Occupational health and safety: six engineering schools recognised

The French national council on occupational health and safety (CNES&ST) has awarded a label to six schools which have implemented exemplary methods for teaching occupational health and safety courses.
 

Six schools have implemented exemplary teaching methods with the goal of training future managers to be responsible and capable of ensuring the health and safety of their employees while improving company performance. They received the CNES&ST award on 10 October 2016 at the Ministry of Higher Education.
 

The CNES&ST label recognises the implementation of “Essentials in Occupational Health and Safety” (BES&ST), a skills checklist developed by INRS based on three focus points:

• identifying the human, social, economic and legal aspects of occupational health and safety;
• incorporating these aspects into day-to-day practices and projects;
• contributing to occupational health and safety management within the enterprise.
   

In a continuing commitment to make occupational health and safety a part of engineering training, two agreements were signed at the award ceremony:

• an agreement between INRS and CTI, a national body charged with the accreditation of schools offering engineering degree programmes;
• an agreement between CNAMTS, INRS and the Polytech network of 13 engineering schools (teaching 14,000 students).
   

The national council on occupational health and safety (CNES&ST) is composed of an equal number of representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education and Research, INRS and its social security partners. In the last three years, CNES&ST has stepped up its activities with CTI and the majority of the country’s engineering schools to accompany them in the implementation of educational content on occupational health and safety. It has developed teaching tools to assist them, including massive open online courses, case studies, short videos and DVDs.