Graduate Certificate in Safety Leadership

Learn the skills necessary to enact a new kind of safety leadership that puts a focus on the practical expertise needed to get the job done. This graduate certificate will help you advance from the simple, linear cause-effect thinking that has typically characterised safety work in Australia and help you to challenge pre-occupations with process and compliance. You will learn about resilience, complexity science and holism and be taken on an exciting journey into a new era of safety.

You will study a range of theories that focus on why accidents happen and how they can be prevented, including normal accidents theory, human reliability theory, as well as structural and interpretational perspectives to risk and safety. With this knowledge, you will be capable of critiquing safety practices and comparing and contrasting the strengths and weaknesses of accident models, ensuring your analysis and critical thinking can help improve safety systems in your own workplace.

By looking beyond the narrow understandings of safety that still exist at many organisations and institutions, you will understand how to address safety using safety management systems and the processes and procedures that have proven roles in achieving high safety standards. Importantly, you'll view people as a solution to safety issues, not the problem, putting empathy at the centre of your plans to create a safe workplace.

This program is for people who have worked in safety at various levels. Whether you are new to the field or are experienced, this degree will help you critically examine your own approach to safety and how it can be approved. You'll learn from experienced academics alongside graduates and working professionals in a collaborative working environment that includes interactive lectures and seminars and group work, so you can make important industry connections.

You will find career opportunities in system safety, process safety and occupational health and safety roles at manager and director levels, particularly in industries such as energy, construction, healthcare, aviation, mining, manufacturing, transport and human services. Exciting career paths are available in corporations, government and consulting firms. You will also be eligible for entry into the Master of Arts and further postgraduate study.

Study anytime, anywhere - This degree is available online through our Digital campus, giving you more room to fit university with your work and social life.

The courses in this graduate certificate may be credited towards a related graduate diploma or masters degree. Griffith's innovative Credit Precedent Database allows you to find out what credit decisions have been made in the past, which will give you an idea of what you can expect.

Safety is a critical aspect of a range of industries, including aviation, mining, construction, health care, transport, events, tourism, and many more. This graduate certificate can be the launching pad to a new career in safety or could help you advance your existing career in this field, including to the manager and director level.

• Public Administration and Safety
• Professional, Scientific and Technical Services
• Construction
• Mining
• Health Care and Social Assistance
• Other Industries

• System safety manager
• Process safety manager
• Occupational health and safety manager
• Safety director

*Source: Australian Government Job Outlook.

Griffith University grants credit and recognition of prior learning which may relate to prior formal learning or prior informal and non-formal learning. For more information, please visit the following website:

• Credit transfer

Griffith's innovative Credit Precedent Database allows you to find out what credit decisions have been made in the past. These precedents will give you an idea of what you can expect.

• View credit precedents for this program

To apply, add this program to your shortlist at the top of this page or apply for this program now (a maximum of three preferences is allowed).

Griffith will assess your first preference and will only assess subsequent preferences if you are not successful.

Once you have submitted your application, you will be sent an email about how to track your application.

For a full list of your incomplete or submitted applications, please view your application list.