Programme Chair for the TU Dublin MSc in Environmental Health and Safety

Email: victor.hrymak@TUDublin.ie

Tel: (01) 220 5660

Profile 

Dr Victor Hrymak is chair of the MSc in Environmental Health & Safety at Technological University Dublin a position he has held for over twenty years. He is also a fire & safety consultant, expert witness in court cases, and  a work place safety researcher.  He has over 30 years of workplace safety experience with public and private sector organisations. This extensive experience includes regulatory enforcement roles in London and Dublin. He is a member of two international professional safety related bodies; the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health and the Institution of Fire Engineers, both based in the UK.  

 

Dr Hrymak began his professional career as an Environmental Health Officer in the London Borough’s of Brent and Ealing where he enforced regulatory food hygiene, fire safety, housing and workplace safety standards. He was also involved in the regulation of large public events including Wembley Stadium and Arena. In 1994 he became the fire and safety officer for Trinity College Dublin. In 1997 he became a lecturer in the School of Food Science and Environmental Health.  

  

He has  published in peer reviewed academic journals and has supervised over 400 MSc taught dissertations, two PhD theses in workplace safety. He is currently supervising two PhD students, one in construction safety and one in visual inspection conduct. He has presented at many National and International academic as well as professional workplace safety conferences.  

 

His expertise and research interests involve the conduct of workplace safety inspections, safety auditing, the selection and conduct of risk assessments as well as the implementation and statistical evaluation of safety management systems. He has also contributed his expertise on  projects and conferences for the European Agency for Safety and Health and the European Commission’s Advisory Committee on Safety and Health.   

 

Academic Qualifications 

Dr Hrymak has a PhD in visual inspection, risk assessment and safety auditing from Trinity College Dublin, an MSc in Environmental Science from Brunel University and a BSc in Environmental Health from the University of the West of England. 

Professional Qualifications 

Dr Hrymak is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (CMIOSH) and a member of the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE).  

Research Interests 

Dr Hrymak has two particular research areas of  interest; how to conduct visual inspections and how best to prevent accidents, injuries,  fires  and ill health. He is always interested to hear from potential students and industry interested in any of these areas. 

Recent Publications 

In Press; Hrymak V. 2023 The role of Vision Zero and related strategies in reducing EU work related fatalities, accidents and ill health. Thematic Discussion Paper for the European Commission, DG Employment Conference on the EU 2021-27 Strategic Framework for Health and Safety at  Work. Stockholm May 14-15, 2023. 

 

Hrymak V. 2023 Supporting compliance of  Occupational Safety and Health Requirements. European Labour Inspection Systems of Sanctions and Standardised Measures. Discussion Paper. European Agency for Safety and Health at Work. Available at; https://osha.europa.eu/en/publications/supporting-compliance-workplace-safety-requirements-european-labour-inspection-systems-sanctions-and-standardised-measures. Accessed January 2023. 

Bruce P., Bruce C., Hrymak  V., Hickey N., Mannix McNamara P., 2022. Staff Stress and Interpersonal Conflict in Secondary Schools—Implications for School Leadership. Societies  12, 186 

McMillan, N., Rodriguez, R. D., McMillan, D., Heaton, M., Hrymak, V., Perry, S., &…… Pissadakis, S. (2022). 3.3 Converging optical micro-and nanospectroscopies via the development of surface science with forensic Shannon’s measure of information applied to environmental applications. Optical Nanospectroscopy, 165. 

Hrymak V. 2022 .  Improving the reliability of visual inspections conducted  by fire  and rescue  services, during familiarization  visits.  Proceedings of the 32nd European Safety and Reliability Conference  

 

Scouten, A.A., Hrymak V., 2022 .  Improving the reliability of visual inspections conducted   by  

environmental  Health  & safety professionals  on large construction sites. Proceedings of the 32nd European Safety and Reliability Conference.  

Hrymak V, Codd P, 2021 Improving Visual Inspection Reliability in Aircraft Maintenance Proceedings of the 31th European Safety and Reliability Conference  

Hrymak V., de Vries J., Dec 2020.  The Development and Trial of Systematic Visual Search; a visual inspection method designed to improve current workplace risk assessment practice. Policy and Practice in Health and Safety DOI: 0.1080/14773996.2019.1708615 

Caffrey, S., Lais, L., Murtagh C,. Leva M.C., & Hrymak V., 2019. “Task based risk assessment for human factors impact on aviation maintenance deviations: a case study on three specific tasks and their operational implications”. Proceedings of the 29th European Safety and Reliability Conference Edited by Michael Beer and Enrico Zio. ISBN: 981-973-0000-00-0 :: DOI 10.3850/981-973-0000-00-0 esrel2019-paper 

Codd, P., Hrymak, V., Leva M.C., 2019. “A Human Factors Approach to Improve Visual Inspection Performance During Aircraft Maintenance Tasks”. Proceedings of the Irish Ergonomics Society Annual Conference. Technical University Dublin. 

Hrymak V., de Vries J., 2018. The development and trial of systematic visual search; a novel method to improve the observation of workplace hazards during inspections. Abstract; Occupational and Environmental Medicine 2018;75:A30. 

Hrymak V., 2017. European SMEs need to conduct more risk assessments. Can web-based tools help regulators with this aim?. EUROPEAN COMMISSION, Directorate-General for Employment Social Affairs and Inclusion. Farmleigh, Dublin. 

Recent Conference Papers 

“Checklists versus Systematic Visual Search; which method is better for observing workplace hazards” Eastern District Institute of Occupational Health, November 2019 TU Dublin, City Campus, Cathal Brugha St. 

“Fire Safety in Nursing Homes” Annual Nursing Homes Ireland Conference, Citywest, November 2019 

“Looking but not seeing – how can we improve visual inspections of the workplace?” HEALTHY WORKPLACES SUMMIT 2019 European Agency for Safety and Health November, Bilbao 2019. 

“How to Avoid Missing Hazards” Facilities Management Ireland Trade Conference, March 2018 RDS Dublin. 

“Workplace Risk Assessment in Ireland; is there a standard practice” Proceedings of the Irish Ergonomics Society Annual Conference. Trinity College Dublin. June 2015