Occupational health ia an enormously wide and highly complex field. Occupational health practitioners are usually qualified nurses who have then trained specially in the occupational health aspects. Someone without the necessary background knowledge would find it difficult to be sufficiently au fait with the many different aspects. A qualified occupational health practitioner would need to do the full training (NEBOSH diploma) to be fully qualified on occupational safety, or alternatively the courses to qualify as a certified occupational hygienist.

A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. I see cases where action has been taken with the best of intentions, but where the lack of knowledge in the specific health aspect has resulted in this action actually making things worse.

Chris

If your current system isn't perfoming as you wish see if there are other providers in the area who could give a competitive quote with an explanatory visit.

OH should fall out of the business RA processes, once you know what your risks are then OH can meet your requirements. In a previous life our OH company tried to tell us what they wanted to deliver, not ask us what we needed.

Thank you stonecold that is very insteresting :)

I fancied adding an Occ Health qualification to my list and found a few modules on a Masters course that would have been ideal - only to be told that I'd need to do the whole thing. I don't have the time, money or inclination to do that. I haven't been able to find anything else at the right level, in the right location or at a reasonable price (can't do anything NEBOSH as I haven't got a NEBOSH Cert). 

I did a 3 day course on Ergonomics about 10 years ago so I'll probably look that way & cherry pick a few specialist areas rather than considering an over arching Occ Health course. There's definitely a gap in the market...

Edited by user 27 October 2017 08:03:34(UTC)  | Reason: I type faster than I can spell!

The report, 'Reclaiming Health and Safety', by Ragnar Löftstedt, affirmed very clearly how safety and health laws are almost all validated by scientific evidence.

In practice,  occupational health as practised by medical doctors, psychologists, ergonomists and othere requires understanding how to gather data about stressors, sources of musuloskeletal injuries, etc. evaluating them and explaining them clearly in writing and in person.

In addition to workshops, learning through being coached is a good way to progress in practising occupational health within one's boundaries of competence