The path traveled by humanity from the plow and hammer to the spaceship and the Internet was not easy and took more than a thousand years. All this time, people felt the need for safe working and living conditions. With the emergence of new crafts, this need became more acute, and with the advent of mechanisms and machines, it led to the need to write and follow specific rules for safe human interaction with them. Many of these rules were written with “blood and tears.” Bitter experience was passed down from generation to generation and supplemented with new rules. With the development of technology and technology, a new direction emerged – “safety engineering”.
The acceleration of scientific and technological progress in the 20th century, the development of microelectronics, automation, and the emergence of new radio and computing equipment would have been impossible without the development of production and technological processes. However, their negative side was the emergence of new and growing hazards and dangers. By the 1960s, the country had already accumulated considerable experience in protecting people from dangerous and harmful production factors. But with each passing day, the need for its perfection increased. Unsatisfactory statistics on accidents and occupational diseases dictated the need to solve this problem as an important state task with the investment of considerable funds and the involvement of scientific personnel. The need for occupational safety as a fundamental scientific discipline studied and developed in higher education institutions became increasingly acute.
In 1966, the university was reorganized into the Kharkiv Institute of Radio Electronics..
The former Department of Mine Ventilation and Safety was renamed the Department of Occupational Safety. Associate Professor Yevgeny Litvinenko became its head.
Teaching and research work underwent significant changes. This also affected the staff. Young specialists V.A. Aivazov and I.I. Khalimon joined the department. B.V. Dzyundzyuk became the first postgraduate student of the department. The department’s further educational, methodological, and research work was related to the university’s profile—the development of radio electronics and related fields of science and technology.
Original developments protected by copyright certificates include radio-protective suits, which laid the foundation for the creation of individual means of protecting humans from electromagnetic radiation. In the scientific field of “Protection from Electromagnetic Radiation,” the department defended one doctoral dissertation by B.V. Dzyundzyuk and four candidate dissertations by T.I. Stepanova, A.V. Konovko, I. Ryabokon, Maslova P.M. under the supervision of Prof. Dzyundzyuk B.V.
Other research work carried out by the department in the 1970s included the purification of air from on-board extractors during soldering with solders. The qualitative and quantitative characteristics of emissions were established, various capture filters were studied, and the most appropriate ones were proposed, taking into account the specifics of technological processes. Thus, one of the most important topics on the purification of ventilation emissions from mineral acid aerosols using ionite materials was carried out for the Kharkiv Bicycle Plant.
Work was carried out to treat wastewater from electroplating shops, including assessing the feasibility of its disposal.
GDVs were developed for highly toxic harmful substances (cyanides, chromic anhydride, alkaline aerosols, etc.). Research was conducted on the phase state of ventilation emissions during copper plating and zinc plating in cyanide electrolytes. Research was conducted for the KEMZ plant to establish MPCs during the overhaul and reconstruction of ventilation systems.
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From 1971 to 1980, the Department of Occupational Safety was headed by Associate Professor Yevgeny Mikitovich Lazarenko.
From 1980 to 2015, the department was headed by Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Boris Vasilyevich Dzyundzyuk.
From 2015 to the present, the department has been headed by Candidate of Technical Sciences, Associate Professor Tetiana Stetsenko.
In 2024, the Department of Occupational Safety was renamed the Department of Safety Engineering.
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Further development of science and technology would have been impossible without the development of scientific schools in the field of occupational safety. In the early 1980s, such schools appeared in Leningrad (Forestry Academy – Prof. Rusak N.V.), Moscow (MIREA – Prof. Motusko F.Ya.), and Kiev (KPI – Prof. Tkachuk K.N.). Motusko F.Ya., Bauman Higher Technical School – Prof. Yudin E.Ya., Prof. Belov S.V., in Kiev, KPI Prof. Tkachuk K.N., in Kharkov, KHIRE – Prof. Dzyundzyuk B.V. and others.
There is a need to create a whole range of laboratory equipment to support the educational process, taking into account the specifics of the university and individual specialties. The department is developing new laboratory stands for electrical safety (Prof. B.V. Dzyundzyuk, Senior Lecturer I.I. Khalimon, Senior Lecturer S.V. Baranovsky, Senior Lecturer Aivazov V.A.), electromagnetic radiation protection (Prof. Dzyundzyuk B.V., Senior Lecturer Stetsenko T.E.), explosion safety (assistant Romanova A.G.), protection against noise and vibrations (prof. Dzyundzyuk B.V., senior lecturer Grisha G.V., senior lecturer Mamontov O.V.).
Over the years, the department has trained a large number of highly qualified specialists. Some of them head the occupational safety departments of various universities in Ukraine. Many leading specialists, enterprise managers, scientists, and businessmen were trained at the department at one time or another.
And now the department keeps up with the times. Its academic disciplines include: “Environmental Safety,” “Life Safety,” “Work Environment Management,” and “Occupational Safety in the IT Industry.” The educational process is constantly being improved. There is a continuous process of improving methodology, developing and implementing new laboratory work, tasks, and forms of control in accordance with the needs of the time. A number of developed laboratory works have been repeatedly demonstrated at exhibitions, where they have aroused genuine interest among specialists from other universities.
The faculty members who have made a special contribution to the implementation of modern information technologies in the educational process include: Prof. B.V. Dzyundzyuk, Associate Professor N.L. Berezutskaya, Associate Professor T.E. Stetsenko, Associate Professor G.V. Pronuk, Senior Lecturer O.V. Mamontov.
The department cooperates with the European Security Association (Krakow, Poland). The department’s teachers are permanent members of the Association.
Currently, the department is conducting scientific work, the main focus of which is mathematical modeling of ergatic systems and the development of technical means to ensure the safety of technological and production processes. Under the guidance of Associate Professor T.E. Stetsenko
The staff of the Department of Occupational Safety will continue to carry on the achievements of the scientific school, contributing to the training of highly qualified specialists and the development of science for the benefit of Ukraine.