Title:	Peter A Start Occupational Safety and Health Practitioner Medal
Award Type:	Medal
	Cert Safety & Health at Work
Long Description:	This award is proposed by the family of the late Dr Peter A Start. Dr. Peter Start, a senior lecturer in Chemistry in UCD, and UCD’s safety officer for 14 years, was joint founder and academic director of the UCD Centre for Safety and Health at Work, established in 1991. Peter played a major part in the development of UCD’s Diploma in Safety, Health and Welfare at Work, first offered in 1989, one of the first Irish professional education programmes in OSH, working with former Registrar and Deputy President of UCD, Dr Caroline Hussey, and former Chief Executive of the Health and Safety Authority, Tom Walsh. In 1993, recognising the need for a lower level qualification for those with responsibility for OSH, but who may not wish to make it their career, Peter and Caroline developed the UCD Certificate in Safety and Health at Work, a distance-education satellite-delivered programme, the first and only one of its kind in Ireland; this was a model which has delivered UCD education locally to working adult students for nearly 30 years. In 2013 it was converted to the current online blended learning format. Dr. Start was a chartered fellow of the Professional Body (Institution of Occupational Safety & Health) and a founding member of IOSH’s Ireland Branch; he was awarded OSH Person of the Year by IOSH Ireland in 2012. He was also a Life Governor of the Security Institute of Ireland, a fellow of the Institute of Chemistry of Ireland and of the Royal Society of Chemistry. He was instrumental in gaining industry support for the Sun Alliance Award (Medal), which was awarded to the top student on the Diploma in Safety, Health and Welfare at Work each year from 1991 to 2006. It is fitting that an academic medal in Peter’s name be the symbol of recognition of academic excellence for the current generation of OSH students taking the UCD Certificate, in Safety and Health at Work. The Level 7, 20-credit Certificate programme is a blended learning programme initiated in 1993, initially delivered by satellite TV and now through blended online learning. All students are working adults with an interest in, or responsibility for, Occupational Safety and Health; the previous educational background of students ranges from early school leavers to PhD. Since it commenced, the Certificate programme has emerged as a feeder programme / access route to further third level education for students who engage with third level education for the first time on this programme and on completion decide to go on to further study. This proposed award will be based on academic merit, among eligible students. Eligibility will be limited to students who have not previously successfully completed a National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) Level 7 programme in the Irish further or higher education system (or international equivalent) and supports lifelong learning for a diverse audience. Applicants to this programme are asked the following question as part of the normal programme UCD online application process: “What is the highest educational qualification on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) that you have achieved to date?”. This question was in place long before the medals were proposed. The UCD Widening Participation Strategy recognises the need to diversify our student cohort and make UCD more accessible to a wider variety of students including mature and part-time learners. This award, which will only be for part-time mature learners attending third level for the first time, recognises the value that this cohort of students can bring to enriching life in UCD and can be seen as a promotion of their inclusion into our scholarly community. UCD Access and Lifelong Learning have been consulted and are in support of this award.
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