Workplace health at your fingertips

Health and safety practitioners will soon have the key to better health in the workplace when a new tool is launched at the IOSH (Institution of Occupational Safety and Health) 07 Conference next month.

The ëoccupational health toolkití has been produced to help non-medical practitioners play a greater role in tackling illness and absence caused by occupational health issues. The toolkit is a free interactive web-based tool, that will be launched at IOSH 07 at the Telford International Centre on 27-28 March.

Initially, the toolkit will cover stress and musculoskeletal disorders, but will in future be extended to cover inhalation hazards and skin disorders. Neil Budworth, IOSH immediate past president, who initiated the project, said: ìIf things continue as they are, people will continue to be made ill by work.

ìThe toolkit aims to support the governmentís Health, Work and Well Being Strategy by providing non-medical practitioners with the practical tools to recognise the early signs of work-related ill health, so that they can make appropriate decisions on the next steps to take and better participate in multidisciplinary working.

ìWe know that the longer someone is left with a health problem, the harder it is to treat them. But to get problems recognised and dealt with early, we need to equip a larger number of people to take simple steps early on.î

Neil added that the toolkit aims to provide a ëone-stop shopí for all kinds of practitioner: ìThere are already many good resources out there, but the problem is finding them. For instance, thereís plenty of information on managing back pain and other conditions, but until now it can be difficult to identify and access authoritative sources on the Internet.

ìThis is not an attempt to turn health and safety practitioners into occupational health experts. For many of the occupational health problems weíre talking about, you donít need to be a doctor to see something is wrong ñ if someone has dermatitis, you can see the reddening on their skin. What the toolkit is about is allowing non-medics to identify the early stages of ill-health more quickly, make appropriate interventions or refer someone to the right expert.î

The toolkit also aims to help practitioners explain suggested courses of action to managers, who may otherwise be reluctant to take people ëoff the jobí. Itís also about helping explain simple adjustments that can help people stay healthy once theyíve been treated and are ready to return to work.

More information about the free toolkit is available by visiting the IOSH stand at the IOSH 07 Exhibition. Details of the conference and free exhibition is available at www.ioshconference.co.uk The toolkit will also be available after the conference from www.iosh.co.uk