| Q. What is Occupational Health?
A. Occupational health is a service provided under the employers duty of care to assess the health of all employees to prevent illness and medical conditions arising from the company’s activities as required under Regulation 6 of the Management if Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999 (Every employer shall ensure that his employees are provided with such health surveillance as is appropriate having regard to the risks to their health and safety which are identified by the assessment.) Q. How does an Occupational Health Service Work? A. Occupational Health services work on the principal of being proactive not reactive, by providing health surveillance and monitoring of an employee's health during the term of their employment. This will ensure that any existing conditions* are monitored and reduce the potential of future illnesses and conditions developing to the lowest level possible. Q. What does an Occupational Health Service Provide for Employers? A. There is an extensive range of ad-hoc services on offer to employers to ensure their employees stay healthy as is reasonably practicable while at their work. Some of the services can be as basic as completing a questionnaire, up to more elaborate tests like lung function. Also, besides the screening the employer will require a management system of procedures and policies to ensure employees are aware of what the company provides and how the employee can access these services. In all cases employers will receive a free OH admin pack from occ-health .co.uk as part of the service they offer. Q. How does an Occupational Health Service prevent illness and short/long–term medical conditions developing in my workplace? A. This is all based on risk assessment to determine what hazards exist and how those hazards could cause ill health and medical conditions developing during the duration the term of their employment. The types of hazards that are likely to affect an employee’s health are as follows: |
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| Once the hazards has been assessed for their likelihood and severity then control measure will be introduced to reduce exposure levels to the lowest level possible. Q. What is Health Surveillance? A. Health surveillance is the main part of occupational health that looks at an employee’s current medical state. This process normal starts at the beginning of the employment stage where a health surveillance questionnaire is completed by the employee, which then gives the OH advisor a snap-shot into that employee’s medical history. Should the OH advisor find no areas of the employee’s health a concern, then a fitness to work certificate will be issued. However, should there be some indications of a previous illness or condition e.g. musculoskeletal, respiratory. hearing, stress etc. then a fitness to work certificate will be issued on the basis of “ fit to work with some restriction” e.g. restrict an employee from lifting if there is a history of musculoskeletal disorders. The next step would be for the HR department to ask for the employee's consent to ‘Access to Medical Reports’ which requires by law for their GP or specialist to write a report regarding the employees current state of health, long term prognosis and any reasonable adjustment the company needs to make for the employee. Q. What is Health Screening? A. Health screening plays a fundamental part of the health surveillance process. By carrying out certain levels of screening, the OH technician can diagnose any current issues that may require further attention. Health screening is available through occ-health.org.uk and provides: • Lung function tests • Audiometry (hearing) • Vision screening (including DSE and colour blindness) • Blood pressure • Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome assessments (HAVS); • Work related stress; • Musculoskeletal • Cholesterol; • Dermatitis and; • Drugs & Alcohol (a policy is required to carry out drugs and alcohol testing) • Fork lift truck driver medicals • Full medicals Most clients use a mix and match to suit their particular industry rather than having a set screening programme Q. What are the overall benefits to taking on an ad-hoc OH service for my current employee’s? A. Most importantly for you as an employer is carrying out your duty of care under current health and safety legislation. Also, the employee's benefit from having a service that can proactively monitor their health and well being while in your company’s employment. This will reduce staff absenteeism, healthier workforce, reduced staff turnover, reduction in illnesses and medical conditions affecting employees and of course reducing the potential for claims against the company in a civil court. I hope this FAQ has answers some of your questions. However, if you require any further information, please fill out the form by clicking on the contact button. * ‘Existing conditions’ relates to conditions already diagnosed by a medical professional. |
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