Hi,

I was an art student too, with no background whatsoever in pure science and had both Diploma and Degree. Whats important is your passion about it. It is fully in English... except If you want to take a certificate at NIOSH (BM or BI)

OSH courses are devided into Occupational Safety and Occupational Health in which focuses on the "Occupational" side rather than Public Health.

It is mainly on Management (Health, Safety and Environmental Management System or HSE-MS) whereby it include both science and management together.

The "health" element, it covers basic human anatomy as it would progress later on in the course as it will cover basic Industrial Toxicology, Chemical Safety, Chemical Health Risk Assessment, Ergonomics, Antropometry, Biomechanics, etc. For example how to read and inteprate physichemical properties of a chemical in the Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) or "NFPA 704: Standard System for the Identification of the Hazards of Materials for Emergency Response" diamond sign.. etc.

On the "safety" element,  it covers the management of hazards and risks at the workplace. Starts with formulation of HSE Policy, HSE-MS manuals and Procedures... Covering PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act, & Continual Improvement) - the fundamental of OHSAS18001 standard. Other than that, in depth knowledge on Hazard Identification, Risk Assessment and Risk Contol (HIRARC) a wide-spread method in industry on identification of hazards and determination of its magnitude of risk and how to control such risks in order to to protect human lives (the worker) and property (assets), and the Envoronment. Other than that, it include laws and regulations of HSE in Malaysia (OSHA, FMA, EQA, etc. all legal jargons  ) and technique of industrial incident investigation and so on and on and on.. 

As of Diploma, it is quite basic, but covers but not limited to as stated above... it must be a lot to take in, but it is general and widespread as you progressed into Degree and even more specialised in Masters or pHDs, you may dive into Ergonomics for example, and become an Ergonomist, etc. 

Do not mistaken, if you take the course, the only pathways is just only to become Safety and Health Officer (SHO)... it is larger than that, you can go for Corporate HSE or Operational HSE, or even others in the specified field. 

Hope it gives you rough picture of what it is all about.  :thumbsup:

Hi, I've taken both Diploma and Degree in OSH for yearssssss... hahah... so I knew adequate (quite-a-LOL) knowledge on the field.

I too, bad at math  ........ but this course doesn't need that much of qualification like pure science courses out there that need bombastic numbers of A's. If you are not a credit on BM, you can take Bahasa Kebangsaan (don't know what it called now) during your study to back you up... it is compulsory though... but the exam is not as tough as SPM lol...

If you like best of both worlds (science and management), but not too harsh on science part, actually more on to the management of occupational safety and health within the work settings.

But be aware that many of IPTS out there offering this course that are not certified by DOSH (Department of Occupational Safety and Health Malaysia), as we are currently shifting towards stricter enforcement later on in the (distant?) future on HSE.... the market is there....... 

My advise is to please check DOSH website on approved institutions before enrolling and check the MQA too. If you graduated, you do not need to attend SHO Certificate Course at NIOSH and to attend 4 paper exams (if you want to beome a SHO). Other than that, it gives you a peace of mind of the thoughts of "laku or not" my scroll out there (to the industry, locally).

Hope this clarifies a bit of your curiosity... 

Though not related to the course but I'm more concerned with your BM. I don't think Maths has any use in this course cause there's not a single calculation involved, except for the risk assessment but that's just basic arithmetic. If you can endure the dull and boring technical lectures of the course, go for it.

There may still be competition if you are planning to take this course but you can forget about applying at public university because the first thing they see is your BM. Yes, this is the sad part in Malaysia. If your BM screw up, they will reject you no manner how good your English or any other subjects are. That's just the candidates selection way in public university.

All in all, you need to improve your BM if you wanna survive in Malaysia, especially in communication.

I learnt a bit of OSH in my chemical engineering course but not so deep such as the fundamental of OHSAS18001 standard. What standard iz dat? I never heard of it 

Just my two cents on the job in the field of occupational safety and health: get experience related to the field. I know someone from a completely unrelated degree background but now she is in a hr team responsible for occupational health and safety all because she was and is still good at it. Get internship or a job relating to the field because just a degree doesn't get your far in the field without any experience.

In that case, a diploma or degree can definitely help you to get your foot in the door for occupational health related jobs. Not exactly sure about how to get internship or job but one person i know ventured into hr field first then got promoted into specializing in occupational health at her company.