchester.ac.uk
Nicola Gartland	Lecturer in Occupational Health Deputy Programme Director for MSc Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Medicine	nicola.gartland@manchester.ac.uk
Melanie Carder	Senior Lecturer in Occupational Health Programme Director for CPD Occupational Medicine	melanie.carder@manchester.ac.uk
Mark Johnson	Lecturer Occupational Health	mark.johnson-8@manchester.ac.uk
David Fishwick	Clinical Senior Lecturer	david.fishwick@manchester.ac.uk
Mike Slater	Lecturer in Occupational Hygiene	michael.slater@manchester.ac.uk
Anli Zhou	Clinical Senior Lecturer	yue.zhou@manchester.ac.uk
External Examiners The Programme & Subject External Examiner is Professor Peter Sykes, Dean of Faculty, Cardiff Metropolitan University and Dr Massoud Mansouri, Occupational Health, Cardiff University.
Our BOHS course representative is Mr Neil Pickering Programme Administration

 

EMAIL ADDRESS	PURPOSE
shs.assessment@manchester.ac.uk	Examination queries Assessment queries Assessment submissions Resit/reassessment queries
shs.attendance@manchester.ac.uk	Attendance Monitoring
shs.dc@manchester.ac.uk	Disability Support
shs.mitcircs@manchester.ac.uk	Mitigating Circumstances, Extensions
shs.placements@manchester.ac.uk	All Placement queries
shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk	Registration advice and guidance Course unit selection and enrolment Timetable queries Programme content
shs.wellbeing@manchester.ac.uk	Wellbeing student support, appointments and signposting Interruptions
shs.hub@manchester.ac.uk	Student support hub – general queries and advice not covered by the above teams

Your Programme

MSc Occupational Medicine Programme and MSc Occupational Hygiene Programme

The MSc Occupational Medicine programme aims to:

• provide you with the core knowledge required by medical practitioners working in the field of occupational medicine, and to allow you to pursue an academic qualification in this subject; and
• teach you the rudiments of research methods, critical appraisal and critical objectivity to foster life-long skills that will enable you to assess and make evidence based decisions.

The MSc Occupational Hygiene programme aims to:

• provide students with the core knowledge necessary to develop competence in occupational hygiene with special emphasis on legal instruments, the toxicological basis for standard setting, methods commonly used to evaluate hazardous agents, and the management and evaluation of occupational hygiene interventions;
• provide an academic qualification that is accredited by the British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS). Faculty of Occupational Hygiene to equip students to gain employment in occupational hygiene and occupational health related sectors;
• teach students the rudiments of research methods, critical appraisal and critical objectivity so that on a life-long basis they will apply their knowledge to assess, and make evidence based decisions; and
• equip graduates with the knowledge, practical skills and critical awareness to enable them to fulfil the requirements of potential employers in government, private industry and consulting.

All MSc students on the Occupational Medicine or Occupational Hygiene programme will:

• acquire a thorough understanding of the theoretical principles and research methodologies underpinning all aspects of occupational hygiene;
• develop powers of critical appraisal, analytical thinking, and logical argument to allow evaluation of concepts and/or approaches to occupational health issues;
• carry out a piece of independent research, including the ability to design, analyse, interpret information and write up a dissertation or a critical literature review; and
• utilise research method skills within day-to-day practice, or within a career involving postgraduate research and study.

Students exiting at the Postgraduate Certificate level have the right to use the post-nominal letters of PG Cert. Students exiting at the Postgraduate Diploma level have the right to use the post-nominal letters of PG Dip. Students completing at Master’s level have the right to use the post-nominal letters of MSc.

Comprehensive guidance documentation is provided prior to commencing your MSc year.

If you are registered for the 3-year part-time MSc you will embark on the dissertation/critical literature review in the third year of the programme; if you are registered for the 2-year part-time MSc you will embark on the dissertation/critical literature review in the second year of the programme; if you are registered for the 1-year full-time MSc you will embark on the dissertation/critical literature review in the first year of the programme.

CPD Occupational Medicine programme

The programme aims to:

• introduce the common knowledge framework required in occupational medicine, health and hygiene disciplines, and provide you with an understanding and awareness of the foundation principles of occupational health.

The learning outcomes intend to:

• Introduce you to the knowledge and skills required in those areas of medicine, science and hygiene that are encompassed by occupational health;
• Describe and define the relationships and responsibilities of the occupational physician with management, trade unions, employees, and other branches of the profession/other appropriate agencies;
• Give you a good foundation on which to build and extend your knowledge of occupational health in response to future changes and developments;
• Provide you with an understanding of the concept of work-related and occupational disease, including types of commonly reported diseases and their recognition, mechanism and causes;
• Enable you to apply the concept of epidemiology to health surveillance, health assessment and health screening.

In summary, the CPD Occupational Medicine allows you to achieve a level of knowledge/competence appropriate to a generalist working in occupational health.

CPD Occupational Hygiene programme 

The programme aims to introduce the knowledge framework for occupational exposure assessment and control. Students will learn how to undertake exposure assessments for hazardous substances in the workplace using measurement and modelling approaches. Students will learn principles and concepts of good control practice and explore how to develop strategies and reasonably practicable controls to minimise the risks from exposure to hazardous substances in the workplace.   It is mapped to the curriculum set out in British Occupational Hygiene Society modules M501 Measurement of Hazardous Substances and M505 Control of Hazardous Substances.

The learning outcomes intend to enable students to:

• apply the principles of good control practice and hierarchy of controls to identify, develop and implement reasonably practicable control strategies and integrated control regimes.
• Identify and implement appropriate measurement methods and strategies to evaluate exposure to hazardous substances
• Examine and appraise deterministic models used for inhalation exposure.
• Use evidence-based practice to examine the technical and legal factors involved in process control.
• Critically evaluate and analyse health risks from hazardous substances and the influence of process ,task and workplace environment on exposure to hazardous substances
• Evaluate the effectiveness of control measures, programmes and strategies

In summary, this CPD in Occupational Hygiene allows you to achieve a level of knowledge/competence to demonstrate knowledge and skills when  applying occupational exposure assessment and controls and to apply relevant legal and scientific principles to practical situations.

Society of Occupational Medicine (SOM) and British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS)

We work very closely with SOM and the BOHS and recommend that all our students join the Societies. This gives you access to lots of resources and services. If you are a full time student you can join BOHS for free and SOM for a small fee. Please see the links to the Society membership pages

https://www.som.org.uk/membership

https://www.bohs.org/membership/for-individuals/

As an Occupational Medicine or Occupational Hygiene student you have access to all issues of the SOM and BOHS journals through our University of Manchester library.

https://academic.oup.com/occmed?login=false

https://www.bohs.org/media-and-resources/publications/annals-of-work-exposure-health/

As a member of the Societies you will also receive a copy of the journals.

Eligibility for Professional Examinations

FOM requires candidates wishing to sit their DOccMed examination to provide evidence of attendance of an FOM approved training course. Students will be provided with a certificate of attendance once they have completed the units ‘Fundamentals of Occupational Health’ POPH68881(2) and ‘Introduction to Work-Related Ill-Health’ POPH68861(2). You are strongly advised to obtain a copy of the regulations and syllabus for the DOccMed from the FOM (London).

Our MSc Occupational Hygiene programme is accredited by the BOHS. Conditions of this approval include mapping our MSc curriculum to the BOHS core curriculum. Completion of our MSc entitles you to exemption from the written research report in the Chartered Occupational Hygienist examinations. Passing all elements of our Occupational Exposure Assessment and Control units will exempt you from the BOHS modules W501 and W505 on the Certificate qualification. There may be additional administrative costs incurred from BOHS if you would like to use these modules for exemption from the BOHS certificate. We can provide you with more information during your course.

It is your responsibility to liaise with professional bodies on matters of eligibility for professional examinations. It is also your responsibility to check the appropriate syllabus when preparing for professional examinations and to adhere fully to the BOHS or FOM regulations when applying to take the BOHS or FOM exams (including the DOccMed).

Every attempt is made to ensure that course material is as up to date as possible; however the professional bodies will expect candidates to show knowledge of current/changing practice, some of which may not be available within the course materials.

Programme structure

Some course units are run in both the occupational hygiene and occupational medicine programmes. Past experience has shown us that most students find this beneficial to their learning experience.

Occupational Medicine Programme

Taught Units    Mandatory: POPH68881(2) Fundamentals of Occupational Health POPH68861(2) Introduction to work-related ill health POPH68842 Health and Work POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents POPH68811 Management of Occupationally Related Diseases POPH68802 Research Methods and Data Analysis POPH68892 Occupational Health Management Optional: Students can select one further 15 credit semester 2  unit from the ‘Occupational Medicine Self-Selection Course Unit’ list below MSc year Students can select either POPH69000 Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review  plus two further self-selected 15 credit course units  from the ‘Occupational Medicine Self-Selection Course Unit’ list below

Credits 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15     60 30

CPD in Occupational Medicine (POPH68881(2) & POPH68861(2)) Award of Postgraduate Certificate (4 taught units) Award of Postgraduate Diploma (8 taught units) Award of Master of Science (8 taught units plus Dissertation or 10  taught units plus Critical Literature Review)

30 60 120 180

Occupational Medicine Full and Part time Unit schedule

3Yr PT	Y1		Y2		Y3
	Semester 1	Semester 2	Semester 1	Semester 2	All year
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68842 Health and Work	POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents	POPH68802 Research Methods  and Data Analysis	POPH69000  Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review plus two  further self-selected 15 credit taught units   from the below list
	POPH68861  Introduction to work-related ill health	Self-selected 15 credit unit from the below semester 2 course unit  list	POPH68811 Management of Occupationally Related Diseases	POPH68892 Occupational Health Management

 

2Yr PT	Y1		Y2
	Semester 1	Semester 2	Semester 1	Semester 2
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68842 Health and Work	POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents	POPH68802 Research Methods  and Data Analysis
	POPH68861  Introduction to work-related ill health	Self-selected 15 credit unit from the below semester 2 course unit  list	POPH68811 Management of Occupationally Related Diseases	POPH68892 Occupational Health Management
			POPH69000  Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review plus two further self-selected 15 credit   taught units   from the below list

 

1Yr FT	Y1
	Semester 1	Semester 2
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68842 Health and Work
	POPH68861  Introduction to work-related ill health	Self-selected 15 credit unit from the below semester 2 course unit  list
	POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents	POPH68802 Research Methods  and Data Analysis
	POPH68811 Management of Occupationally Related Diseases	POPH68892 Occupational Health Management
	POPH69000  Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review plus two  further self-selected 15 credit taught units   from the below list

CPD Occupational Medicine	Sem 1 (September intake)      or      Sem 2 (March intake)
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68882 Fundamentals of Occupational Health
	POPH68861 Introduction to Work-Related Ill-Health	POPH68862 Introduction to Work-Related Ill-Health

 

 

Occupational Medicine Self-selection Course Unit List

Unit Title	Subject	Course Number
Semester 1 Units
Communicable Disease Control	POPH	62051
Health Promotion Theory and Methods	POPH	60021
Qualitative Research Methods	POPH	63121
Global Health into the 21st Century	POPH	62311
Global Women’s Public Health	POPH	62411
Occupational Exposure Control	POPH	60161
Semester 2 Units
Practical Statistics for Population Health	POPH	60982
Health System Challenges in Low & Middle Income Countries	POPH	62212
Emergency Planning, Response and Resilience	POPH	64132
Working with Communities	POPH	60072
Economic Evaluation in Healthcare	POPH	60092
Digital Public Health	POPH	65022
Climate Change & Health	POPH	65042
Introduction to Health Policy	POPH	65052
Behaviour Change & Public Health	POPH	65062
Public Health & the Antibiotic Crisis	POPH	65072
Occupational Exposure Assessment	POPH	63182
Implementation Sciences	POPH	64552

Occupational Hygiene Programme

Taught Units POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health POPH68861 Introduction to Work-related Ill Health POPH68842 Health and Work POPH63182 Occupational Exposure Assessment POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents POPH60161 Occupational Exposure Control POPH68802 Research Methods and Data Analysis POPH68892 Occupational Health Management POPH69000 Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Review (plus two self-selection course units  from the below list, 15 credits each)

Credits 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 15 60 30

Award of Postgraduate Certificate (4 taught units) Award of Postgraduate Diploma (8 taught units) Award of Master of Science (8 taught units plus dissertation  or 10 taught units plus critical literature review)

60 120 180

Occupational Hygiene Full and Part time Unit schedule

3Yr PT	Y1		Y2		Y3
	Semester 1	Semester 2	Semester 1	Semester 2	All year
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68842 Health and Work	POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents	POPH68802 Research Methods  and Data Analysis	POPH69000  Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review plus two self-selection course units   from the below list
	POPH68861  Introduction to Work-related Ill Health	POPH63182 Occupational Exposure Assessment	POPH60161 Occupational Exposure Control	POPH68892 Occupational Health Management

 

2Yr PT	Y1		Y2
	Semester 1	Semester 2	Semester 1	Semester 2
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68842 Health and Work	POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents	POPH68802 Research Methods  and Data Analysis
	POPH68861  Introduction to Work-related Ill Health	POPH63182 Occupational Exposure Assessment	POPH60161 Occupational Exposure Control	POPH68892 Occupational Health Management
			POPH69000  Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review plus two self-selection course units   from the below list

 

1Yr FT	Y1
	Semester 1	Semester 2
	POPH68881 Fundamentals of Occupational Health	POPH68842 Health and Work
	POPH68861  Introduction to Work-related Ill Health	POPH63182 Occupational Exposure Assessment
	POPH68821 Understanding Physical Agents	POPH68802 Research Methods  and Data Analysis
	POPH60161 Occupational Exposure Control	POPH68892 Occupational Health Management
	POPH69000  Dissertation or POPH63150 Critical Literature Review plus two self-selection course units   from the below list

Occupational Hygiene Self-selection Course Unit List

Unit Title	Subject	Course Number
Semester 1 Units
Communicable Disease Control	POPH	62051
Health Promotion Theory and Methods	POPH	60021
Qualitative Research Methods	POPH	63121
Global Health into the 21st Century	POPH	62311
Global Women’s Public Health	POPH	62411
Management of Occupationally Related Diseases	POPH	68811
Semester 2 Units
Practical Statistics for Population Health	POPH	60982
Health System Challenges in Low & Middle Income Countries	POPH	62212
Emergency Planning, Response and Resilience	POPH	64132
Working with Communities	POPH	60072
Economic Evaluation in Healthcare	POPH	60092
Digital Public Health	POPH	65022
Climate Change & Health	POPH	65042
Introduction to Health Policy	POPH	65052
Behaviour Change & Public Health	POPH	65062
Public Health & the Antibiotic Crisis	POPH	65072
Implementation Sciences	POPH	64552

Programme Specification

Please login to Blackboard and navigate to the Programme’s Community Space for the Programme Specification.

Course Unit Information

The teaching material has been designed to fulfil the requirements of a postgraduate academic programme. Completion of each course unit contributes 15 credits towards the total of 60 credits required to complete the Postgraduate Certificate and 120 credits required to complete the Postgraduate Diploma. In order to achieve the 180 credits required to complete MSc you must additionally either complete the Dissertation (worth 60 credits) or complete the Critical Literature Review (30 credits) and two further taught units (worth 15 credits each).

The course unit specifications can be found online here (Medicine) and here (Hygiene), on the programme’s web page.

Modes of study

The online blended learning programme is delivered through specially commissioned online materials supported by online lectures, webinars, group discussion, tutorials and practical experience days where relevant.

All online materials are accessed solely online via the University’s Virtual Learning Environment, Blackboard. Therefore, you will require regular access to a modern personal computer or laptop (Windows or Mac) with a stable internet connection. You should be confident in using the internet for web browsing and sending emails and also using word processing software, such as Microsoft Word. Your computer/laptop will need a Blackboard-supported operating system and browser. Please visit the following link to check your compatibility:

https://help.blackboard.com/Learn/Student/Getting_Started/Browser_Support/Browser_Checker

Key dates

For clarity, each of the taught units and the dissertation unit has a separate, downloadable timetable containing the assessment deadlines/exam dates as well as the marks and feedback release dates. These timetables can be accessed from the ‘Course Unit Information’ page for each unit.

Semester launch events

An online semester launch event is held at the start of each Semester (dates are provided in your course timetables). During these events the information to be covered during the semester will be introduced and you will be provided with direction for your learning. The events also provide an opportunity to network and to meet fellow students and professionals.

The Semester launch events are recorded and the recordings are uploaded to the ‘Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Medicine’ Community space on Blackboard.

Online seminars and tutorials

All units are supported by tutorials and an assessment webinar. The tutorials have been designed to include problem based learning and provide the opportunity to raise any academic queries with your assigned tutor. To help you prepare for the Unit assessments we also hold an assessment Q & A session for each assessment or exam. During the session, tutors will take you through the assignment/exam brief and you then have an opportunity to ask any questions you may have. Attendance at the tutorials and assessment webinar is not mandatory but in order for you to get the most out of your programme of study attendance is strongly encouraged. The online tutorials are recorded and uploaded to Blackboard for you to access at a later date.

As a student you are also invited to attend the Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH) seminar series. These are held once or twice a month and are delivered by experts on a wide range of topics. The sessions typically last about one hour with a 45 minute presentation and 15 minutes for questions. The seminars are open to all students and also to a wider audience including academic colleagues within the University and physicians who participate in the THOR surveillance network. You also have access to the recordings from previous sessions.

Timetables and information regarding online tutorials and seminars can be found in your ‘Occupational Hygiene and Occupational Medicine Community’ space on Blackboard.

Practical Occupational Hygiene Course

Our Practical Occupational Hygiene Course is delivered on campus in Manchester each Spring. All students on the Occupational Medicine and Occupational Hygiene programmes are invited to attend. This is optional but we strongly recommend attendance (there are a fixed number of available places each year but you can opt to attend at any point throughout your studies). Students find the course highly beneficial. It is included in your programme fee. Travel costs associated with visiting campus are not included. Occupational Hygiene students must attend the practical course if they wish to benefit from the BOHS credit arrangements towards the BOHS Certificate of Competence. This applies to our units Occupational Exposure Assessment and Occupational Exposure Control.

Programme Changes/Cancellation

In exceptional circumstances the Programme Director may need to make changes to/cancel a scheduled event at very short notice, i.e. due to facilitator ill health, problems with venues, etc. In this event, the Programme Admin team will make every effort to let you know in advance. Please make sure that you keep us informed of any changes to your contact details.

Teaching, Learning and Assessment

Summative assessment takes place in each unit and is submitted online. For each unit, this will take the form of one or more of the following:

• Written assignments including Reports, Essays
• Presentations and oral assessment
• Multiple Choice Question exams
• Short Answer Question exams

Your assessments are marked and we give feedback using a rubric system. This assessment feedback is designed to feed forward into your subsequent assessments.

Successful progression through the course relies on self-directed learning. It is up to you to plan your time and we strongly suggest that you consider the unit timetables in conjunction with the syllabus to help you with this. Your success is dependent on considerable commitment and self-discipline.

In order to get the most out of the course we also strongly encourage you to participate actively in seminars and tutorials – not only to complete the course but to benefit from the resulting exchanges of ideas.

We recommend that you allow approximately 150 hours of study time per unit. This should include activities such as studying the teaching material, participating in supporting activities, completing online activities, preparing and submitting assessments and revising for and sitting the examinations.

Please note that you will be responsible for any incidental costs of the course, e.g.:

• travel to and from any optional face-to-face workshops
• board and lodging during any optional residential workshops

IMPORTANT: we will be using your university email account as the main method of communication with you. You are advised to check any spam or other filtered folders regularly in case documents do not reach your inbox. You are responsible for ensuring that we have your most up to date contact information at all times.

Summative Assessment Submission

Students are required to pass all summative assessments to progress through the programme, in accordance with the assessment regulations of the University. All marks will be subject to ratification at the relevant Examination Board.

Tuition Fee Refunds

Details of how tuition fee refunds are calculated and how to get in touch with the Student Finance and Fees team can be found online within the student support guides here.

Exit Awards

Early exit awards are available for students enrolled on the MSc who need to exit the programme early due to unforeseen circumstances or for those that do not satisfy the criteria for their registered programme.

As below, for the award of:

• Postgraduate Diploma – students must accrue 120 credits across the programme, including any provision made for compensated or referred units
• Postgraduate Certificate – students must accrue 60 credits across the programme, including any provision made for compensated or referred units