Environmental Health Science Department

Occupational Health and Safety

Assignment Report of François Suppiger
Electrical and Safety Engineer, OHS Expert
Polytechnic of Namibia, Windhoek
March 7 – April 1, 2011

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Environmental protection, food hygiene, health and safety at work are the topics of the „Environmental Health Science“ bachelor degree. Possible future jobs of the graduates will be as security officers in industrial plants and institutions. As a security engineer I had the task to prepare the students accordingly.

I had four weeks time to work with two classes. Because most students hardly have any practical experience, we organized a visit to the Brewery of Windhoek. The security standards at the brewery were impressive and would meet Swiss requirement.

Back in the classroom we developed know-how about methods and tools to identify hazards at work and what measures need to be taken to reduce the risks. That was not an easy task as the students had to translate their theoretical knowledge into the ‘industrial’ reality for the first time. With fotos, practical case studies and group works I tried to bridge the gap between school theory and industry-reality.

In spite of all the helpful support of the responsibles at the Polytechnic, I felt that the assignment was quite exhausting for several reasons: holding the courses in English, the different climate, the different understanding of the students in regard to punctuality and discipline, etc. After the correction of the final tests, the review of the written feedback from the students and after saying goodbye to both of the classes it was not difficult for the school responsibles to convince me to come back again next year. And I am already looking forward to it again!

Lucerne, April 16 2011