Advise please on setting up occupational health for the workforce, all information welcome

What do you want to from your OH? I say this because OH can be broadly divided in two parts: The essentially legal stuff which you should have deals with things like health surveillance and managing people back to work after illness. And the add-on stuff, like, anti-smoking programmes, wellbeing stuff etc. Interestingly a lot of suppliers are very keen to provide the add-on stuff (which is generic and therefore cheap) but get whiney about the expense of the specialist advice and organising the health surveillance. So before you start have a clear idea of what you want…

Hi, Please refer to followings; ILO Occupational Health Service Convention 1985(No.161) and Occupational Health Service Recommendations 1985(No.171) You may download it from the link below and refer to Appendix 1 and 2 http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp...strument/wcms_177384.pdf

Have you considered contacting your local occupational health group? They may well have someone local who you can have a chat with. You might try contacting the Association of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners (UK) Contact is: Linda Riseborough 0845 2255 937 e-mail admin@aohnp.co.uk

With regard to health surveillance the sixth edition of the ACoP for COSHH has set new conditions as to when health surveillance is needed: Examples where health surveillance is appropriate under the criteria in regulation 11(2)(b) are: where there have been previous cases of work-related ill health in the workforce/place; where there is reliance on PPE, eg gloves or respirators, as an exposure control measure; eg printers wearing gloves to protect against solvents used during press cleaning, or paint sprayers using two-pack paints wearing respirators to prevent asthma. Even with the closest supervision there is no guarantee that PPE will be effective at all times; where there is evidence of ill health in jobs within the industry; eg frequent or prolonged contact with water (termed ‘wet-working’) causing dermatitis in hairdressers and healthcare workers, or breathing in mists from chrome plating baths causing chrome ulcers in platers. Paragraph 238 amplifies this: This is not a definitive or exhaustive list and there will be many other instances where health surveillance is required. Employers will need to seek information or advice on the specific health risks identified in the risk assessment, or through any topic-specific HSE guidance, trade associations or other professional sources. Note the third condition. Even if you are confident that you have all aspects of exposure covered you need to consider health surveillance if others in your sector of industry have been experiencing health damage. Chris