An occupational health system helps work places to minimize risk, thus maximize productivity. This is an important system for all workplaces to embrace.
Workers represent almost half the population and are the major contributors to the social and economic development of the world today. However, the question regarding occupational health systems still lingers across our minds when it comes to a healthy working environment. Well, according to the World Health Organization, the occupational health system is the activity of visiting workplaces and doing an evaluation of risks that may occur.
Safe working environment
The requirement for developing a safe and sustainable working environmentis crucial in any business entity. None of us would wish to work in the unsecure workplace right? Taking care of health, favorable working conditions and social well being of employees should be prioritized.
A good occupational health practice helps improve the safety and well being of the working population. Diseases and injuries related to occupational risks can lead to losses in our businesses. Therefore, compromising on the health of employees should not be an option.
What are the duties of occupational health system providers?
If there is a mistake many companies still make today is not having a health and safety team in place. This puts your business in all types of risks. The solution to that is to have a group of qualified health professions in place.
What does this team of health professionals do? It all depends on the country in question. For instance, in some states they only have physicians as health practitioners. Others employ a team of multidisciplinary people to handle health issues.
Professionals involved in the system
Let’s take a look at some of the common professionals who facilitate the functional system.
Physician
For someone to become a company doctor, he or she MUST be very competent. In fact, in some countries, a company doctor must have a specialty in occupational medicine. This is a company doctor is in charge of all medical issues in the company.
In other words, a company physician is a chief engineer in the professional health system process. A company doctor position requires you to actively participate in health examinations, supervision, and counseling of workers.
Nurse
A corporate nurse is a person employed to handle all health issues in the company. A nurse works hand-in-hand with the company doctor into ensuring that workers are in good health. Duties of a company nurse include counseling, health examination of workers and surveillance of the workplace.
Safety engineer
are specialized personnel employed by the company to deal with safety issues at the workplace. These engineers need to be super talented and qualified too. A safety engineer needs to understand the company’s production levels, type of machinery and safety drills thoroughly.
Final thoughts
Generally, an occupational health system works in cycles. At times, it becomes strenuous to find out what each professional health personnel should do. However, with careful planning and timely execution, the process becomes a success. I mean, all stakeholders should be involved in this process.
All you have to do is plan well, employ competent staff and implement convenient health standards. In other words, you can improve the working environment for workers through compliance with safety and health standards.
