A medical examination performed by an Occupational Health Physician constitutes an Occupational Health Assessment. Its main goal is to advise employers on the employee's health and give recommendations on what changes may be made to ensure that employee has a safe/healthy working environment. It can also be used to examine someone's fitness for employment.
The management of occupational health and safety is a major priority in the workplace. It is fundamentally concerned with the assessment and prevention of physical and mental health disorders.
As an employer, you must ensure that your employees' mental and physical health is not harmed as a result of their employment or workplace. You must also assess whether your personnel are capable of doing their duties in a safe and secure manner.
The technique of keeping your staff safe at work is known as occupational health. In general, it refers to avoiding work-related illnesses or injuries. The emphasis on Occupational Health has grown in recent years. This is a really healthy trend because the emphasis is no longer solely on physical health, but also on employee mental wellness.
A management referral to Occupational Health can occur only with your permission, and your manager must sign a referral form and discuss the basis for the recommendation with you. Your conversation with the Occupational Health nurse, doctor, or physiotherapist is private, and being as honest about your condition as possible can assist ensure that the advice provided is as beneficial as possible. When an advice report is submitted to your manager following your examination, it does not need to contain any confidential medical or sensitive personal information.
When an Occupational Health advisory report is created and distributed to the line manager, the manager and employee should meet to discuss the advise and how to best implement it in the specific operational environment.
If, for example, a phased return to work at 50% of regular hours is recommended for the first week back following illness, it may be beneficial to structure the hours such that there is always someone on site to support you. Travel plans may also need to be considered if you typically carpool to work.
Individual stress risk assessments may be recommended in specific instances. Completing an evaluation jointly provides the foundation for the line manager and the staff person to discuss in detail any work-related variables that may be harming the staff member's health and to develop a strategy to address any emergent concerns.
If the changes are expected to be long-term or permanent, the Workplace Adjustment Passport might be a valuable document for the employee to fill out and communicate with their line manager. This document is kept by the employee and can be shared with future managers if the employee transfers into a new role or a new manager joins their team.
Your Occupational Health record is classified as sensitive health data, and it is managed in compliance with data privacy regulations and professional norms of conduct. All data is kept securely and only members of the Occupational Health team have access to it. You can make a subject access request if you want to see a copy of your record.
Health surveillance is an activity that collects data on workers' health in relation to the work they do. The benefit and aim of this are to protect the worker's health by detecting any health concerns early and identifying the need for any specific monitoring. It also assesses the effectiveness of existing control mechanisms and verifies compliance.
Health surveillance can take numerous forms, ranging from non-technical forms like questionnaires and skin checks to technical ones like hearing tests (audiometry) and lung function testing. Any health surveillance is done in the least invasive method possible and is always fully communicated to the subject.
Occupational health assessments can be performed by one of our Equality Act 2010 or one of our experienced Occupational Health Nurses. The company doctor will often be Occupationally Health qualified and knowledgeable about employment laws, including the Equality Act 2010. Companies have a legal obligation to maintain the health and safety of its employees, and claims for Unfair Dismissal can be launched against a corporation that violates the rules. An initial assessment with an experienced occupational health nurse may be sufficient or used as a first line review for general medical consultations and accidents.
