University of South Wales apologises over poor health and safety advice

A review found that students on a University of Wales health and safety course had been given wrong advice, which, if followed, could have had dangerous consequences.

Students on the Master Degree Course on Safety Health and Environmental Management were given inaccurate information by a lecturer on the safety and business risk module. He told students that oil can be heated to 360°C, when in reality it catches fire at 250°C.

The lecturer was also found to have a pattern of wrong advice when teaching students about fire safety doors and other matters. He also gave information on barbecuing inside, which is a dangerous practice. The university has offered students the chance to repeat the safety and business risk module again at no cost and offered financial compensation to students for their inconvenience, reported by the BBC to be in the region of £2,000.

The University of South Wales issued a statement in which it said: "There is no evidence or suggestion that any harm has been caused in the health and safety sense by shortcomings in the way the lectures were delivered. But it shouldn't have happened in the first place, and we've done everything possible to put it right."

The Safety course at the University of South Wales trains the next generation of health and safety practitioners. Protective workwear can help keep workers safe, but it is also vital that they receive accurate knowledge about safety from health and safety practitioners.