Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Applied Quantitative Methods in Occupational Safety and Health
A few years ago, it became clear that students in the upper level Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) courses were spending time learning math concepts that should have been learned in prerequisite classes. Concurrently, the Industry Advisory Board began a benchmarking project with other ABET accredited undergraduate programs. During this study, it was discovered that the other schools were experiencing similar issues related to quantitative concepts.
It became clear to professors McGlothlin and Bird that something needed to be done. First, a course was developed, OSH 141 – Quantitative Methods for Occupational Safety and Health. During course design, Dr. Bird discovered there were no single textbooks available containing the breadth of quantitative approaches used in the safety and health profession.
Dr.Bird quickly put his problem solving and leadership skills to work. He found a co-author, Dr. Jan K. Wachter, associate professor of Safety Sciences at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. After 18 months of discussions, writing, re-writing, editing and more writing, the textbook Applied Quantitative Methods in Occupation Safety and Health was published in July 2010.
Congratulations, Aaron Bird, Ph.D! Oakland University is proud to say you wrote the book on quantitative methods in OSH!