As safety is an essential aspect of any workplace, health is also crucial in the workplace. Simply put, medicine focusing on the workplace is termed Occupational Health or Occupational Medicine.
As defined by WHO, “Occupational health/ medicine is an area of work in public health to promote and maintain the highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations.”
Not only can proper health management make your workplace a better workplace, but failing to manage health at the workplace can severely impact your business productivity.
According to WHO, work-related health problems result in an economic loss of 4–6% of GDP for most countries. About 70% of workers worldwide do not have any insurance to compensate them in case of occupational diseases and injuries.
With the above said, measures can be taken as effective interventions to prevent occupational diseases in the workplace. The organization should implement stringent strategies and rules for proper workplace pollution control, ventilation, noise control, adequate and effective usage of dangerous chemicals, furniture to support ergonomically, regular medical check-ups for those with regular exposure, etc.
Benefits partnering with Occupational Medicine Team
The Occupational Medicine Team can help the Companies/ Organizations to assess the risk at the workplace and develop recommendations for the prevention of occupational and work-related diseases.
As per WHO, research has demonstrated that workplace health initiatives can reduce sick leave absenteeism by 27% and healthcare costs for companies by 26%.
It is always advised to treat any health problem at an early stage instead of permanent damage when treatment and modification at the workplace can help avoid such damage.
Partnering with the right Occupational Medicine Team
Choosing the right Occupational Medicine Provider is always been a hectic task. This is due to the lack of licensed occupational medicine specialists within the region. One has to be very careful while selecting an Occupational Health Provider, as a normal practicing General Practitioner might as well be ready to conduct medical check-ups and provide fitness for work without co-relating the health factors to the workplace exposures etc.
There is an evident difference between the specialties in their perceptions of the general health of an organization’s workforce.
Hence always partnering with an Occupational Medicine Team, ensure that the team consists or is led by the Occupational Medicine Specialist.
Occupational Medicine Specialists have an in-depth understanding of epidemiology, disease prevention, and toxicology. They have the knowledge to identify, and assess the risk to health and know-how to control workplace hazards, and also know how to recognize, prevent and manage occupational diseases. They also advise management on these risks and their implications for employees’ health and business continuity.
Occupational Medicine Specialists understand not only the health of the employee but also the workplace background and take into account not only the psychological and physical status of the workforce, but also the environment, and any implications it may have for the employee’s health before advising on the action plans for the organization.
Suppose you plan to implement occupational activity at the workplace, and you are with limited information, you can connect with Medi Sense Clinic and explore more on the occupational medicine services.
To connect with us, you can write to us at businessdevelopment@medisenseclinic.com.
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