| Course | APS-4000 Occupational Safety and Health |
|---|---|
| Module | Module 1 |
| Paper type | Research exercise: the safety and health manager, with project part 1 |
| Length | About 447 words, 4 pages |
| Format | APA 7 student paper |
| School | Thomas Edison State University |
| Program | B.S. in Medical Imaging |
| Updated | October 2026 |
Free sample paper for APS 4000 Module 1
Who Owns Safety in Imaging? The Safety and Health Manager's Role and Three Problems Worth Studying
Student Name
B.S. in Medical Imaging, Thomas Edison State University
APS-4000: Occupational Safety and Health
Mentor Name
Month Day, Year
Who Owns Safety in Imaging? The Safety and Health Manager's Role and Three Problems Worth Studying
The Role
Asfahl and Rieske (2019) describe the safety and health manager as the person who identifies hazards, recommends and promotes controls, keeps records, ensures compliance with regulations and trains and persuades others to work safely. Much of the role is persuasion: the manager rarely controls budgets or operations directly and must work through supervisors and senior leaders. The authors also stress that the role has moved from enforcing rules toward building safety into how work is planned.
How the Role Is Divided in a Hospital
Our hospital has no single safety and health manager for imaging. The hospital safety officer oversees the environment of care, injury reporting and compliance with occupational safety rules. A radiation safety officer, a medical physicist, oversees radiation protection, dosimetry and the hospital's radioactive materials license. In the imaging department, the director and lead technologists handle daily safety: equipment checks, protective aprons and staffing. This division works for routine matters but leaves gaps when a problem crosses roles, such as a technologist injured lifting a patient onto a CT table, which is not a radiation issue and is reported only as a general employee injury.
Safety Climate
Zohar (2010) reviewed thirty years of safety climate research and described safety climate as employees' shared perceptions of the priority their organization actually gives to safety relative to other goals, such as speed, as shown by managers' everyday actions. He found it is a consistent predictor of safety behavior and injury. In our department, technologists see that throughput is measured daily and safety rarely discussed, which shapes how they work under pressure.
Three Safety and Health Problems
Workplace violence is not unique to our department. Phillips (2016) reviewed evidence that health care workers in the United States are assaulted far more often than workers in most other industries, with emergency settings among the riskiest, and that much violence goes unreported.
| Problem | Definition | Why it matters here |
|---|---|---|
| Patient handling injuries | Musculoskeletal injuries to staff from lifting, transferring or repositioning patients | Five lost-time back and shoulder injuries in imaging last year |
| Occupational radiation exposure | Dose to staff from scatter during fluoroscopy, portable radiography and procedures | Two technologists' badge readings rose after a new interventional suite opened |
| Workplace violence | Physical assault or threats by patients or visitors | Three assaults by confused or agitated emergency patients during CT scans |
Conclusion
The safety and health manager's role in our hospital is shared, which creates gaps in problems that cross boundaries. Of the three problems, patient handling injuries fall most clearly into such a gap and will be the strongest candidate for the semester project.
References
Asfahl, C. R., & Rieske, D. W. (2019). Industrial safety and health management (7th ed.). Pearson.
Phillips, J. P. (2016). Workplace violence against health care workers in the United States. New England Journal of Medicine, 374(17), 1661-1669. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMra1501998
Zohar, D. (2010). Thirty years of safety climate research: Reflections and future directions. Accident Analysis & Prevention, 42(5), 1517-1522. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aap.2009.12.019
Reading the APS 4000 Module 1 assignment instructions
APS-4000 requires seven discussion forums, seven research exercises tied to the modules, seven open-resource module quizzes of twenty questions and a semester project built in six parts, with Asfahl and Rieske's Industrial Safety and Health Management as the text. Module 1's research exercise covers the safety and health manager, and Part 1 of the project, a list of three safety and health problems and their definitions, is due with this module. Describe the role from the text, apply it to your own workplace and define three problems from your occupation precisely enough that one can become your project. Describe who is responsible for safety where you work and where gaps fall between roles. The table of problems should be concrete.
How this APS 4000 Module 1 example is built
The exercise opens with Asfahl and Rieske's description of the safety and health manager as a hazard finder, record keeper, trainer and persuader. It then shows how the role is split in a hospital among a safety officer, a radiation safety officer and department leads, and where gaps appear. Zohar's review of safety climate explains how daily management attention shapes behavior. A margin note offers a quick way to read climate. A three-row table defines patient handling injuries, radiation exposure and workplace violence with local evidence, and Phillips's review supports the violence problem. The conclusion picks the strongest candidate. Phillips's review shows violence is not unique to the department.
Where the marks sit in the APS 4000 Module 1 rubric
Mentors grade APS-4000 research exercises on correct understanding of course concepts, research beyond the text, application to the student's occupation, clear organization and correct citation. For Module 1, credit goes to papers that describe the safety and health manager's role accurately and show how it works in a real organization. Problems for the project should be defined precisely, with evidence that they matter. The final project rubric values correct analysis and professionalism, so a careful start helps the whole project. Mentors also look for problems defined narrowly enough to study, with a reason each one matters in the student's workplace. A careful start makes the later parts of the project easier.
Common APS 4000 Module 1 mistakes, and how to avoid them
Students lose points by describing safety managers in general terms, by listing problems too broad to study, such as "safety," or by giving no evidence that the problems occur. Use your own workplace, explain who is responsible for safety and where gaps exist, and define three specific problems with a sentence on why each matters. Choose problems you can research in the literature. A free first draft of your APS-4000 Module 1 research exercise can be built on your occupation. Give each of your three problems a one-sentence definition and a piece of local evidence, such as injury counts. Choose problems you can find published research about, since the project requires a literature review.
Write yours, or have the desk draft it
This paper is an original model document written by our desk, not a submitted student paper and not an official Thomas Edison State University document. Read it for the moves, then write your own to the instructions in your classroom. If you want one built to your exact prompt and rubric, the first custom sample is free and arrives in 24 to 48 hours.
More APS 4000 and B.S. in Medical Imaging sample papers
- APS 4000 Module 2: Research Exercise: Which Rules Govern Safety in a New Jersey Hospital Imaging Department?
- APS 4000 Module 3: Research Exercise: Applying the Hierarchy of Controls to Patient Handling in Imaging
- APS 4000 Module 4: Research Exercise: Imaging's Part in a Hospital Mass Casualty Plan
- APS 4000 Module 5: Research Exercise: Controlling Scatter Radiation in a New Interventional Suite
- APS 4000 Module 6: Final Project Report: Ending Manual Patient Lifts in a Hospital Imaging Department
- APS 4000 Module 7: Project Presentation: Ergonomics and a Safe Patient Handling Program for Imaging
APS 4000 Module 1 questions, answered
Where can I find a free APS 4000 Module 1 sample paper?
The research exercise above describes the safety and health manager's role in a hospital imaging department and defines three project problems.
What does a safety and health manager do?
Identifies hazards, recommends controls, keeps records, ensures compliance and trains and persuades others to work safely.
What is safety climate?
Employees' shared perceptions of how much priority their organization really gives safety compared with other goals.
What is Part 1 of the APS-4000 project?
A list of three safety and health problems from your occupation, with their definitions, due in Module 1.
What textbook does APS-4000 use?
Asfahl and Rieske's Industrial Safety and Health Management, seventh edition.