Master of Safety Science Courses

Safety Science General Core (15 Credits)

Safety Science Research Core (9-12 Credits)

Safety Science Electives(9-12 Credits)

MSF 500 - Safety Science Foundations
1-6 credits

Course Description:
Provided for students who may need to resolve deficiencies from undergraduate studies to be properly prepared for the advanced level courses. A review of algebra and trigonometry, basic calculus, statistics, physics, chemistry, and biological science as they relate to the safety profession. (Credit not applicable to any degree.)

1. Algebra and Trigonometry. A study of the basic laws of fractions, exponents, radicals, inequalities, quadratic equations, complex numbers, and the elements of trigonometry.
2. Basic Calculus. Differentiation and integration of algebraic functions; applications to velocity, accelerations, area, curve sketching, and computation of extreme values.
3. Statistics. Descriptive statistics; populations and samples; measures of central tendency and dispersion; elementary probability; binomial and normal distributions and their interrelationship; random variables; one- and two-sample hypothesis testing involving proportions and means for large and small samples; estimation and confidence intervals; Chi square distribution; correlation coefficient; least squares line.
4. Physics. Survey course in physics. Stress will be placed on basic concepts and principles of physics. Presentation will include selected topics in mechanics, heat, light, sound, electricity and magnetism, and modern physics.
5. Chemistry. Covers basic atomic theory, elements, compounds, and mixtures, calculation of weight and weight volume relationships, basic descriptive chemistry. An overview of the current applications of chemistry and its future potential in human affairs. Applications to scientific decision-making in the business and industrial environment.
6. Biological Science. A survey course in general biological science, with emphasis on human biology. Includes basic cellular anatomy, biology, and biochemistry; viruses, bacteria, and protista; aerobic respiration and photosynthesis; mitosis and meiosis; genetics and inheritance, hereditary disorders in humans; and human tissues, organs, and organ systems.

MSF 530 - Aircraft Accident Investigation
3 credits

Course Description:
An examination of investigation as it pertains to aircraft accidents from the perspectives of the administrative, regulatory, and practical field investigation aspects. Emphasis will be on the evidence-gathering, preservation, and processing phases of accident investigation. An overview of organizations that conduct and participate in investigations, and an analysis of their roles in those investigations will be completed. Use of a laboratory will provide practical field experience. Research into investigative concepts and techniques will be an integral part of the course.

MSF 580 - Industrial Hygiene and Environmental Protection
3 credits

Course Description:
A study of the role and responsibilities of an industrial hygienist employed in technical industries. The course reviews the application of methods for the identification, evaluation, and control of industrial hygiene and environmental hazards encountered in the aviation and other workplaces. Specific hazards to be addressed include noise, vibration, ionizing and nonionizing radiation, thermal conditions, pressure, chemicals, airborne contaminants, and biological substances. Engineering and nonengineering controls as well as regulatory requirements will also be covered.

MSF 600 - Quantitative Methods
3 credits

Course Description:
This course is a survey of quantitative methods pertinent for safety practitioners. Topics include descriptive statistics, probability distributions, the idea of statistical significance, the distinction between parametric and nonparametric statistics, confidence intervals and hypothesis testing, correlation, regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA), and epidemiology.

MSF 601 - Ergonomics
3 credits

Course Description:
This course studies the most common source of musculoskeletal injuries in the American workplace. These injuries, commonly labeled as overexertion or repetitive stress, are found in various forms in all workplaces. The course begins with a study of work physiology and its implications for workplace design and workplace safety. It covers biomechanics and its implications for workplace design, low back pain, and other overexertion injuries. It covers the various cumulative trauma disorders, including the importance of risk factors such as force, frequency, and posture. Setting up and managing an ergonomics program are discussed.

MSF 602 - Human Factors
3 credits

Course Description:
This course studies the role of human factors in workplace and work task design with emphasis on complex technical industries including aviation/aerospace. This study of human factors includes traditional material such as anthropometry, control/display design, visual and auditory acuity and their importance in work design, circadian rhythms and their implications for work design and shift work, psychomotor skills, and learning and memory. It also includes the human role as it relates to unsafe acts, attitudes, errors, and deliberate actions. Finally, the course studies the interface between human factors in workplace design and human error.

Prerequisites: MSF 600 and demonstrated knowledge of behavioral science, college-level mathematics, including introductory statistics, and basic computer operations.

MSF 603 - Occupational Safety
3 credits

Course Description:
This course provides a broad overview of occupational safety. It begins with an exploration of the history of the subject, moves through the OSH Act, workers’ compensation, safety program development and management, and finally addresses a series of specific hazards. These hazards include machine guarding, material handling equipment, fall protection, fire protection, building design, and lighting. The application of safety and health management principles to the management of complex technical industries including aviation/aerospace are covered using scenario evaluations to determine OSHA compliance, accident/injury data evaluation and analysis, and OSHA log completion.

MSF 605 - Industrial Hygiene Measurement
3 credits

Course Description:
This course provides students with the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct basic industrial hygiene surveys. Hands-on laboratory experience is provided for the students, starting with equipment calibration and ending with completing a field-sampling project. Particulate sampling for both total and respirable, gravimetric analysis, gas/vapor sampling with tubes and impingers, dosimeters, use of direct reading instruments and detector tubes, are all covered. The fundamentals of sample analysis are presented. Case studies are presented to emphasize the strategies used to select sampling locations, times, and individuals.

Prerequisite: MSF 580.

MSF 606 - Control Methods in Occupational Safety and Health
3 Credits

Course Description:
This course studies the methods commonly used by OSH professionals to control aviation and industrial workplace exposures to health and safety hazards. The most commonly used control for industrial health hazards is industrial ventilation, so this control method is studied in detail, with students learning to complete basic ventilation system designs and to evaluate moderately complex designs. Students may also learn to use ventilation system testing equipment to verify a system is working as designed and to troubleshoot a system that is not working properly. The proper use of and the potential failure modes associated with personal protective equipment are evaluated. In addition, measurement and control methods for noise and vibration are examined through a series of lectures and class projects.

MSF 607 - Epidemiology
3 Credits

Course Description:
Epidemiology is the basic science underlying all public health programs, whether implemented privately in industry or publicly by government organizations. This course will deal with the distribution and causes of diseases (including all forms of illness, injury, and accidents) in specified populations. This will be applied to the control of health problems through the understanding of the causes of those problems.
MSF 600.

MSF 608 - Toxicology
3 Credits

Course Description:
Toxicology is the study of the adverse effects of chemicals on living organisms. Its relevance to OSH is that most occupational diseases are the result of workplace exposures to chemicals. Our job as OSH professionals is to prevent the adverse effects of these exposures, and to do this we must understand the toxic effects and their mechanisms. This introduction to toxicology will provide students with the basic knowledge needed to interpret the toxicological aspects of the OSH literature, including OSHA/NIOSH/EPA reports; to discuss toxicological issues with toxicologists and understand them; and to provide elementary explanations of toxicological issues to the people they serve.

MSF 609 - System Safety
3 Credits

Course Description:
An in-depth review of system safety management principles and system safety engineering techniques are combined in this course to enable students to fully comprehend their vital roles in preventing accidents. This course emphasizes the specialized integration of system safety analytical techniques and risk management into all phases of a system’s life-cycle using a system safety program that is tailored to an organization’s mission. System safety’s relationship with other disciplines such as reliability, maintainability, human factors, and product liability will be examined in the context of government, military, and general industry.

Prerequisite: MSF 600 and demonstrated knowledge of college-level mathematics, including introductory statistics.

MSF 610 - Industrial Security
3 Credits

Course Description:
This course will intensively focus on the various aspects of business intelligence and industrial security as they apply to complex and technical industries. Of prime concern are risks, threats, and countermeasures. Topics include intelligence theory and intelligence operations; foreign and domestic organized crime; industrial espionage; riots and disasters; terrorism; sabotage; hijacking; internal security; cybercrime; legal and ethical issues; de facto and regulatory roles of local, regional, and national governments, international agencies, and nongovernmental organizations; social and cultural factors; strategic planning and investment vulnerabilities; physical, operations, communications, and personnel securities.

MSF 611 - Case Studies in Safety
3 credits

Course Description:
This course will include a series of case studies that illustrate the role of human characteristics, behavior, performance and preference in the failure of simple and complex systems. The case studies will be drawn from many domains, including: aviation, transportation, manufacturing, process industry, construction, agriculture, consumer products, retail, public safety, communications, medicine and rehabilitation, and sport and recreation. Students will be given the opportunity to use system analysis and design techniques to evaluate common failure modes and explore the conditions conducive to system success or failure.

MSF 612 - Research Methods
3 credits

Course Description:
This course will have an emphasis on research methodologies leading to the development of research problems. The course will discuss problem and sample selection, data collection and literature review.

MSF 613 – Aviation Safety
3 credits

Course Description
This course is a study of the aviation system as it relates to human factors and safety. The application of human factors to aviation is inextricably connected with safety. The world wide aviation system will be covered with an emphasis on managing safety through regulatory guidelines, industry initiatives, and airline crew operations. Human factors topics will include psychological and physical implications for error management.

MSF 614 - Safety Ethics
3 credits

Course Description:
Safe practices in any workplace require good decisions from the managing safety professional. Many of the decisions to be made are of a technical nature based on the good practices of that profession. Others, though, have a foundation in the responsible relationships with other people whether they are colleagues, supervisors, or customers. These foundations have a central element of professional ethics or morality and will have a significant impact on the safety environment.

MSF 615 - Aerospace Occupational Safety and Health Program Management
3 Credits

Course Description:
Addresses the application of management principles and techniques to the management of aviation safety and health programs. Topics include planning, organizing, budgeting, resourcing, training, operating, and evaluating management processes as they relate to aviation safety and health programs. Regulatory requirements and other standards along with the measurement and evaluation of safety performance and loss control accountability are included throughout the course.

MSF 630 - Aircraft Accident Analysis
3 Credits

Course Description:
A critical analysis of selected aircraft accidents that involves extensive field work, teaming, a thorough investigation, detailed examination, group-process discussions, and decision making. Each team of student investigators will produce a professional report that includes the facts, the scenario, and an analysis of all potential factors, findings, and recommendations. Identification of accident prevention measures as a product of the analysis process is stressed. Identification and analysis of available and future loss-prevention technologies will be completed.

]MSF 635 - Advanced Aircraft Survivability Analysis and Design
3 Credits

Course Description:
Entails a detailed analysis of the aircraft accident environment with particular emphasis on survivability factors. Explores factors and forces that cause injury and examines the injury-role played by impact forces and occupiable space compromises. Examines crashworthiness and delethalization technologies and concepts with a focus on the best ways to protect occupants during a crash. Selected aircraft accidents will be used as case studies. An in-depth review of basic kinematics and development of injury-related information will be completed.

Prerequisite: MSF 530.

MSF 645 - Aircraft Fire Survivability Analysis and Design
3 Credits

Course Description:
Involves a detailed examination of basic fire science and the relationship of fire to aircraft accident survival. Examines current fire crashworthiness factors including fire development and propagation, injury and fatality mechanisms related to fire, and current evacuation systems in use. The focus will be on the configurational, procedural, environmental, and biobehavioral factors that influence survival in a fire situation. Case studies of accidents involving both in-flight and crash-related fires will be used. Identification and analysis of available and future fire-protection technologies will be completed.

MSF 655 - Airline and Operations Safety Management
3 Credits

Course Description:
This course addresses the application of safety management principles and techniques to the management of airline operations and safety. Topics include hazard identification, accident/incident investigation, flight safety, cabin safety, ground safety, and emergency response programs. Regulatory requirements and airline standards as well as accident prevention strategies are included throughout the course.

Prerequisite: MSF 615.

MSF 675 - Aviation Maintenance Safety
3 Credits

Course Description:
A study of the aviation maintenance safety practices, procedures, and policies in use throughout the aviation industry. Includes the role of maintenance safety in relation to the overall safety management program in the organization. Case studies of maintenance-related accident prevention and loss control scenarios. The influence and role of the regulatory and compliance agencies in aviation maintenance safety.

MSF 680 - Integrated Safety Operations - Capstone
3 Credits

Course Description:
Study of management theory, integrated arrangements, common constraints, developmental level, essential guidelines, staff liaison, project improvement, effectiveness audits, and collaboration needed to ensure success of the safety function. May include a written document on a safety topic, which exposes the student to the technical aspects of writing. This course is included in the MSSS curriculum to provide the student with the opportunity to study how the various domains of the safety and health occupation are integrated into a single program.

MSF 685 - Aviation Security
3 Credits

Course Description:
This course will intensively focus on the various aspects of business intelligence and industrial security as they apply to aviation and to aviation safety. Of prime concern are risks, threats, and countermeasures. Topics include intelligence theory and intelligence operations; foreign and domestic organized crime; industrial espionage; riots and disasters; terrorism; sabotage; hijacking; internal security; cybercrime; legal and ethical issues; de facto and regulatory roles of local, regional, and national governments, international agencies, and nongovernmental organizations; social and cultural factors; strategic planning and investment vulnerabilities; and physical, operations, communications, and personnel securities. Readings, lectures, discussions, and case studies will be supplemented by team exercises resulting in security plans addressing risks, threats, countermeasures, and evaluative mechanisms.

MSF 686 - Emergency Preparedness and Preplanning
3 Credits

Course Description:
This course is designed to increase the student’s knowledge of emergency response procedures, safety and health hazards, and enforcement issues for industry. Topics include a thorough discussion of scope, application, definitions, and other related standards; elements of an emergency response plan; training requirements; the incident command system; medical surveillance; and postemergency response. Major elements involved in disasters and emergencies, preparedness planning, systems use, and attention to essential human services, with emphasis on community action and the development of successful, cost-effective strategies for implementing emergency and mitigation plans.

MSF 690 - Graduate Research Project
3 Credits

Course Description:
A written document on a safety topic, which exposes the student to the technical aspects of writing. This course is included in the MSSS curriculum to provide students with the opportunity to pursue a project of special interest, but not to the level of a thesis. This is a required course for those students who choose not to write a thesis.

Prerequisite: MSF 600 and MSF 612.

MSF 696 - Graduate Internship in Safety Science
1-3 Credits

Course Description:
Temporary professional or industrial work appointments made available to students enrolled in graduate programs at the University. An internship provides graduate students with an opportunity to extend their academic endeavors through the application of the theories and philosophies studied in the classroom to specific professional activities common to the workplace. They are academic/professional activities coordinated by the University between offering organizations and a graduate student.

MSF 699 - Special Topics in Safety Science
1-3 Credits

Course Description:
Students may elect to perform a special, directed analysis and/or independent study in an area of particular interest. A detailed proposal of the desired project must be developed and presented to the center director or department chair for faculty review and recommendation at least three weeks prior to the end of registration for a term.

MSF 700 - Thesis
3 Credits

Course Description:
A written document on a safety topic supervised throughout its preparation by the student’s thesis committee, which demonstrates the student’s mastery of the topic and is of satisfactory quality for publication.

Prerequisite: MSF 600 and MSF 612.

TM 621 - Regulations, Ethics, and the Legal System
3 Credits

Course Description:
Understanding the complex regulatory and legal setting surrounding management. The Federal Acquisition Regulations and how they affect all projects’ legal responsibility and accountability, ethical considerations in and external to the organization, the international environment and how it may affect projects.