Accredited OHS professional education: A step change for OHS capability

• Concepts of competence and capability are compared.
• OHS capability statements developed based on Australian Qualification Framework.
• OHS Body of Knowledge defines theoretical knowledge for capability.
• Impact of accreditation on OHS education is analysed.
• Accreditation has positively impacted OHS education in Australia.

In the last two years Australia has seen a step-change in Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) professional education with the implementation of the OHS regulator-funded OHS Body of Knowledge project. This project resulted in the development and publication of the OHS Body of Knowledge, accreditation of university-level OHS professional education and certification of OHS professionals and practitioners. The OHS Body of Knowledge for Generalist OHS Professionals was first published in 2012 and work is ongoing. The OHS Body of Knowledge is achieving recognition within Australia and internationally. Professional accreditation for university level OHS education was introduced in 2012. Coincidentally, accreditation of OHS professional education has been implemented at the same time as structural changes in the quality standards for universities and changes in the Australian Qualification Framework presenting significant opportunities.Commencing with a brief description of the rationale, development and implementation of the OHS Body of Knowledge project this paper focuses on the OHS Body of Knowledge itself and accreditation of OHS professional education. The paper provides a discussion on competence compared with capability. It then examines the impact of recent Australian government initiatives, the OHS Body of Knowledge and accreditation, on capability and draws on the results of accreditation assessments to describe the impact on OHS education. The paper concludes with an evaluation of the contribution of the OHS Body of Knowledge and program accreditation to the capability outcomes of the Australian Work Health and Safety Strategy for 2012–22 with an extrapolation to potential lessons for other countries.