Duration:                                                 18 months

Actual Credit Load:                                 288                                                                                    

Minimum Credit Load:                            270

Maximum Credit Load:                           340

Maximum MBK Credit Load:                 216

ZNQF Level:                                           9

1. PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAMME

The programme is tailor-made to meet the safety, health and environmental needs of Zimbabwe and the world at large. It intends to equip students with both theoretical and practical skills that are relevant to safety, health and the environment in various industries, institutions and organizations. This will be achieved through:

• Imparting knowledge that links safety, health and environmental theories and practice.
• Development of knowledge and skills to manage existing and new projects through the participation of target stakeholders and institutions.
• Development of skills that enable students to realise and apply new technologies to the changing demands coming from the rapidly expanding productive and consumption sectors of the globalised world economies.
• The formulation and conducting of research that promotes safe, environmentally friendly and people-centred development at community, institutional, national, regional and international levels.
• The provision of opportunities to study aspects of safety, health and environmental management in various sectors of employment.

ENTRY REQUIREMENTS

Normal Entry: 5 ‘O’ Level passes English Language and Mathematics at grade C or better and a good first degree in any discipline, preferably with at least a 2.2 classification. Preference will be given to applicants with work experience.

PROGRAMME CHARACTERISTICS

Areas of Study:            Occupational Safety, Health, Environmental Management, Geo-information Sciences.

Specialist Focus:                       Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Risk and Hazard Identification, Assessment and Management.

Orientation:                  Occupational and other risk and hazard prevention, mitigation and management. Policy and legislation formulation, implementation and enforcement. Teaching and learning are professionally oriented and focused on practical aspects.

Distinctive Features:   The programme builds the research-technology-innovation-management continuum and focuses on knowledge development using a student-centred approach.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES AND FURTHER EDUCATION

Employability:             Careers in environmental management; research institutions; positions in academia; safety, health and environmental consultancy; application of geo-information science; occupational safety and health; environmental planning.

Further Studies:           Master and Doctoral studies in Occupational Safety, Health and Environmental Management.

PROGRAMME DELIVERY

Teaching and Learning Methods: Lectures, tutorials, laboratory activities, seminars, group work, field-based activities, industrial visits, research projects and individual independent study.

Assessment Methods: Written and oral examinations, tests, written and practical assignments, laboratory reports, field reports and seminar presentations.

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

Level 1 Semester 1

DGES 531 Introduction to Environmental Safety and Health                                               18

DGES 532 Environmental Safety and Health Legislation                                                    18

DGES 533 Occupational Health and Safety                                                                          18

DGES 534 Population, Health and the Environment                                                            18

DGES 535 Geographic Information Systems and Remote Sensing                                      18

DGES 536 Research Methods for Safety, Health and Environmental Management            18

Level 1 Semester 2

DGES 537 Environmental Management in Industry                                                             18

DGES 538 Water Supply and Sanitation                                                                               18

DGES 539 Environmental Impact Assessment                                                                     18

DGES 540 Waste Management                                                                                             18

DGES 541 Environmental Economics                                                                                  18

 

Level 2 Semester 1

DGES 542 Environmental Politics                                                                                        18

DGES 543 Climate Change, Agriculture and the Environment                                            18

DGES 631 Research Project                                                                                                  54

MODULE SYNOPSES 

DDGES 531 Environmental Safety and Health

The module provides basic instruction on the principles of environmental safety and health. Students will be introduced to key concepts of environment, safety and health such as Environmental Management Systems, Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), Quality Management Systems and Energy Management.

DGES 532 Environmental Safety and Health Legislation

The module outlines the legislation governing environmental health and safety at local, national and international levels in various sectors of the economy.

DGES 533 Occupational Health and Safety

The module provides an outline on accident prevention, loss causation and incident evaluating risk, risk control, emergency planning and accident reporting and recording. It will also examine procedures in safety inspection, criminal and civil law and measuring health and safety performance at the workplace and work equipment. It will also provide an overview of occupational health and safety in Zimbabwe.

DGES 534 Population, Health and the Environment

The module examines the relationship between the environment and human and animal disease patterns. Environmental determinants of health problems and experiences including physical, biological, chemical and human-related aspects will be explored in urban and rural settlements. Key issues and concerns in the population environment nexus will be addressed.

DGES 535 Geographical Information Systems and Remote Sensing

The module explores spatial analysis of data which can be used in different environmental safety and health situations. Concepts of geographic primitives, geographical data management, geographical data analysis, satellite images and image processing are examined.

DGES 536 Research Methods for Safety, Health and Environmental Management

The module equips students with the skills needed to identify suitable research topics, establish plausible theoretical answers and carry out high-quality research using a variety of methodological and research techniques. Topics will cover issues such as research problem formulation, research design, sampling, research ethics, measurement techniques and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, presentation of results and dissemination.

DGES 537 Environmental Management in Industry

The module covers issues on environmental management standards in the industry, initial environmental review, environmental policies, environmental planning, procedures and responsibilities, training, internal and external communication, environmental auditing and management review and cleaner production practices.

DGES 538 Water Supply and Sanitation

The module covers issues on sustainable supply of affordable water, participatory water planning processes and local credit arrangements for basic service of affordable water, safe management of human excreta, including “hardware” (latrines, sewers etc) and the “software” (regulation, hygiene promotion). Environmental sanitation deals with the control of all factors in the physical environment that may have deleterious impacts on human health.

DGES 539 Environmental Impact Assessment

The module outlines the historic development of the concept, objectives, terminology and methods used and policies for the implementation of environmental impact assessment (EIA). The module also critically reviews the steps and procedures of EIA in Zimbabwe, review and implementation methods for impact identification, analysis and assessment as well as multi-criteria evaluation and other decision support tools.

DGES 540 Waste Management

The module explores the approaches used in the management of hazardous and non-hazardous solid and liquid waste and measures for improving the efficiency of waste management strategies. It also covers the framework for waste management, sound practices, comparative solid waste management and waste management and GIS.

DGES 541 Environmental Economics

The module examines the general micro and macro-economic and environmental economic principles and their practical applications. It also covers issues which range from welfare economics, environmental policy instruments viz-a-vis market, valuation of environmental resources, techniques for the economic appraisal of environmental projects, environmental input-output modelling and environmental accounting at the firm level.

DGES 542 Environmental Politics

The module explains the main themes of environmental politics and policy at local, national, regional and global levels. Substantive problems and political processes of environmental policymaking, contemporary radical environmental thought and movements will be discussed. 

DGES 543 Climate Change, Agriculture and the Environment

The module addresses issues such as the causes of climate change and, impact of climate change on agriculture and the environment. Concepts of agroecology and sustainable agriculture and development will be looked at together with important ongoing processes and their impact on the environment, methods to assess processes and their effects and policy and technical measures to control processes and their effects.

DGES 631 Research Project

Students to present a research project based on concepts learnt theoretically and in the field. The guidelines for the project will be based on the basic skills of research and report writing, including the development of a research problem, formulation of research objectives, research methodology, data analysis, conclusions and recommendations.