We are interested in both the sensible risk management of safety to facilitate education, while keeping children safe but also exploring the way that risk is taught.
Dr Marinah Awang spent a two year period as an academic visitor to the centre, during which she studied the way that people view health and safety in British and Malaysian schools. An interview sample was selected to focus on a group that were likely to have been directly involved in implementing and managing health and safety in a school and who were likely to have an oversight of the issues. Semi-structured interviews were used to explore their perceptions on health and safety and how it is managed. The data were processed by looking and searching for words and phrases that can be connected to the research questions. Noticeable patterns that emerged from the interview transcripts can be divided into seven themes - the concept of health and safety, lessons from the past, administration and monitoring, barriers, getting the balance and common sense application, leadership and responsibility. Teaching health and safety to schoolchildren was also explored in the interviews. Results are currently being developed into a series of papers.
Cornelia Bohalteanu is examining the role and practice of occupational health and safety in Romania. The occupational health and safety (OHS) practitioner is an emergent profession, framed within the history of Romania and her MProf programme seeks to understand the existing education, training and practice and what is needed for future practice. The project is a baseline for where the profession is, in order to develop training, recognition, certification, registration protocols that will be needed to bring the profession up to international standards.
