Occupational Medicine focuses on the effects of work on health and, conversely, health on work. It encompasses the full range of workplace and environmental hazards and how these may cause an adverse impact on health. These hazards may be physical, biological, chemical or psychosocial.
Some key competencies unique to occupational medicine include:
- Clinical Medicine
- Workplace Hazard Assessment including:
- Knowledge of different hazards
- Health Effects of occupational hazards
- Control of work related hazards
- Investigation of adverse events
- Critical appraisal of information
- Causation determination
- Evaluations of diagnostic tests efficacy
- Evaluation of health intervention efficacy
- Fitness for Work determination
- Development and integration of wellness and fitness programs for the workplace
No matter which industry we look at, employees’ health has a huge impact on performance and productivity in almost any job. This in turn has an impact on the companies’ performance as well. After all, employees that are fit will be able to contribute in a better capacity, and will also need lesser downtime from work. It wouldn’t be a stretch to then say that an organization’s success is closely linked to the health of its workforce.
Medical examinations serve two main purposes in Occupational Health practice:
- To place people on work that is commensurate to the physical and mental capabilities
An unsuitable worker could pose a safety risk to him/herself, other team members and even the company at large as a result of legal suits for injury benefits. This would also help your company meet the required safety standards by DOSH
Specific functional assessments are a great way to find the right fit, and significantly reduce the chances of injury during work. This in turn will help the company to reduce, and maybe even avoid compensation claims and insurance costs due to work related injury and disease, or work related mental disorders
- To monitor those exposed to known or suspected environmental hazards causing work related disease.
There are some common aspects which are a standard part of these medical examinations. These include:
- Medical History, to ascertain and rule out any past or likely health conditions that could impact performance and safety
- Vision Check, to check for strength of vision, color blindness or other sight issues
- Audiometry Test, to check for hearing ability or hearing loss
- Functional Assessments as per the job role