The Fairmont State University Occupational Safety program has been ranked in the Top 25 Best Value Occupational Safety and Health Degrees 2019 by Value Colleges.

The four-year program is an ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) accredits program through the Applied and Natural Sciences Commission. There are currently only 17 institutions with a safety-related four-year program that are ABET accredited.

Fairmont State’s program is also a Qualified Academic Program through the Board of Certified Professionals, meaning graduates are immediately eligible for the Graduate Safety Practitioner designation.

The GSP designation sets our students apart from the rest to future employers, making them more marketable and allows them to immediately start working toward their Certified Safety Professional Designation.

“Through our coursework, students have quite a bit of hands on training and are required to complete at least one internship as part of their course study.  We also require a senior capstone project where we work with local industry to work on a specific project/problem and the students have to work as a team to develop programs/solutions with the ‘customer’,” Program Coordinator Abby Chapman said. “Our job placement rate for graduates is nearing 100 percent; this is a high demand profession and our program is recognized as one of the best. “

“As an alumnus (2004) and now program coordinator for Occupational Safety, being one of the Top 25 best Safety and Health programs is an honor and a great recognition of the hard work put forth by our predecessors.”

Fairmont State offers both a two-year and four-year degree in Occupational Safety.  No matter which path students choose, they can expect to have a course of study that includes math, chemistry, physics, human anatomy, statistics, speech, written composition and psychology courses.

Laboratory activities enhance the learning process through hands-on projects.