Your UK based operation should ensure that it also focuses on the occupational health part of health and safety, as traditionally there has always tended to be more of a focus on the safety element. A focus on occupational health should help to ensure UK based employees are given maximum protection to lower the risk of suffering a work-related illness, enabling them to do their jobs within the best possible environment.
To safeguard workers, the cause of occupational health risks must first be known. Once the main risks, which include musculoskeletal disorders as well as potential complications caused by excessive dust and noise, are determined then action can be taken to risk assess these areas individually in the same way as safety issues.
It is important to determine not only the individuals, or groups of individuals, which are most likely to be exposed to these risks, but also the degree of this potential exposure and the likely consequences resulting from it. This knowledge will also be useful when recruiting new personnel or during rehabilitation for an employee who has suffered from a work-related health ailment to ensure the working environment does not adversely affect any pre-existing medical condition.
Think about all the activities and processes throughout your business. To check on commonly occurring health issues in specific business sectors, visit the HSE’s website at www.hse.gov.uk and search for your industry.
Consider control measures to reduce risk levels using the hierarchy of control for health risks using the same general principles of the hierarchy of control that are used extensively in safety risk assessments. The aim is to eliminate the risk, with personal protective equipment used only as a last resort. Other points to consider around occupational health:
- Ensure you have access to competent advice covering technical and medical health elements where appropriate.
- Individual assessments covering pre-placement health checks before starting a job (health enquiries should follow an offer of employment), health/medical surveillance – checking for signs of work-related ill health, fit for role – checking if a worker is fit for a job and individual health changes, absence and rehabilitation management
- Choosing the right kind of occupational health service relies (where the provision is necessary depending on the risk) on an organisation understanding its occupational health risks and conveying this to the provider.
Many occupational ill-health problems manifest years after the work that caused the problem has finished. Take asbestos, for instance, which kills over 2,500 people in the UK each year (hse.gov.uk) from exposure many years ago. It is therefore important to be proactive in identifying occupational health risks and implementing effective control measures to reduce the risk within the workplace.
Sources: IOSH - Occupational health management in the workplace - A guide to the key issues of occupational health provision https://www.shponline.co.uk/occupational-health/occupational-health-focus/
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