Name

Occupational Health Specialist Practitioner

 What is Occupational Health?
Occupational medicine dates back to the middle of the
16 th Century where we find Georgius Agricola and
Paracelsus both studied and wrote on the subject of
miners diseases.

Paracelsus
Born: Phillip von Hohenheim
11 November 1493) or
17 December 1493)
Died: 24 September 1541 (aged 47)
Cause of death Unknown
Citizenship: Swiss

Georgius Agricola
Born: 24 March 1494
Died: 21 November 1555
Citizenship: German
 What is Occupational Health?
BERNADINO RAMAZINI :

The father of Occupational

Medicine observed a labourer
cleaning cesspits in the town of
Medina who was in some
distress.

The man is reported to have

said:
Bernardino Ramazzini
Born: 3 November 1633
“No one who has tried it can Died: 5 November 1714
imagine what it cost to spend Nationality: Italian
more than 4 hours on this job.

It is as bad as going blind.”

 What is Occupational Health?
BERNADINO RAMAZINI :

His book on occupational diseases,

De Morbis Artificum Diatriba
(Diseases of Workers), outlined the health
hazards of chemicals, dust, metals,
repetitive or violent motions, odd postures,
and other disease-causative agents
encountered by workers in 52 occupations.

This was one of the founding and seminal

works of Occupational Medicine and
played a substantial role in its
development.
 What is Occupational Health?
TODAY’S DEFINITION:

Occupational Health is the promotion and

maintenance of the highest degree of physical,
mental and social well-being of workers in all
occupations by preventing departures from
health, controlling risks and the adaptation of
work to people, and people to their jobs.
(ILO / WHO 1950)
 What is Occupational Health?
Since then:

14(1) of the Factories Act 1961 required that

"every dangerous part of any machinery was to
be securely fenced. “

When was there a "dangerous part"?

 What is Occupational Health?
"SO FAR AS IS REASONABLY PRACTICABLE“

The history of this expression goes back at least as far as

the mining legislation of the 1870s.

From there the expression was brought into the Factories

Act and then on into the Health and Safety at Work Act
1974
 What is Occupational Health?

Prior the 1974 Health at Work Act, many

accidents / injuries at work were “contained”.

The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 was

remarkable in a number of respects.

Previous safety legislation had proceeded in a

piecemeal fashion with no general view of the
subject.
 What is Occupational Health?
Under the 1974 Act there was for the first time an
attempt to unify safety legislation by provisions
which were not confined to a particular type of
workplace or work but applied in general, so
bringing many thousands of workers within the
protection of the law.

That protection, it may be noted, involved that a

breach could be committed not merely during the
time when they were working but also prior to
their coming to work
 What is Occupational Health?

Following the Act, further regulations and

guidelines dictated that Employers have a duty of
care for their employees and a legal obligation
to provide adequate management systems
and services to deal effectively with
occupational health and safety risks.
 What is Occupational Health?

Many advances have been made since the

introduction of this Act that resulted in the
development of a Specialist branch of Medicine
& Nursing, dedicated to the effects on health in
working environments.
 What is Occupational Health?
Traditionally, Occupational Health was concerned
with:

1) How an employee’s health can affect their

ability to do the job
And
2) How work and the working environment can
affect an employee's health.
 What is Occupational Health?
Today, occupational health is more wide-ranging.

It is still concerned with employees’ health but

can also include health promotion, risk
assessment and well-being and can address
lifestyle issues such as smoking, fitness,
stress management, nutrition and obesity
for example.
 Why have Occupational Health?

Occupational Health Medical and Nursing Staff

are conversant in the effects of work on health,
and familiar with the neccesarry medical
investigations and interpretation of medical
results in the provision of standards that satisfies
legislation.

These are frequently identified as:

 Why have Occupational Health?

Moral - An employee should not have to risk

injury or death at work, nor should others
associated with the work environment.
 Why have Occupational Health?

Economic - many organisations realise that poor

occupational health and safety performance
results in cost (e.g. through social security
payments to the incapacitated, costs for medical
treatment, and the loss of the "employability" of
the worker).
 Why have Occupational Health?

Economic - Employing organizations also

sustain costs in the event of an incident at
work such as legal fees, fines,
compensatory damages, investigation time,
lost production, lost goodwill from the
workforce, from customers and from the
wider community.
 Why have Occupational Health?

Legal - Occupational Health and Safety

requirements may be reinforced in Civil Law
Employment Law and / or Criminal Law.

It is accepted that without the extra

"encouragement" of potential regulatory action or
litigation, many organisations would not act upon
their implied moral obligations.
 Why have Occupational Health?

In this way, Occupational Health strives to

maintain the balance of health within the
workplace and the provision of advice and
guidance to employers and employees.