A political cure for work related ill health

Attending all three party conferences for the first time, the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) called for politicians to better protect people in the workplace.

IOSH met with Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, Minister responsible for Health and Safety at the Department for Work and Pensions, and Anne McGuire MP, Minister for the Disabled, at the Labour Party conference. Malcolm Rifkind MP, Shadow Minister for Work and Pensions, and Tim Boswell MP, Shadow Minister for Work, at the Conservative Party Conference. And David Laws MP, Shadow Spokesman for Work and Pensions, and Danny Alexander MP, Shadow Spokesman for Work.

IOSH incoming President, Neil Budworth, who attended the Labour Party conference, said:

Health and safety is a discipline that has transformed itself. No longer the remit of ëanoraks with clipboardsí, it is now a chartered professional discipline that advises employers on how their businesses can run more efficiently, their staff can remain healthy and motivated, and serious accidents can be avoided. Health and safety professionals reach vital parts of businesses and help managers find workable solutions to knotty issues.

To help facilitate more people returning to work after absence due to sickness and injury, we look forward to the government’s forthcoming green paper on Incapacity Benefit reform, believing safety and health practitioners have a vital role to play in ensuring these safe returns and in preventing long-term absence in the first place.

For many, the sick note is the first step on a one-way track to long-term incapacity. And for those on incapacity benefit for more than a year, the likelihood of returning to employment slips farther and farther away.î

What returning or absent employees often need, IOSH believe, is an advocate and mentor who can support and monitor their progress and advise employers on the kinds of adjustments that may be required for their active return to the workforce. IOSH believes that chartered safety and health practitioners, working as part of a multi-disciplinary team with human resources and line managers, occupational health physicians and nurses, and workersí representatives, can make a real difference to peopleís lives. IOSH welcome the opportunity to work with government on putting this initiative into practice.

IOSH will be using the contacts made at the party conferences to brief the government and opposition parties on issues of concern to IOSH, and to respond to the Incapacity Benefit Green Paper.