Late in 2001, there will be changes to two examinations leading the Certified Safety Professional (CSP) designation -- the Safety Fundamentals and Comprehensive Practice examinations.
The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), with assistance from Columbia Assessment Services Inc., recently completed an extensive study of professional safety practice.
The study, which identified what today''s safety professionals do on the job, involved a role-delineation workshop with practitioners from 16 areas of safety and a survey of more than 1,300 CSPs and Associate Safety Professionals (ASPs).
This was the most comprehensive study of professional safety practice since a study in the 1970s funded by the National Institute for Occupational Health and Safety, according to BCSP.
BCSP is nationally accredited by the Council of Engineering and Scientific Specialty Boards (CESB) and the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA). Conducting periodic validation studies is one requirement for certification accreditation.
"BCSP meets national accreditation requirements of CESB and NCCA. Safety professionals were enthusiastic about participating in each phase of this validation study," said Roger Brauer, BCSP''s executive director. "Based on the results, CSP examinations will move from a subject-based to a task-based structure. The content of the Safety Fundamentals and Comprehensive Practice examinations will change somewhat to reflect changes in professional safety practice."
While both examinations cover the same subject, subject distributions are different. And there are other major difference between the examinations.
The Safety Fundamentals and Comprehensive Practice examinations differ by candidate, examination and certificant characteristics.
The Safety Fundamentals examination covers basic and fundamental knowledge for the safety discipline. Advanced knowledge of the safety discipline and application of principles and practices are on the Comprehensive Practice Examination.
BCSP will continue to use current CSP examinations which follow the existing subject-based blueprints throughout most of 2001. Late in 2001, it will switch to the examinations structure around the new, task-based organization.
For additional information, visit the BCSP Web site at www.bscp.org/validation.
by Virginia Sutcliffe
