How things change!
When I started work in the mid 1960s very few poeople were aware of occupational health. Obviously, the workplace environment had advanced somewhat since the days of Bounderby in Dickens's "Hard Times", but the network of rules that were designed to safeguard people in their employment was, by the standards of today, underdeveloped.
If we look at the current situation we see that there has evolved a considerable range of regulations governing the workplace, and a massive growth in occupational health services. The purpose of this article is to give you a brief overview of the many topics that come under the general heading of occupational health.
There are a number of reasons for the development of the workplace regulation, but fundamentally, it seems that there has been a general acceptance that people should be able to go about their occupations without fear of sustaining or illness through their workplace conditions. At the same time there is an acknowledgement that the safer the environment in which people work, the more efficient they will be, and the more they will contribute to the profits of the enterprise. After all, if a person is injured at work the incident itself will cause disruption to the other members of the workforce, and the person injured is likely to be unable to work for a period. Such disruption and absence inevitably reduces the efficiency of the organisation, causing consequent reduction in profitability.
The legal framework that lays down the system of occupational health regulation that we now enjoy was developed in response to the points mentioned above, much of the legislation arriving on the UK statute book through the European Union.
The areas covered by occupational health regulations encompass every aspect of the working environment. For instance, the Health and Safety legislation, which is overseen by the Health & Safety Executive, is designed to protect people from damage to their health or safety as a result of their working activities, whilst the fire regulations exist to protect people from the fire hazards that may be present in their workplace.
Then there are the risk assessments, which are required to be carried out periodically by employers to ascertain any dangers in the workplace and assess whether they have taken adequate measures to avoid injuries being sustained.
The aspects of occupational health that I have mentioned above are just a few elements of a multi-faceted subject, and the necessary compliance with occupational health legislation places a big responsibility on the business community.
Never fear, however!
There are a large number of diverse occupational health services available to help you, for example in the form of consultancies, trainers or providers of Occupational health services. The easiest way to access these resources is through an an online Occupational Health Services Directory The OHS Directory is the first "comprehensively available source of information that is easily accessible to employers, human resources and occupational healthcare professionals who work in the field of employee health." It provides a gateway to these and many more services, and thus provides a valuable facility for the business community.