What is occupational health?

Occupational health (OH) is about how your work affects your health, and about making sure you are fit for the work that you do. This includes:

• sudden injury at work, eg through a slip or trip; and
• long-term exposure to hazards, such as repetitive strain injury or stress.

Occupational health also involves preventing work-related diseases, through safe working practices, ergonomics, health surveillance of the workforce and sickness absence management.

Good practice is about adapting the work to the worker and not the other way round.

It is well worth visiting the NHSplus website (www.nhsplus.nhs.uk, an NHS online service offering:

• advice on how occupational health affects your working life
• practical advice on common health conditions – back pain, asthma, neck pain, upper limb disorders, stress, headaches and eye strain, dermatitis, smoking, drugs and alcohol and violence at work
• links to your nearest NHSplus service
• advice to employers about occupational health and how to provide OH services to their workers