HLTH214-21S2 (C) Semester Two 2021

Environmental and Occupational Health

15 points

Details:
Start Date: Monday, 19 July 2021
End Date: Sunday, 14 November 2021
Withdrawal Dates
Last Day to withdraw from this course:
  • Without financial penalty (full fee refund): Sunday, 1 August 2021
  • Without academic penalty (including no fee refund): Friday, 1 October 2021

Description

This course will introduce students to environmental and occupational health, including population interventions designed to improve health through prevention, early detection, communicable disease control, emergency preparedness, and global health interventions.

Introduction
Students will learn about strategies to improve health through modification of environmental and occupational factors.  Environmental factors such as climate change are among the greatest potential threats to public health.  This course will equip students to understand and respond to these potential threats, through their contribution to the public health workforce or as a foundation for postgraduate research in environmental and occupational health.

Learning Outcomes

  • By the end of the course students will be able to:

  • Identify environmental factors which influence health
  • Identify occupational risks to health
  • Recognise strategies which improve health by responding to environmental factors (such as communicable disease control and emergency preparedness)
  • Identify key environmental and occupational factors which affect global health
    • University Graduate Attributes

      This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attributes specified below:

      Employable, innovative and enterprising

      Students will develop key skills and attributes sought by employers that can be used in a range of applications.

      Biculturally competent and confident

      Students will be aware of and understand the nature of biculturalism in Aotearoa New Zealand, and its relevance to their area of study and/or their degree.

      Engaged with the community

      Students will have observed and understood a culture within a community by reflecting on their own performance and experiences within that community.

      Globally aware

      Students will comprehend the influence of global conditions on their discipline and will be competent in engaging with global and multi-cultural contexts.

Prerequisites

Any 60 points at 100 level from any subject, or
any 30 points at 100 level from HLTH or SPCO

Timetable Note

Lectures
The course will be taught by staff from the School of Health Sciences and a number of guests invited from within the University and the health sector.

Course Coordinator / Lecturer

Arindam Basu

The structure of the course will be a weekly two-hour lecture and weekly one-hour laboratory/ tutorial.

Class Topics/Modules:
1. Environment and health
2. Exposure assessment (environmental and occupational exposure assessment)
3. Environmental health risk assessment (introduction to hazard identification and risk characterization)
4. Toxicology
5. Environmental health interventions (water quality, housing, vectors)
6. Immunisation
7.  Fluoridation
8. Occupation and health (1)
9. Occupation and health (2)
10. Communicable disease control (1) surveillance and notification
11. Communicable disease control (2) food-borne outbreaks
12. Emergency preparedness (1) pandemic
13. Emergency preparedness (2) natural disasters
14. Climate change
15. Refugee and migrant health
16. Global health interventions

Tutorial/Lab Topics to include:
A series of case studies on air pollution, ionizing and non-ionizing radiation, toxicology, immunisation, fluoridation, communicable disease control, emergency preparedness, refugee and migrant health, global health interventions, and environmental health interventions.

Textbooks / Resources

There are no Required Texts for this course.

Required Reading:
Each session will have assigned readings that will be referenced on the LEARN2, the University’s online course support website http://www.learn.canterbury.ac.nz/, or sourced by students from the UC library databases. Students are expected to have read these prior to each session.
Students will be required to access and download PDF files of journal articles from UC Library.

Additional material/information is available from
http://canterbury.libguides.com/c.php?g=243208&p=1618505

Additional Course Outline Information

Academic integrity

Policy on Dishonest Practice
Plagiarism, collusion, copying and ghost writing are unacceptable and dishonest practices.
• Plagiarism is the presentation of any material (text, data, figures or drawings, on any medium including computer files) from any other source without clear and adequate acknowledgement of the source.
• Collusion is the presentation of work performed in conjunction with another person or persons, but submitted as if it has been completed only by the names author(s).
• Copying is the use of material (in any medium, including computer files) produced by another person(s) with or without their knowledge and approval.
• Ghost writing is the use of another person(s) (with or without payment) to prepare all or part of an item submitted for assessment.
In cases where dishonest practice is involved in tests or other work submitted for credit, the student will be referred to the University Proctor. The instructor may choose to not mark the work.

Assessment and grading system

Assessment for HLTH214 will be a mixture of essays and an exam. A student will be expected to spend at least 5 hours per week in addition to lectures and tutorials in preparation for classes and completion of course assessments.

The School of Health Sciences uses the following scale to convert marks into grades:
The School of Health Sciences reserves the right to adjust this mark/grade conversion. This will occur only when the deemed necessary and such adjustments will not be made to the detriment of a student's grade.

Grading Scale
Grade    GPA Value        Marks

A+              9            90 – 100
A                8            85 – 89.99
A-               7            80 – 84.99
B+              6            75 – 79.99
B                5            70 – 74.99
B-               4            65 – 69.99
C+              3            60 – 64.99
C                2            55 – 59.99
C-               1            50 – 54.99
D                0            40 – 49.99
E               -1             0 – 39.99

A Pass is 50 marks or over

Late submission of work

Late work should be accompanied with a short note explaining why the work is late. The work will be marked and 1% the total marks will be subtracted for each day the work is late. Days late include weekend and holidays.

Notes

Students with Disabilities
Students with disabilities should speak with someone at Disability Support Service. They are located at 111 Maths Building (Ex.6350, disabilities@canterbury.ac.nz)

Aegrotat Applications

If you feel that illness, injury, bereavement or other critical circumstances has prevented you from completing an item of assessment or affected your performance, you should complete an aegrotat application form, available from the Registry or the Student Health and Counselling Service. This should be within seven days of the due date for the required work or the date of the examination. In the case of illness or injury, medical consultation should normally have taken place shortly before or within 24 hours after the due date for the required work, or the date of the test or examination. For further details on aegrotat applications, please refer to the Enrolment Handbook. You have the right to appeal any decision made, including aegrotat decisions.
http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/exams/aegrotats.shtml, please see Course links.

Reconsideration of Grades

Students should, in the first instance, speak to the course co-ordinator about their grades. If they cannot reach an agreeable solution, students should then speak to the Head of School, Health Sciences. Students can appeal any decision made on their final grade. You can apply at the Registry to appeal within 4 weeks of the end of the semester. Be aware that there are time limits for each step of the appeals process.

Missing Tests

In rare cases a student will not be able to sit a test. In such cases, the student should consult with the course co-ordinator to arrange alternative procedures. This must be done well in advance of the set date for the test.

Academic Liason

Annabel Ahuriri-Driscoll and Raesha Ismail are in charge of liaison with students in the undergraduate health sciences courses as the BHSci programme coordinator in the School of Health Sciences. Your class will appoint a student representative to the liaison committee at the start of the semester. Please feel free to talk to the Academic Liaison or the student rep about any problems or concerns that you might have.

Where to submit and collect work

Students will be expected to submit their assessment via the online assessment system in the Learn class site by 5.00pm on or before the due date.  The lecturer may also ask students to submit assessment work through the software Turnitin, to check for plagiarism. If this option is available students will submit work through Turnitin and obtain a report, after submitting assignments for marking via the Learn site.

It is the responsibility of the students to check their Internet access and ability to submit their work via the online system.  Any technical difficulties should be notified well in advance of the due date so that assistance can be provided or alternative arrangements can be negotiated. For ICT help call our free call number 0508 UC IT HELP (0508 824 843) or on 03 369 5000.Monday to  Friday, 8am to 5pm (excluding public and university holidays).

Indicative Fees

Domestic fee $785.00

International fee $3,500.00

* All fees are inclusive of NZ GST or any equivalent overseas tax, and do not include any programme level discount or additional course-related expenses.

Minimum enrolments

This course will not be offered if fewer than 20 people apply to enrol.

For further information see School of Health Sciences .

All HLTH214 Occurrences

  • HLTH214-21S2 (C) Semester Two 2021