New CSP Exam Blueprint in 2016

©istockphoto.com/michaelquirk

Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP) has published a new blueprint for its CSP exam. It will apply to exams in the second half of 2016. BCSP's validation study of the CSP, which assessed whether the exam's subject material is relevant to current practice, was completed in 2015.

According to BCSP, a great deal of material from the current version (CSP8) was carried over to the new version (CSP9). In addition, CSP9 contains nine domains, up from the three domains contained in CSP8.

The following items are considered as new focuses or clarified elements:

Domain 1

Core research methodology concepts 

Domain 2

Applicable requirements for health plans, programs, and policies

Applicable requirement for safety plans, programs, and policies

Documentation retention or management principles (e.g., incident investigation, training records, exposure records, maintenance records, environmental management options)

Management leadership techniques (e.g., management theories, leadership theories, motivation, discipline, communication styles)

Domain 4

Common workplace hazards (e.g., electrical falls, confined spaces, lockout/tagout, working around water, caught in, struck by, excavation, welding, hot work, cold and heat stress, combustibles, lasers)

Unique workplace hazards (e.g., nanoparticles, combustible dust)

Domain 7

Sustainability principles

Domain 9

Legal issues (e.g.. tort, negligence, civil, criminal, contracts, disability terminology)

Ethics related to conducting audits

BCSP Code of Ethics

BCSP plans to conduct a statistical analysis via a beta test of the new blueprint and will invite certification candidates to participate in that test in early 2016.