MSc Occupational Medicine

Fees for entry in 2027 have not yet been set. For reference, the fees for the academic year beginning September 2026 were as follows:

• MSc (full-time distance learning)
  UK students (per annum): £15,200
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £31,500
• MSc (part-time distance learning)
  UK students (per annum): £6,080 for year 1 and 2, and £3,040 for year 3
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £12,600 for year 1 and 2, and £6,300 for year 3
• PGDip (part-time distance learning)
  UK students (per annum): £6,100
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £12,600
• PGCert (part-time distance learning)
  UK students (per annum): £3,000
  International, including EU, students (per annum): £6,300

The fees quoted above are fully inclusive of tuition, administration and computational costs.

Fees for entry are subject to yearly review. The University reserves the right to increase your tuition fee by up to 7% each year for courses lasting more than one year, including to reflect rising costs associated with delivering our educational and wider student experience. Postgraduate fees information .

Always contact the admissions team if you are unsure which fee applies to your qualification award and method of attendance.

Students opting for MSc 1 year full-time or 2 year part-time course of study could qualify for a PGT loan from the UK government. Please see our university pages or contact admissions.

Students studying our MSc programme over 3 years part-time may also be eligible for a postgraduate loan if there is no other suitable full time equivalent course available in the UK at the time of application. Please contact our admissions for more information.

Please note: The fees do not cover any costs for travel or accommodation related to any optional on campus events.

Several of our students are sponsored by their employers or the governments of their home countries.

All students should normally be able to complete their programme of study without incurring additional study costs over and above the tuition fee for that programme. Any unavoidable additional compulsory costs totalling more than 1% of the annual home undergraduate fee per annum, regardless of whether the programme in question is undergraduate or postgraduate taught, will be made clear to you at the point of application. Further information can be found in the University's Policy on additional costs incurred by students on undergraduate and postgraduate taught programmes (PDF document, 91KB).

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This unit examines the importance of leadership, management, risk assessment and decision making in occupational health and safety practice. Topics explore the multidisciplinary approaches in the control of occupational and environmental hazards, in particular the role of the occupational health practitioner in emergency planning and disaster management, accident prevention and the influence of practitioners on global worker health protection. 

This unit explores local, national and international strategy and policy around occupational health and hygiene, and how this impacts on community beyond the workplace. This unit focuses on how occupational health is managed in organisations—including leadership, governance, service provision, and the practical realities of delivering occupational health under constraints and competing priorities. We will take a systems and organisational perspective, paying close attention to complexity, coordination, and how real work gets done. You will draw on your own experience of the challenges of occupational health through case studies on managing safety, occupational health service provision globally, in particular the use of systems thinking, and reflections on practice for future leaders in occupational health. The unit also reflects on the impact of the workplace on the environment linking this to changing occupational health practitioner roles as advisors to employers in relation to wider impacts of business and organisational activities.

The learning outcomes intend to: 
 

• Critically assess strategies used for the management of worker health protection including safety factors and accident prevention
• Using industry examples, demonstrate understanding of leadership and management in workplace health and safety and examine best practice for worker health protection.  
• Demonstrate understanding of the main environmental hazards and their risks to human health because of industrial activity and the role of the occupational health practitioner in this regard.
• Examine the role of the occupational health practitioner in emergency planning,  disaster response and management  
• Evaluate own role in leading and managing occupational health and developing practice 

 

• Occupational Health Management and Sociotechnical System
• Diagnosing the Sociotechnical System of Work
• Organisational Pathologies
• Leadership
• Occupational Safety and Accident Prevention
• Business Needs in Occupational Health Service Provision
• Audit
• Food Safety
• Industry and Environment
• Global Occupational Health
• Industry and the Environment

Learning and teaching will take the form of online materials supported by online synchronous lectures, webinars, group discussion, tutorial, and optional on campus workshops, where applicable. Canvas will be used for course materials, group discussions, announcements, reading lists and for online assessments. 

• critically evaluate strategies and practice to identify and overcome barriers to the implementation of evidence-based occupational health practice at an organisational level;
• examine current knowledge on occupational accidents, common causes, and the systems for accident prevention and managing accidents when they occur;
• understand the significance of food industry as global employers, explaining food safety and hygiene risks and why knowledge of control is important to occupational health; and
• critically evaluate the underpinning professional, ethical and legal concepts relating to emergency planning and disaster response. 
   

• think critically about the effects of working practices beyond the workplace, i.e. on the environment;
• critically evaluate the limitations of extant knowledge and evidence within the relevant practice setting;
• understand the importance of seeking relevant information (e.g. toxicological) beyond the usual resources within occupational health and hygiene practice; and
• reflect on the impact of a wide range of global influences (such as cultural background and intellectual capacity) on the working environment. 
   

• refer to theory and literature to demonstrate the ability to creatively and independently assess plan implement and evaluate the occupational health service provision taking into account physical, psychological, socio-cultural and environmental factors that are complex and unpredictable;
• manage and advance their own practice in accordance with professional, ethical, legal and policy frameworks;
• make independent decisions that are based on evidence and research for worker health protection. 
   

• practise in a non-discriminatory manner, respecting and being responsive to the variety of beliefs, cultural practices and lived experiences of individuals and groups and challenging identified inequalities and discrimination;
• demonstrate leadership and autonomous practice in relation to occupational health management;
• demonstrate self-direction and originality in identifying, tackling and solving problems;
• evaluate own role in leading and developing practice and service delivery in relation to worker health protection; and
• communicate complex ideas in concise written formats 
   

Description	Weighting	Length
Occupational Health Service Business Proposal or Evaluation	100%	3500 words

Formative assessments with automatic feedback are available throughout the unit as an aid to understanding the course materials. Feedback for the summative assessments is provided by tutors via Canvas. Students may also receive direct feedback from interaction with session leaders throughout the course of study.

Students enrolled on this course can access recommended reading through their University of Manchester library account.

• Agius R, Seaton A. Practical occupational medicine 2nd ed. London: Hodder Arnold 2005. ISBN 034075947X OR Tar-Ching A, Gardiner K, Harrington, JM. Occupational health (Pocket Consultants) 5th ed. Wiley-Blackwell 2006.  ISBN- 10 1405122218; ISBN-13 978-1405122214.
• Cherrie JW, Howie RM, Semple S. Monitoring for Health Hazards at Work 4th ed. Blackwell 2010. ISBN 9781405159623
• Croner’s environmental management policy and procedures. Kingston-upon-Thames: Croner Publications 1995. ISBN 1855243237
• Sprenger RA.  Hygiene for Management, 17th ed. Highfield Publications 2014. ISBN 9781909749269.

If you have any questions regarding the content of this unit, please contact the Course Unit Leaders, Mark Johnson or Anne Clayson via mark.johnson-8@manchester.ac.uk or  anne.clayson@manchester.ac.uk 

If you have any other queries, please contact the Programmes team via shs.programmes@manchester.ac.uk