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The Safety Sciences Internship Program

Overview

Internships in the Safety Sciences Department are an integral part of the academic program, providing students with an environment which fosters academic and personal growth. Internships are field-based extensions of classroom learning, enabling students to: relate theory to practice, experience conditions of the work world and clarify individual career goals. Internships demand a maturity of the individual student for such things as: working side by side with others of different ethnic, social class, or experiential backgrounds whose views may differ from their own; performing a job at the quality level demanded; assuming responsibility; demonstrating work skills and reasoning ability; and taking the initiative to be actively involved in all aspects of their assignment. Internships act to generate communication and mutual understanding between the University and the business community.

All Safety Sciences seniors must complete an internship before graduation. The Internship Program is conducted at various industrial enterprises. The Program allows the student to apply hazard assessment and safety management practices to actual industrial situations while being exposed to complexities of the industrial environment. There are two options for Safety Sciences interns, the full-time option and the part-time option.

Part-Time Option (SAFE 493 - 6 credits)

Work sites within a 100-mile radius of the IUP campus are preferred for this option. This Internship Program is offered during the spring and fall terms only. It is not a paid internship. The interns (usually in pairs) make up to four sets of visits to a variety of industrial-institutional sites to carry out in-depth assignments made by the Safety Sciences faculty. These assignments are carried out in conjunction with an on-site supervisor and the results discussed in a detailed written report. The reports are graded by the Safety Sciences faculty. An ungraded copy goes to the on-site supervisor for use at the internship site. The Safety Sciences faculty has developed criteria for selecting sites for their interns to conduct assignments. The criteria are as follows. The site:

1. Must have at least 100 employees at the site where the interns will conduct their assignments.
2. Must have a person who handles safety responsibilities full time at the site where the interns will conduct their assignments.
3. Must be operational during the days on which the interns will visit.
4. Must be willing to have the pair of interns work on assignments in primarily one of the following four areas; (1) injury prevention (safety), (2) occupational illness prevention (industrial hygiene), (3) fire prevention and suppression, or (4) ergonomics, systems safety or environmental protection.

Full-Time Option (SAFE 488 - 12 credits)

This is a 12-week, 40-hour per week assignment, and the intern is usually paid by the employer. This Internship Program is offered spring, summer and fall terms. The criteria for students to participate in this option are the completion of all undergraduate Safety Sciences course with at least a 3.2 GPA in the major and an overall GPA of 3.0. Safety Sciences faculty work with the company supervisor to develop specific assignments. The intern completes one report for each of the following sub disciplines of Safety Sciences (usually consisting of several subparts): (1) Safety Engineering, (2) Industrial Hygiene, (3) Fire Protection, (4) Other. Copies of these reports are provided to the faculty coordinator and the company supervisor.  As with the Part-Time Internship the internship site must have at least 100 employees and there must be a person who handles safety responsibilities full time.

Intern Evaluation

Employers who participate in the Internship Program must complete a student evaluation form. Organizations with Part-Time interns complete the evaluation at the end of the Internship, those with Full-Time interns must do the evaluation at midterm and at the end of the Internship. Employers may use this link to open the Intern Evaluation Form as a Word Document and save it to their computer. Please complete it as necessary and return it as an email attachment to jolenec@iup.edu or fax it to 724-357-3992.

If you are an employer interested in having an IUP Intern or Co-op student at your site, please fill out the following form. Internship/Co-op Data Please select which one your company is interested in: Full-Time Internship Part-Time Internship Co-op On-Site Supervisor's Name: On-Site Supervisor's Phone #: On-Site Supervisor's E-mail: Company Name: Department: Address: City: State: Zip:   Internship/Co-op Position Starting date (MM/DD/YY): Internship/Co-op Position Ending date (MM/DD/YY): Number of Weeks: Hours per Week: Daily Starting Time: Daily Ending Time:     Anticipated Hourly Salary: Please provide a one paragraph job description which includes job responsibilities:   /