From Technical Skills to Future Competencies: Training and Development of Occupational Health and Safety Professionals

ABSTRACT This study examines the evolution of competence requirements for occupational health and safety professionals through a bibliometric analysis of research published between 1999 and 2024. The analysis reveals a sustained shift from predominantly technical and regulatory competencies towards broader capabilities related to professional judgement, adaptability, influence, systems thinking and digital competence. These trends reflect increasingly complex organisational, technological and regulatory contexts in which OHS professionals are expected to operate. Beyond mapping research growth and thematic structures, the findings highlight a growing misalignment between emerging competence requirements and prevailing training‐centred models of OHS education. Many of the competencies gaining prominence cannot be effectively developed through content‐driven instruction or short‐term assessment, but instead require developmental processes that integrate formal learning, workplace experience, feedback and reflective practice over time. By linking bibliometric patterns with conceptual debates in competence‐based education and workplace learning, this study contributes to training and development research by explaining why incremental pedagogical adjustments are insufficient to address contemporary professional demands. The findings point towards a shift from training provision to developmental learning trajectories that prioritise learning processes, professional judgement and sustained capability development across the career span. These insights provide an analytical foundation for rethinking OHS education and professional development strategies, with implications for curriculum design, continuing education and the long‐term professionalisation of the field.