people wearing safety gear at a job site

Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate Program

Program at a Glance

  • Complete by December 2024
  • 9 courses
  • $5,865
  • Included on the Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL), as approved by Yolo County

Important Note: The Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate is being discontinued and will not be accepting new certificate students. Current certificate students will have through December 2024 to complete the certificate. Anyone interested in enrolling in an individual course can do so through December 2024. If you are a current certificate student who has a question about their completion status, please email ohsinfo@ucdavis.edu.

To register for any course or request additional information, please contact us at cpeinfo@ucdavis.edu, or call (530) 757-8777.


Become a Health and Safety Leader

Gain the expertise you need in today's work environment by expanding your knowledge of current health and safety issues and regulations and learn to create and maintain a safer work environment. You will learn about the most current OSHA regulations and methods of compliance, as well as state-of-the-art emergency management techniques. Discover how to integrate employee health and safety into daily decision making, save organizational resources and contribute to enhanced employee performance.

What You’ll Learn

This program benefits safety directors and officers, environmental supervisors, union representatives, health and safety technicians, occupational health specialists/nurses, risk managers, compliance managers, plant or facilities managers, production supervisors, resource specialists and workers’ compensation specialists. You’ll learn how to:

  • Examine the critical health and safety issues of private business, industry and government
  • Establish and manage a proactive health and safety program
  • Use regulations as tools to identify and control hazards
  • Investigate causes of accidents when they occur so as to prevent them from happening again

What You’ll Get

Our program offers:

  • UC-quality courses that are approved by the Public Service Committee of the Academic Senate at UC Davis
  • One-on-one interaction with veteran safety professionals from a variety of industries
  • Unique networking opportunities with instructors and fellow students that can help advance your career
  • Class projects and case studies that provide dynamic, real-world training in emerging best practices and new health and safety theory
  • Practical knowledge and regulatory updates that can be applied immediately to your job
  • $64,590 is the average income for an Occupational Health and Safety Specialist (Glassdoor)
  • Occupational health and safety jobs are expected to grow by 8% through 2026, which is on par with the national job growth rate (Bureau of Labor Statistics)
  • Top five states for occupational health and safety employment: Texas, California, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York (Bureau of Labor Statistics)

You must complete 15.75 units of required core coursework with grades of “C” or better.

Course content is frequently revised to ensure that the program is up-to-date with the latest industry standards. For this reason, you must complete all of the course requirements of your certificate within five years from the day you enroll in the first course. A certificate will not be awarded if the requirements are not completed and your application for candidacy is not received within this timeframe.

For additional information about our enrollment policies, please click here.

Required Courses

Fire and Life Safety Awareness
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

Fire safety awareness is key in workplaces of all kinds. Through real-world case-based learning, discover the types of built-in fire protection features and fire and life safety hazards common to the educational and workplace environments. This course, designed for workplace safety professionals, discusses "passive" versus "active" fire protection features, maintenance of exits, knowledge and use of fire extinguishers, impact to and from other occupants, human behavior before and during an emergency, proper storage techniques and services potentially available through local fire departments. By the end of this course, students will understand fire prevention and response practices and techniques for the workplace.

Learning Outcomes

  • Describe “passive” and “active” fire protection features
  • Understand how humans react during fire situations
  • Describe proper storage techniques
  • Understand common fire and life safety hazards to the educational and workplace environment

Skills You Will Gain

  • Fire prevention
  • Fire response
  • Fire extinguisher use
  • Exit maintenance

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
163860
Emergency Preparation and Management
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

Is your organization prepared for emergency situations? Through real-world case studies and interactive learning, workplace health and safety professionals will gain insight into being more proactive in emergency preparedness by developing strategies to help prevent and mitigate hazards, as well as for response and recovery efforts. By the end of this course, students will improve their abilities and understanding of disaster notifications, crisis management skills, decision making under pressure, effective communication techniques and media and public relations factors.

Learning Outcomes

  • Develop effective emergency preparation plans for an organization.
  • Identify and assess risks and potential hazards that could cause or worsen emergency situations.
  • Correct or remediate hazards to reduce risks and potential impacts.
  • Respond to emergency situations in an appropriate manner.

Skills You Will Gain

  • Emergency management
  • Incident management and command systems
  • Flood and disaster preparation
  • Action planning

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
501232
Incident Investigation Techniques
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

When an incident occurs, identifying the root cause and providing an effective solution is key in preventing future incidents. In this real-world, interactive course, workplace safety professionals will acquire the knowledge, practical skills and tools you need to conduct incident investigations. Designed with both the novice and seasoned professional in mind, this course covers principles of incident investigation and responsibilities in the investigation process. By the end of this course, students will understand investigation planning and preparation, the seven steps of initial response and tools and techniques for investigation.

Learning Outcomes

  • Conduct an effective incident investigation from start to finish
  • Understand the seven-step approach to the initial response
  • Perform effective interventions to assess the problems identified by the incident
  • Know the processes for collecting physical evidence in an investigation

Skills You Will Gain

  • Incident investigations
  • Interviewing Techniques
  • Systemic cause analysis techniques (SCAT)
  • Physical evidence collection

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
153980
Health and Safety for Workers: Laws and Regulations
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

Designed for individuals who have interests in, or responsibilities for, administering occupational health and safety programs, learn the relevant laws and regulations pertaining to occupational health and safety. Topics include Cal/OSHA and federal OSHA; criminal considerations, such as supervisors’ and managers’ responsibilities; workers’ compensation jurisdiction, claims and benefits; the claims process and program administration; and legal liability. Through interactive case studies, illustrate common issues and demonstrate ability to solve simple and complex problems. By the end of this course, students will demonstrate working knowledge of workplace safety laws and regulations.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand CAL/OSHA and OSHA operations, compliance, standard setting and consultation
  • Become aware of criminal sanctions used in health and safety violations
  • Understand worker’s compensation insurance
  • Awareness of professional liabilities health and safety practitioners are exposed to

Skills You Will Gain

  • OSHA and CAL/OSHA compliance
  • Professional liability
  • Worker’s compensation adjudication
  • Sanitation, fire safety and building codes

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
154120
Industrial Safety Hazard Control
Quarter Academic Credit
2.25

Identifying and removing hazards can prevent workplace incidents before they occur. In this course designed for safety consultants and managers, expand your understanding of industrial safety hazard control by identifying and assessing hazards in the workplace. Through hands-on learning and case studies, understand how to recognize priority hazards as well as strategies for removing them. By the end of this course, students will understand how to use regulations as tools to identify and control hazards.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand how to identify and apply OSHA, Cal/OSHA and other relevant regulations relevant to industrial operations.
  • Gain the ability to assess industrial workplace hazards and identify violations of regulations.
  • Learn how to identify and implement corrective measures and engineering controls to protect worker safety.

Skills You Will Gain

  • Fall protection
  • Vehicle, machine, fire and explosion hazard prevention

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
378900
Health and Safety Management and Program Development
Quarter Academic Credit
3

There are numerous methods to designing health and safety programs tailored to your workplace. Designed for health and safety managers and consultants, this course explores the various approaches to health and safety management, including methods to obtain and maintain top management support; methods to obtain and maintain employee/union support; how to determine the real cost of accidents; behavior modification practices; the success and failure of rewards and recognition programs; and techniques for system-based auditing. Through real-world based education, students will learn how to investigate the causes of accidents, organize health and safety committees and develop health and safety training programs.

Learning Outcomes

  • Identify effective health and safety program elements
  • Describe accident investigation process
  • Understand how to obtain management support for health and safety programs
  • Review of regulatory requirements of HPP, Hazard Communication, and HAZWOPER

Skills You Will Gain

  • Dupont STOP
  • Behavior modification
  • Rewards and recognition

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
163830
Introduction to Industrial Hygiene
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

Industrial hygiene involves the process of recognition, evaluation and control of occupational health hazards. Individuals with workplace safety responsibilities will learn methods to anticipate and recognize such hazards, including basic principles of toxicology, occupational health hazards, biological agents and exposures to physical agents. Through hands-on, interactive learning, students will understand how to measure or evaluate exposures to these agents, and how such exposures are controlled by the use of personal protective equipment and engineering methods.

Learning Outcomes

  • Ability to identify and control occupational health hazards
  • Ability to understand occupational exposure limits
  • Ability to identify the need for protective equipment, and select appropriate equipment
  • Awareness of engineering controls for chemical and physical agents

Skills You Will Gain

  • Exposure evaluation methods
  • Assessment and control of physical agents
  • Noise hazard measurement
  • Controlling chemical and dust exposures

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
500130
Industrial Hygiene Sampling and Monitoring Instruments
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

Understand the tools and processes in monitoring industrial hygiene. In this overview of instruments and methods, you will learn about the theories, techniques and procedures associated with the use of instruments to measure air contaminants and physical agents, such as noise, heat and related exposures. This course, designed for those responsible for employee safety and health, includes lectures and hands on laboratory exercises addressing the methods and procedures of using common industrial hygiene monitoring instruments, sample collection and laboratory analysis, interpretation of results and the limitations of these techniques will also be discussed. By the end of this course, students will have an overview of how occupational health hazards are measured.

Learning Outcomes

  • Understand the techniques and capabilities to measure occupational health hazards, such as chemicals, dusts, noise, heat and other common hazards associated with occupational environments
  • Operate hand held instruments to measure volatile chemicals, noise and heat
  • Interpret the results of sampling and measurements, and to recognize the need to control excessive exposures
  • Understand the major limitations of each measurement technique

Skills You Will Gain

  • Noise measurement
  • Air Sampling
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Handheld instruments

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
500129
Ergonomics in the Workplace
Quarter Academic Credit
1.5

If your employees experience problems with lifting, repetitive motion or overexertion, their improper work practices may cause serious and long-term disabilities. In this course, workplace health professionals will learn the fundamentals of ergonomics in industrial and office workplaces. Discuss medical issues, regulatory strategies, engineering solutions and productivity improvements with a focus on problem solving in real-world situations. A review of safe work practices with a focus on basic ergonomics may help your organization. By the end of this course, students will develop ergonomic recognition and identification skills necessary for implementation of an overall injury prevention strategy.

Learning Outcomes

  • Learn the fundamentals of ergonomics in the industrial and office workplace
  • Understand the role of ergonomics in quality and productivity
  • Design a complete and ergonomic workstation system
  • Become aware of ergonomic legislation and trends

Skills You Will Gain

  • Office ergonomics
  • Anthropometry
  • Ergonomics program development

This is a required course for the Workplace Health and Safety Manager Certificate.

Course Code
163740

View courses currently open for enrollment

Required Courses

Required Courses Units Fall Winter Spring Summer
Health and Safety for Workers: Laws and Regulations 1.5 Classroom Classroom
Industrial Safety Hazard Control 2.25 Classroom Classroom
Health and Safety Management and Program Development 3 Classroom
Introduction to Industrial Hygiene 1.5 Classroom Classroom
Industrial Hygiene Sampling and Monitoring Instruments 1.5 Classroom Classroom
Ergonomics in the Workplace 1.5 Classroom Classroom
Fire and Life Safety Awareness 1.5 Classroom Classroom
Emergency Preparation and Management 1.5 Classroom Classroom
Incident Investigation Techniques 1.5 Classroom Classroom
  • At Your Own Pace: Take individual courses for a total cost of $5,865, depending on when you enroll.
    • A one-time, non-refundable registration fee of $125 must also be paid in order to receive your certificate.
  • Textbooks and parking are not included in the tuition fee.

For information about financing your education, please click here.

Ready to advance your career? Pick the option that best suits your needs and your lifestyle:

  • Register. Fill out a brief certificate registration form. By doing so, you declare your intent to complete the program in 5 years or less, lock in program requirements and will be contacted by a program adviser who will work with you to map out your academic path.
  • Enroll in an individual course. Check out individual courses that are currently open for enrollment. Courses will be applied to the program if you later decide to complete your professional concentration.
  • Sign up for an information session. Learn more about the program by enrolling in a free information session. If an information session for this program is not currently open for enrollment, click on “notify me,” and we’ll contact you when the next one becomes available.

Questions? We’re here to help. If you’ve got a question, email us or call (530) 757-8777.

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