Blogs

Guest blog for Occupational Health Awareness Week 2023 - by Victoria Field, SME business director for PAM OH Access to occupational health can reduce sickness absence and staff replacement costs. Record numbers of employees are absent from work, with one person now long-term sick for every 14 people…

Occupational Health Awareness Week - 18-24th September - focuses on helping small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) access information they need to keep their staff healthy and productive at work. The connection between good health and productive workplaces has never been more important. ONS…

Guest blog by Jane van Zyl, Chief Executive at Working Families Our research found that three quarters of UK parents and carers are working additional hours, and a fifth of them say it is the only way they can manage their workload. Throw a cost-of-living crisis into the mix and it’s no wonder that…

Guest blog by Janet O’Neill, OHNA, RGN (MSc, PG Dip OH, RGN) In June, The Great Big Workplace Adjustments Survey was published by the Disability Forum, with nearly 1,500 disabled employees and 400 managers responding. It considered the process, experience, and impact of adjustments on disabled…

Guest blog by Abigail Hirshman, Co-chair, Mental Health Group, Council for Work and Health A few weeks ago, I delivered some mental health training for managers. During the session I was asked what you should do when someone has a panic attack. I gave some pointers and also mentioned their mental…

Guest blog by Dr Lara Shemtob Business psychologist Alan Bradshaw shared an impressive example of organisational change to support staff health and wellbeing within a social care setting in Scotland at a SOM event in June 2023. Here are the highlights and lessons learned from the transformation at…

Guest blog by Professor Azeem Majeed, Dr Lara Shemtob and Professor Kaveh Asanati Data published today by the Office for National Statistics shows that the number of people who are not working due to long term sickness has risen to a record high. From previous research, we know that the most common…

Guest blog by Susan Bright, EIDA CEO Across the UK, a quarter of all women and around a sixth of all men are likely to experience domestic abuse in their lifetime. This means that most employers will have people in their organisation who are affected by domestic abuse. For those individuals, work…

Guest blog by Lucy Booth, Occupational Health Physiotherapist I am a physiotherapist with 20 years of musculoskeletal (MSK) experience and have been working in occupational health (Working Well in Gloucestershire) for the past 15 years on and off. I have been the only physio working in an NHS…

Guest blog by Graham Huggins, NATTC Ltd The neurodiversity movement recognises that individuals have different neurological profiles and abilities, and that these differences should be respected and celebrated. Neurodivergence encompasses conditions such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and others. While…

Guest blog by Benna Waites and Andrew Cooper, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, NHS Wales By their very nature, employee investigations will cause considerable anxiety and distress to individuals who are being taken through them. The experience activates the age-old threat responses of fight…

Guest blog by Nandy Blay My task was to design a comprehensive and responsive occupational health (OH) service for the mine, to undertake a health needs and risk assessment. I was also to advise on OH service provision. One of the first things I identified was workers’ exposure to the sun. I queried…