Safety and Health Competence

Global and technological transformation is changing work and learning. A broader understanding of prevention and cultural change associated with it is putting new demands on companies and their employees. People and organizations need suitable competences to deal with this transformation. They need to be empowered to shape decent living and working conditions. Safety and Health Competence: A Guide for Cultures of Prevention is written in the context of work and health. The use of a social-constructive and a context sensitive approach to competence in occupational safety and health is new and forms a theoretical basis for putting into place the necessary learning processes for cultural transformation in companies and educational institutions.

• Covers a broad range of new demands placed on companies and employees in this age of global and technological transformation
• Provides assistance with a better understanding of the current debate on occupational safety and health (OSH) competences
• Presents a comprehensive source of information for OSH experts, human resource specialists, educational institutions, training development specialists, teachers, and trainers, allowing them to identify competence needs, promote competence development, and assess competences
• Explains what the concept culture of prevention means
• Offers real-life examples that will appeal to practitioners

Ulrike Bollmann

After studying education and philosophy, Ulrike finalized her academic studies with a thesis on the historical-logical development of the modern concept of knowledge. From 1991 she worked as a researcher at the Regional Institute for Schools and Further Education of North Rhine-Westphalia, from 1994 she was employed at the West German Trade Council. In 1999 she started working for the German Social Accident Insurance (DGUV). From 2002 to 2004 she worked as a national detached expert at the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU OSHA)in Spain. Ulrike has been responsible for International Cooperation at the Institute for Work and Health of the German Social Accident Insurance since 2006. She has been the coordinator of the European Network Education and Training in Occupational Safety and Health (ENETOSH) since 2005. Recently she finalized an empirical study on education and training in occupational safety and health. A common research project on the leading indicator "Trust" for a culture of prevention together with the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) is ongoing. Ulrike is a member of the Editorial Board of Safety Science, a member of the Scientific Committee on Education & Competency Development, the Training and Advisory Council of OSHAfrica and member of the Advisory Board of the Erasmus+ project RiskMan.

George Boustras

George is Professor in Risk Assessment at European University Cyprus, Dean of the Ioannis Gregoriou School of Business Administration and Director of the Centre of Risk and Decision Sciences (CERIDES). George is a PhD in Probabilistic Fire Risk Assessment from CFES at Kingston University London, he was Honorary Research Fellow at CPSE at Imperial College London (2003 - 2005), and KTP Research Fellow at FSEG at the University of Greenwich (2009). He sits at the Management Committee of Secure Societies - Protecting Freedom and Security of Europe and its citizens of "HORIZON 2020". He was appointed by the Ministerial Council of the Republic of Cyprus to Head the Special Task Force that overlooked the modernization of the Fire Services. He was hired by World Bank to contribute to the modernisation of licensing services provided by the Fire Service of the Hellenic Republic. The President of the Republic of Cyprus appointed him, as Vice President in the Energy Strategy Council. He consulted the Ministry of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus in the Risk Assessment of Unexploded Ordnance as part of Gas Exploration. George is Editor-in-Chief of Safety Science (Elsevier) and Member of the Editorial Board of Fire Technology (Springer), the International Journal of Emergency Management and International Journal οf Critical Infrastructure (both Inderscience). He (co-)supervises 7 PhD students.