​Belinda Barnes decided to study a Diploma of Work Health and Safety with Chisholm Online to advance her career and further grow within her role as an Occupational Health and Safety Coordinator at a food manufacturing company. She shares her story with us below.​

Before I enrolled in the course, I was already working full time with my current employer as an Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Coordinator within the food manufacturing and agricultural industry. My managers suggested I enrol in a course to expand and grow within the role and also to fulfil some new workplace requirements.

I chose to study with Chisholm Online so I could complete my course without having to give up my fulltime job or adjust my work commitments.  As my company is based in both New South Wales and Victoria, I am required to travel frequently, so the ability to easily study online at any time really important to me.

I chose Chisholm Online because the traditional campus based courses have a great reputation and I felt that they would provide a good learning experience. The flexibility, ease of access and availability of staff was exactly what I was looking for and contributed to my enjoyable experience with Chisholm Online.

I found the course content to be very comprehensive yet displayed in a manner that was easy to understand. Moodle certainly had a good balance of readings, quizzes, videos, links and activities which were much more engaging than standard, traditional lectures.

The teachers were more than helpful and really took the time to help me learn effectively, going above and beyond to help with any questions. I usually reached out to my teacher twice a week, mainly in relation to assessment questions and they responded to me promptly via email or through Moodle.

I particularly enjoyed completing practical assessments where I was able to directly apply the learning content to my current role within my workplace – I could see the benefits of the course immediately.

Studying Work Health and Safety (WHS) with Chisholm Online has helped cement my knowledge of WHS/OHS Legislation and Regulations in both jurisdictions I work in. The course greatly improved my work performance in my current role and definitely has expanded my knowledge in WHS, particularly in comprehensive risk assessment.

The WHS Industry is always evolving and employers now requires candidates to have formal qualifications. As a result of obtaining the diploma, my career prospects have now increased considerably. I will be able to draw on the knowledge obtained during the course and apply it to any of my future roles within the industry.