A number of major multinational organisations were finding difficulty in recruiting and developing competent occupational hygienists, particularly in many areas of the developing world. In 2005, a group of experienced hygienists from these organisations considered how future global demands can be met. The group consulted extensively and made a number of recommendations as to how Occupational (Industrial) Hygiene might be developed to meet future needs. The needs were:

•  A shortage of competent Occupational/Industrial hygiene practitioners in many developing/industrialising countries/regions, including South America, Africa, Asia, southern and eastern Europe;

•  Restricted availability of suitable training programmes in these same areas, particularly in respect of practical training;

•  Transferability of competency standards at all levels of industrial hygiene practice.

What resulted was a global system of international training modules designed to provide a stepping stone for developing professionals in their early career, focussing on practical ‘hands on’ aspects of Occupational Hygiene. International Training Program

The focus of the International Training Program is on teaching the practicalities involved with the initial identification, assessment, monitoring and control of hazards in practical situations. This is done by one-week modular courses run by approved experienced training providers using peer reviewed training material and concluding with an examination.

It is available on the www.OHlearning.com website.

This provides a comprehensive, quality teaching package that can be used by a variety of institutions across the world and is suitable for translation into local languages. As such they are accessible and affordable. One-week modular courses are routinely used for teaching people in employment and the concept is found to be generally acceptable to employers. Each module is part of a series but can be taken in isolation and so there is no ongoing or long term commitment necessary in enrolling on one course. Attendance at courses on specific topics can also be tailored to local priorities.

The syllabi for each module have been developed in partnership with British Occupational Hygiene Society (BOHS) and in consultation with the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) and other International Occupational Hygiene Association (IOHA) member organisations.

OHLearning.com was launched in May 2010 and currently has 8 training modules available with other industry specific modules being developed.

Courses have already been run or are planned in Australia, Azerbaijan, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, El Salvador, Germany, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Thailand, Trinidad, UK, USA and Vietnam.  The scheme is receiving increasing global recognition with around 40 training events scheduled at any one time to be run in every continent - except Antarctica.

Providing training and assessment in languages other than English will be critical and a great deal of work is in progress on translations.  Work is in progress translating courses into Spanish, Norwegian, Russian, French, Portuguese, German and Chinese.  Examinations have been conducted in Chinese, Russian and Norwegian, as well as English.

Some key facts (as of October 2011):

•  5 years in development, OHlearning.com was launched May 2010, with nearly 20,000 unique visitors in total; the site is averaging around 1400 unique users each month. OHlearning offers free access to course materials, links to national organisations, training events offered by Approved Training Providers and an online discussion forum

•  OHlearning is included in the in the 2009 – 2012 Workplan for the WHO Collaborating Center Network.

• Pool of 38 registered Approved Training Providers (ATPs) and 3 Universities are signed up to deliver courses. Each ATP meets strict criteria before approval, including the need for IOHA National Accreditation Recognition (NAR) professionally qualified occupational hygienists as course directors.

• 200 qualified occupational hygienists from IOHA members have already volunteered to provide quality control and develop modules.

• 7 intermediate and one foundation training modules available.

•  Completion of 56 courses in 19 countries with over 500 successful exam candidates. In addition to 11 pilot courses to test development

• Trial of OHlearning modules through distance learning by University of Illinois in Chicago

•  New scheme to provide student scholarships launched by AIOH and funded by Thermo Fisher Scientific Australia & Honeywell Analytics Australia. 

Current projects under development (as of October 2011)

•  Automated website translation. Spanish will be used for pilot before rolling out for other languages

•  eLearning platform being added to facilitate new Awareness level material initially. This level is aimed at raising awareness of occupational hygiene in workers and managers and is not part of the qualifications scheme.

•  Upgraded collaboration centre to host working documents and archive material

•  First awareness level package on silica, with others soon to follow on asbestos and noise

• Foundation level courses on silica and safety

• Advanced level course on Control Banding

• Translation of W501 into Spanish

•  Translation of W201 into Mandarin Conclusions

The paradigm shift is that

• All the training material is international and since it is technical in nature, it is universal across the world and consistent, thus leading to international recognition of technician competence by occupational hygiene associations.
• It is a stepping stone to the development of professional occupational hygienists.
• The training material can be translated into other languages and delivered anywhere in the world
• The training material is free and current– however attendance at the one-week training modules is charged at a fee determined by the Approved Training Provider.
• Competence is tested by an external examination as part of the qualification scheme
• The training program makes use of 21^st. century electronic and social media.

You can follow their progress on Twitter (@OHlearning) or sign up to their news group OHlearning@yahoogroups.com

Much more information is available at www.OHlearning.com which also includes a collaboration centre where you can upload projects, training materials or offer comments on the scheme. References

www.OHlearning.com