OCHS13019 - Prevention Through Design

Showing: 2026 HE Term 1
General Information

Unit Synopsis

You will develop competence and confidence in using prevention through design (PtD) strategies and tools. PtD, or 'safe design', is a process of hazard identification and risk assessment to eliminate or minimize risk of injury and anticipate failure modes throughout the life of the product or system. You will be given the knowledge needed to optimise human performance and enhance safety in a socio-technical environment. Topics include safe design principles, optimisation of the design process, life cycle analysis, hazard and operability studies, Fault Tree Analysis , Failure Modes and Effect Analysis and strategic design risk assessment using the Safety Case. There is an emphasis on human factors engineering, the principles of technology adoption and consideration of the notion of disruptive technologies.

Details

Level Undergraduate
Unit Level 3
Credit Points 6
Student Contribution Band SCA Band 2
Fraction of Full-Time Student Load 0.125
Pre-requisites or Co-requisites

Pre-Requisite:- 72 credit points including successful completion of AINV11002 and either OCHS13008 or OCHS12019

Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework).

Class Timetable View Unit Timetable
Residential School No Residential School

Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026

Term 2 - 2026 Profile
Online

Attendance Requirements

All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).

Assessment Overview

Recommended Student Time Commitment

Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.

Assessment Tasks

Assessment Task Weighting
1. Portfolio 50%
2. Group Work 20%
3. Presentation and Written Assessment 30%

This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).

Consult the University's Grades and Results Policy for more details of interim results and final grades

Past Exams

Previous Feedback

Term 2 - 2025 : The overall satisfaction for students in the last offering of this course was 50.00% (`Agree` and `Strongly Agree` responses), based on a 25% response rate.

Feedback, Recommendations and Responses

Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.

Source: Student Unit & Teaching Evaluation survey
Feedback:
 Students requested clearer assessment explanations.

Recommendation:
 In addition to tutorials focused on assessment requirements, it is recommended that short videos on the individual assessment items be pre-recorded to help students comprehend what is required for each assessment item, from the beginning of term.

Action Taken:
 This item was not actioned in 2025.
Source: Lecturer reflections on learning and teaching scholarship.
Feedback:
 Students appreciate the real world examples of concepts covered in this unit.

Recommendation:
 Continue to utilise real-world examples to enhance student learning of concepts presented in this unit.

Action Taken:
 Real world examples were utilised throughout the unit.
Source: Student Unit & Teaching Evaluation survey
Feedback:
 Students requested clearer assessment explanations.

Recommendation:
 Provide short videos on the individual assessment items be pre-recorded to help students comprehend what is required for each assessment item, from the beginning of term.

Action Taken:
 In Progress
Unit Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  1. Appraise design as an effective strategy to minimise injuries, illnesses and fatalities.
  2. Evaluate designs from a life cycle approach.
  3. Identify past and present opportunities and challenges to achieving 'prevention through design' including the design process, human factors engineering, adoption of new technology and impact of disruptive technologies.
  4. Evaluate potential risks associated with design issues in socio-technical systems around culture, processes, structures, equipment, tools and people by employing appropriate analytical methods.
  5. Assess the value of the elimination of hazards through the redesign of buildings and structures, work environments, materials, plant (machinery and equipment) job tasks and work environments.
  6. Create a systematic response to a design problem that incorporates the prevention through design principles and methods.
  7. Appraise design sub-optimisation and plant operational parameters as a member of a safety case design team
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Learning Outcomes
Assessment Tasks Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 - Portfolio • • • • •
2 - Group Work • • • •
3 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • •
Alignment of Graduate Attributes to Learning Outcomes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Graduate Attributes Learning Outcomes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 - Communication • • • • • •
2 - Problem Solving • • • • •
3 - Critical Thinking • • • • • • •
4 - Information Literacy • • • • • •
5 - Team Work • • • • • •
6 - Information Technology Competence • • • •
7 - Cross Cultural Competence • • • • •
8 - Ethical practice • • • • •
Alignment of Assessment Tasks to Graduate Attributes
• Introductory Level
• Intermediate Level
• Graduate Level
Assessment Tasks Graduate Attributes
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 10
1 - Portfolio • • • • • • • •
2 - Group Work • • • • • • • •
3 - Presentation and Written Assessment • • • • • •