Spotlight on: Diploma of Work Health and Safety

BSB51319 Diploma of Work Health and Safety is one of our most in demand qualifications, available through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). Discover why it is so popular, an overview, career prospects, average annual salary and how you can check your eligibility.

Work Health & Safety

Work Health and Safety roles within any organisation are of primary importance since work health and safety impacts both the productivity and welfare of every individual.

Demand for WHS professionals has increased dramatically in the past few years, and is projected to grow more than 15% over the next 5 years.

Organisations are also becoming increasingly aware of their legislative obligations surrounding duty of care and due diligence; particularly around psychosocial hazards. This awareness has resulted in many new, exciting and lucrative career opportunities within the WHS sector.

Average annual salaries for WHS Officers are $100+ in many parts of Australia.

With increasing employment opportunities has come a greater requirement for qualifications. In most organisations you will find that the Diploma of Work Health and Safety has now become a prerequisite for anyone wanting to step up in their WHS career.

Diploma of Work Health & Safety

To complete the Diploma of Work Health and Safety through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL), you need to demonstrate that you have the skills and knowledge to manage risks (including identifying hazards), manage legal responsibilities in a WHS context, and investigate and report on health and safety incidents.

The Diploma level is also a proactive contributor to the workplace: not just responding to incidents, but educating and leading initiatives to improve health and safety measures in a workplace.

There is a focus on your communication skills, analytical abilities to resolve WHS problems that may be complex and using your best judgement to make decisions.

You will have people who report to you on WHS issues and look to you for direction and resolutions.

The Diploma of Work Health and Safety has 10 units of competency, five of which are core (or mandatory) units, and five elective units of competency.

The core units address skills and knowledge in these areas:

Management across WHS consultations and systematic management of WHS risks
WHS incident investigations
Contributing to developing, implementing, and maintaining systems that manage WHS in the workplace.

To be eligible to enrol in the Diploma of Work Health and Safety you need to have five core units from BSB41419 Certificate IV in Work Health and Safety. You can have older versions of these units provided they have been deemed equivalent.

Apply Here to check your eligibility.

Where could Diploma of Work Health & Safety take you?

Examples of Position Titles relevant to Diploma level work:

Environmental Health Officer
Occupational Health and Safety Adviser, Coordinator or Officer
Work Health and Safety advisor
WHS Manager, WHS Officer, WHS Coordinator
Advisor, Health & Safety
Health & Safety Training Officer / Health Safety & Training Officer
Health Safety & Environment (HSE) Advisor
HSE Coordinator, HSE Superintendent, HSE Manager
Safety, Health & Wellbeing Advisor
Health, Safety, Environment & Training Coordinator
Health, Safety, Environment & Quality Manager
Health, Safety & Wellbeing Manager
Occupational Health & Safety Officer
Occupational Health & Safety Project Officer
Coordinator, Safety
Occupational Hygienist
Workplace Rehabilitation Officer

Thank you for saving lives

If you are employed in the WHS industry, you’re helping to save lives. Sadly, in 2023 we lost over 170 people to workplace incidents. That’s 170 families whose loved one did not return from work, and exponentially more family, friends and colleagues who will be affected by the ongoing grief of loss.