Safety Sciences Undergraduate Internship Program

The BS in Safety, Health, and Environmental (SHE) Applied Sciences program requires all students to complete an internship course during their last semester after they have completed all of their SAFE courses. The internship course can be taken as six or 12 credits, depending on the number of credits the student needs to meet the university credit requirements. Internships are typically paid by the employer. The internship course provides the student an opportunity to apply what they have learned in the classroom and to receive mentoring from experienced safety, health, and environmental professionals.

Please Note: A signed internship agreement must be on file for all sites participating in our internship program. A student can verify a prospective employer has a current agreement with IUP via the IUP wiki web page. After logging in to the IUP system with your credentials, click on PDFs of Currently Active Agreements to confirm the employer has an active field experience agreement with IUP.  If there is no active agreement, please contact the department chairperson at cekadat@iup.edu or 724-357-3019.

To help ensure the internship site provides the appropriate learning experience for the student, the Safety Sciences Department has developed the following criteria for all sites participating in our internship program:

1. The internship organization must have an on-site mentor that spends at least 50 percent of their time on safety, health, and environmental functions. If the intern goes to an off-site location, the intern needs to be assigned to an off-site supervisor who is knowledgeable about SHE functions.
2. The intern supervisor must be willing to mentor the intern and provide at least 15 minutes of face time each day the intern is on site.
3. The site must be willing to provide the intern with sufficient-diverse learning opportunities in the recognition, evaluation, and control of hazards. Depending on whether the student registers for an internship for six or 12 credits will dictate the number of assignments that need to be completed by the student. A student registering for six credits of internship will complete two major assignments and a student registering for 12 credits of internship will complete four major assignments. These assignments typically encompass the following areas:  
   • occupational safety
   • industrial hygiene
   • environmental safety
   • fire safety/hazardous materials
   • ergonomics
   • systems safety/process safety
   • emergency preparedness
   • construction safety
   • “other” approved by faculty supervisor
4. The intern site supervisor must agree to complete the Safety Sciences Intern Evaluation Form at 12 weeks.
5. It is assumed the site is committed to a safe and healthful workplace and the site will avoid any unnecessary risk to the intern.

SAFE 493 (6- or 12-credit options)

Internship is typically a 12-week, 40-hour-per-week assignment, and the intern is usually paid by the employer. This internship program is offered in spring, summer, and fall terms.

The Safety Sciences Department does not select students for paid internship sites. Therefore, the department strongly encourages internship sites to interview and screen prospective interns as they would any full-time employee. It is also important for the internship site to recognize that interns are students and cannot be expected to function as seasoned SHE professionals. Keep this fact in mind when evaluating the intern's performance and internship reports.