Woodley, Carolyn and Marshall, Sue (2012) Occupational Health and Safety: a key legal literacy for learning in and about the workplace. In: 9th International Conference on Cooperative & Work-Integrated Education "Where East Meets West and Theory Meets Practice", 20-22 June, 2012, Bahcesehir University, Instanbul, Turkey.

Abstract

The development of employability skills has become a dominant theme in discussions about university curriculum. Governments and universities point to an increasing need for graduates who can work creatively, are sensitive to emerging economic and cultural challenges and who can apply a broad range of employability skills (DEST 2002 ). Universi ties adopt various approaches to developing employability skills but work - integrated learning (WIL) dominates (Patrick et al. 2009). Legal educators at Victoria University (VU) in Melbourne have identified a significant gap in the employability skills of VU’s students and VU’s WIL programs: Occupational Health and safety (OHS). Arguably, OHS knowledge is crucial for employability. Universities, too, have OHS obligations and a duty of care to students. This paper discusses a project called Occupational Health and Safety: Safe students and an essential element of work readiness for all VU graduates. The project developed a range of online OHS resources to develop students’ understanding of mandatory legal requirements for workers and workplaces. The pro ject assumes that an understanding of OHS is essential for all students to both ensure that they contribute to their own and others’ safety and as an essential employability skill.

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