Have you ever taken the time to assess and ensure you’re meeting your occupational health and wellbeing needs?
An assessment of risk can identify the main activities and situations likely to be harmful to health, so you can then decide how to meet these occupational health needs in your organisation. For a small cost you can reduce absence levels and save a significant amount of money.
A great place to start is by analysing the sickness data you have and the known causes of absence. In many organisations stress, anxiety and musculoskeletal absences are the major contributing factors. Can you identify any patterns or trends to the data that indicate there’s a problem? From that point, you can consider how to support your employees through your processes and working practices to reduce the levels of absence.
Here are just a few other areas you can review to make sure you’re assessing and meeting the occupational health and wellbeing needs in your organisation:
Pre-employment screening
For some reason many employers bypass pre-employment screening. For a small fee, per employee, it can help ensure people are not placed in jobs that will aggravate existing or past musculoskeletal or other conditions including mental health disorders.
Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
Do you have a management package of measures to prevent, investigate and control musculoskeletal injuries, such as strains from frequent and heavy lifting or from repetitive work? It is not possible to prevent all cases of musculoskeletal disorders, so early reporting of symptoms, proper treatment and rehabilitation are all essential practices.
Health Surveillance
Examples of when health surveillance is likely to be required include where there is a risk of occupational asthma (e.g. exposure to sensitisers such as grain dust, flour dust, bakery dust, fish or egg protein or spices), MSDs (including WRULDs), exposure to microbiological infections, risk of dermatitis and work in hot or cold environments.
Work design
Can you incorporate ergonomics into the design of tools, machines, workplaces and work methods? Pay attention to reducing vibration, the level of force required and to postural changes.
Environment
Make sure the working environment it is warm and welcoming with adequate space, seating and daylight.
Risk assessment/Stress Management Action Plans
Make sure you are carrying out adequate risk assessments/stress management action plans in line with HSE guidelines, that these are reviewed and updated at regular intervals and that the process is moderated across the organisation.
Job placement
Ensure likely injury-producing tasks are not given to known sufferers and injury-aggravating tasks not given to past sufferers. You may need to make reasonable adjustments for your employees in line with the Equality Act 2010.
Employee Training
A well thought out induction and ongoing training package will not only support your organisation with its H&S requirements but it will without doubt reduce the levels of absence due to workplace injury. As a minimum, all employees should have training and information on the nature of likely injuries and causative factors, safe lifting methods (especially posture and methods of carrying) and the need to report injuries.
Employee Monitoring (Tasks)
Check on workers, particularly those in injury-producing or aggravating tasks early in a new job, e.g. after four weeks, to ensure no contraindications to placement. You may need to continue to do this at an appropriate frequency?
Therapeutic Support/Mental Health Occupational Health
Access to employee assistance programmes, cash plans, insurance schemes are becoming more popular. If you can’t stretch to this you can refer individuals for counselling, coaching, CBT, NLP, physiotherapy etc. to support employees to remain in work or return to work.
Healthier Lifestyle Promotion
Health promotion may seem like a fad or gimmick but it can make good business sense. Examples of useful initiatives that can benefit the employer as well as the employees include:
- promoting healthy eating and offering healthy alternatives in the canteen;
- helping staff to stop smoking; and
- educating staff about drinking and drug use as part of an overall policy on drugs and alcohol.
Occupational health provision
Several tasks are identified above, but you can also undertake rehabilitation and monitoring of sufferers.
If you need help with any of your occupational health or wellbeing needs, please get in touch, we can carry out remote support. We can also help you to develop a wellbeing strategy and policies for your organisation. Call 01924 827869 or contact us to discuss your needs further.
