Safety in the Workplace

Required credits: 20

The online undergraduate certificate in Occupational Safety is designed to meet the needs of professionals who will find themselves with management responsibilities (including safety), but are not planning on careers as safety professionals. These professionals must already have a bachelor's degree or must be currently working on one. This Certificate will provide these employees with desired professional development and recognition of their increased professional knowledge and skills in the field of Occupational Safety.

The Occupational Safety certificate program will also be very attractive to employers in large or small companies. Occupational safety is essential to the vitality of any company and its employees.

A professional with an Iowa State University Occupational Safety certificate will strengthen a company’s ability to protect their workers from injuries and illnesses. An undergraduate certificate provides a way to give formal recognition of focused study in a specialized area. The Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, with its nationally ranked educational programs, is pleased to enhance the capacity of employers to protect their workers from injuries and illnesses by making an occupational safety certificate program available to undergraduates, graduates, and professionals.

Program at a Glance:

A bachelor's degree is required to be enrolled in this program or you must be currently working on one. Requirements for the Certificate in Occupational Safety are satisfied by completing a minimum of 20 credits at Iowa State University. You will complete 14 credits of core courses and choose at least six credits of elective courses from the approved list.

Core Courses:

• TSM 270: Principles of Injury Prevention (3 credits)
• TSM 371: Occupational Safety Management (2 credits)
• TSM 370: Occupational Safety (3 credits)
• TSM 372: Legal Aspects of Occupational Safety and Health (2 credits)
• TSM 470: Industrial Hygiene: Physical, Chemical, and Biological Hazards (3 credits)
• TSM 493D: Workshop in Technology: Occupational Safety

Additional requirements:

• A minimum of 9 credits applied towards the certificate cannot be used to meet any other departmental, college, or university requirement.
• Courses taken for the certificate cannot be taken pass not pass.
• A grade of a 2.0 or better is required in each individual course applied towards the certificate.

In order to get started with the certificate program you must fill out the request form: Request for Certificate Program (PDF)