Hi Trevor
I work in a university where OH is for staff only but we do see post
grad students if we are notified that they are going to be exposed to
hazards as part of their studies. We take the view that they have an
employment contract so therefore are employees from the viewpoint of
COSHH etc., and are available to them for general OH advice aswell. As
to the working environment our safety team have the initial remit on
that with OH joining in if the risk assessment shows an uncontrollable
health hazard that they cannot reduce by normal means. If we feel it is
outside our experience we seek professional advice from hygienists as
needed on an adhoc basis. The health bits we do not offer (counselling
etc) are picked up by student health instead.
As for the abolishment of minimum temperatures it does seem as if that
safety officer is not exactly understanding the concept of workplace
temperatures which is worrying!
Car
-----Original Message-----
From: Trevor Ogden [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 04 February 2004 16:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Occupational Health structure
At 12:51 04/02/2004, you wrote:
>I agree with the comments about the undesirability of reporting through
>Safety. In many NHS organisations, and some others, Safety reports
>through OH. This seems to me much more logical because trained OPs and
>OHAs have had many years more of postgraduate training and also have a
>breadth of outlook which few Safety Officers share. <snip>
I have been following this thread with interest, and wonder where the
place
of occupational hygiene is in all this. By occupational hygiene I mean
broadly speaking the design and modification of the working environment
so
that health problems do not occur. Many medically or safety-qualified
people are doing this successfully with or without training in it, and
HSE
since its foundation has been trying to guide employers to do it without
skilled help. It is also a field that suffers from people without
health
qualifications claiming a 'health and safety' remit, but it seems to me
that there is an additional problem of occupational hygiene falling down
a
crack between medicine and safety. The problems occur in technically
complex environments, but also arise when over-complex (and expensive)
or
inadequate solutions are applied, or when problems are unrecognised.
My main involvement is as editor of a research journal in the field
rather
than a practitioner, but the problems have come home to me through
having a
daughter doing a postgraduate chemistry degree in a university with what
looks like a well-staffed occupational health unit, but, it seems, no
hygiene. Amongst other problems in recent months they have been told by
those responsible for the building that the HSWA does not apply to them
because they are students, not employees, and that minimum temperatures
for
workplaces have been abolished. Wherever the professional boundaries
are
drawn, this does look like an emphasis on treatment rather than
prevention,
and I wonder how widespread this attitude is.
Trevor
(Dr) Trevor Ogden
Editor in Chief, Annals of Occupational Hygiene
Annals on-line at http://www3.oup.co.uk/annhyg/
[log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
North American Editor:
Professor Stephen Rappaport, [log in to unmask]
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