Occupational Health – Workplace Health Management

Professional Health Management (WHM) Occupational Health Management consists of four main components:

Health and safety at work
Promoting occupational health
Social determinants of health and lifestyle
Environmental Health Management
In the past, politics was often motivated solely by respect for the law. The new approach to occupational health management is guided by both legal and health goals set by the working community in each industry. To be effective, occupational health management must be based on knowledge, experience and practice collected in three disciplines: occupational health, occupational health promotion and environmental health. It is important to view WHM not only as a process of continuous improvement and improvement of health within the company, but also as a basis for interaction between different agencies in the community. It provides a platform for collaboration between local authorities and business leaders in community development through improving public health and the environment.

The Institute of Healthy Jobs is the cornerstone of the community action plan.

The Luxembourg Declaration of the European Union Network for Workplace Health defines PSS as a joint effort by employers, employees and society to improve the health and well-being of people at work.

This can be achieved by a combination of:

Improving the organization of work and the working environment
Promote active participation of workers in health care activities
Encourage personal development
Advocating for health in the workplace is seen in the Luxembourg Declaration of the European Network as a modern business strategy aimed at preventing diseases in the workplace and improving the capacity to promote the health and well-being of workers. Documented benefits of workplace programs include reducing absenteeism, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, reducing health care requirements, reducing staff turnover, fewer skeletal and muscular injuries, increased productivity, reduced organization efficiency, and potential return on investment.

Advocating for health in the workplace is seen in the Luxembourg Declaration of the European Network as a modern business strategy aimed at preventing diseases in the workplace and improving the capacity to promote the health and well-being of workers. Documented benefits of workplace programs include reducing absenteeism, reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease, reducing health care requirements, reducing staff turnover, fewer skeletal and muscular injuries, increased productivity, reduced organization efficiency, and potential return on investment.

However, many of these improvements require the continued participation of staff, employers and society in the activities necessary to achieve positive results. This is achieved by empowering employees to make decisions about their health. Occupational Health Consultants (OHA) are well placed to assess the health needs of the health initiatives with the staff they serve, to prioritize these initiatives, along with other health and safety initiatives that can be implemented, and to coordinate action at the company level to ensure that the planned initiatives are implemented. In the past, occupational health services have for many years been involved in assessing job fitness and in assessing disability for insurance purposes.

Some innovative occupational health services have developed the concept of maintaining employment opportunities among a healthy workforce. In some cases, these efforts have been in response to the growing problem posed by an ageing labour force and ever-increasing social security expenditures. OHA has often been at the forefront of these developments.

There is a need to further develop the orientation of all occupational health services, so that efforts are also made to maintain health and prevent conditions that do not arise in the workplace through intervention in the workplace.

However, health promotion can also target other social, cultural and environmental determinants of health if employees believe these factors are important for improving their health, well-being and quality of care. In this case, factors such as improved work organization, motivation, stress reduction and burnout, flexible working hours, personal development plans and career development can also contribute to the overall health and well-being of the professional community.

A healthy environment in the community In addition to occupational health and occupational health promotion, there is another important aspect of occupational health management. This is due to the impact that any business can have on the environment, as well as the impact of pollutants, products or services provided to others on remote environments. Think how the consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl accident affected entire neighbouring countries.

If the impact of companies on the environment and health is governed by laws other than those governing health and safety, there is a strong link between protecting the production environment, improving the organization of work and the culture of work in the company and its approach to environmental health. . Management.

Many leading companies are already combining health and safety with environmental health management to make the most of the company’s human resources and avoid duplication of efforts. Occupational health nurses can help manage environmental health, especially in companies that do not have environmental health professionals.

Coming soon. Key stages of developing new occupational health policy

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