Occupational Health services for Health Care …

1 A guideline booklet for OH services Page 1. OH services . FOR. Health care . WORKERS. IN THE. NATIONAL Health SERVICE OF SOUTH. AFRICA. A GUIDELINE BOOKLET. DEAPARTMENT OF Health May 2003. A guideline booklet for OH services Page 2. CONTENTS. Foreword 4. Acknowledgements 4. Responsibility 4. Introduction 6. 1. BACKGROUND. 6. 2. ESTABLISHING AN Occupational Health SERVICE 8. Definition 8. What should be included in the programme? 9. Why an OH service is needed for Health care workers 10. Check-List for establishing OH services and indictors 10.

2 3. ADVANTAGES OF PROVIDING A WELL MANAGED. Occupational Health SERVICE 12. 4. ELEMENTS OF AN Occupational Health SERVICE 12. Promotion of wellness and prevention of Occupational injuries and diseases 12. Clinical 12. Occupational Hygiene 13. Consultative 13. Administrative 13. Research 13. Special Programmes 13. DEAPARTMENT OF Health May 2003. A guideline booklet for OH services Page 3. 5. OCCUPATIONA Health SERVICE ACTIVITIES IN DETAIL 14. Employee medical surveillance - principal purposes 14. Pre-placement screening - complementing the appointment process 14.

3 Pre-placement screening - the responsibilities of those involved 15. Monitoring staff sickness absence and working to reduce it 15. Assessing hazardous exposures in the workplace 18. Management of Occupational injuries and diseases and Non- Occupational injuries and diseases 18. The role of first aid trained personnel 19. The role of Occupational Health services in disaster management 19. Reporting and recording of Occupational injuries and diseases 19. Incident investigation 19. Comprehensive preventative programmes 20.

4 Maintaining Health surveillance programmes 22. Access to employee assistance programmes 23. Promoting Health and Safety issues 23. Promoting wellness in the workplace 24. Identifying hazards and conducting risk assessments 25. 6. PERSONNEL Health RECORDS. Purpose of the Health records 26. Creation and maintenance of records 26. Storage and security of records 27. Access to records 27. Ownership and retention of records 27. 7. AUDITING Occupational Health services 28. Benefits to the organization of auditing the OH service 28.

5 Benefits to the OH service of an audit process 28. The audit cycle 28. Selecting suitable audit measures 28. DEAPARTMENT OF Health May 2003. A guideline booklet for OH services Page 4. LIST OF ANNEXURES. Page Annex A Pre-placement screening - flow chart 33. Annex B Health Questionnaire- periodic,Transfer, and Exit medical 35. Annex C Baseline Health Assessment 36. Annex D Sickness absence monitoring system - flow chart 38. Annex E Management of short-term sickness absence - flow chart 41. Annex F Management of long-term sickness absence - flow chart 43.

6 Annex G Guidelines for managers on sickness absence referral 44. Annex H General Guidelines on sick leave management 45. Annex I Referral for assessment of fitness to work - proforma 46. Annex J Information for managers on sickness absence 47. Annex K Health assessment report - proforma 49. Annex L Immunisation record card 50. Annex M Factors to be considered in a moving and handling assessment 51. Annex N Moving and handling assessment - flow chart 52. Annex O Moving and handling training programme 53. Annex P Stress awareness training programme 54.

7 Annex Q Setting up a Health promotion programme 55. Annex R Checklist of common hazards in Health service premises 56. Annex S Employee Health records - function, content and completion 57. Annex T VDU and workstation training programme (incl. posture diagram.) 59. DEAPARTMENT OF Health May 2003. A guideline booklet for OH services Page 5. Foreword The origin of this guideline booklet was a Know How Fund study into the development of Occupational Health facilities for Health service staff in the public sector.

8 The study arose from a perception that Health service staff should have available sound Occupational Health services to support them as they strive to provide high standards of patient/client care . One of the outcomes of the study, was the suggestion for a booklet that Occupational Health practitioners could use as a resource to guide the development of their local services . The result has been the production of this manual. Acknowledgements This booklet is based very substantially on material contributed by: 1.

9 Christine Hunter, Occupational Health Service Manager, UK, 2. Gopolang Sekobe, Chief Director, Non-Personal Health services , National Department of Health (DoH), 3. Provincial OH Programme Managers/Coordinators: Vuma Khoza (Gauteng); Nosisa Maninjwa (Eastern Cape); Christine van Wyk (Western Cape); Mpho Mabogola (Northern Cape); Isabel Sekgothe (National Office). 4. Representatives of Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, Free State, Northern Cape Provinces, and National Centre made contributions to the final draft for Occupational Health .

10 5 Ian Beach, the Know How Fund Technical Co-ordinator, for assembling the initial draft. The following sponsors are also acknowledged for their support: 1. The Know How Fund of the Department for International Development of the UK Government;. 2. The Technical Cooperation Programme on Occupational Health . Responsibility The task team of the South African Department of Health , who finalised it, accepts the responsibility for the final draft of this document. DEAPARTMENT OF Health May 2003. A guideline booklet for OH services Page 6.