Graduate Certificate in Engineering Industrial Safety and Public Health

Western New England University

Modern industrial systems, including civic infrastructure and industrial processes that allow complex societies to exist, have the potential to negatively impact populations due to short and long term exposures to underlying hazards that are often unrecognized. Impacts of these exposures commonly manifest as impacts to the health of the individual and larger community. However, unrecognized it that the causal root, and ultimately, the solutions are engineering and public policy oriented. A recent example is the public health crisis induced by Flint, Michigan public water systems. The impact, lead exposure to vulnerable populations, was without question health-related, one that must be addressed by the healthcare system. However, the source of the exposure was the engineered civic infrastructure coupled with a change in public policy. Thus, the long-term solution is renewal of the civic infrastructure and more robust public policy development to protect against future exposure. This Graduate Certificate in Industrial Safety and Public Health surveys epidemiologic and industrial health and safety analysis methods that are applicable to, and transferable between, these traditionally isolated fields. The courses are a cross-section of methods and case study analysis through which the student is exposed to specific situations within which differing methods are applicable.

College of Engineering