Susan
When making a presentation to management it is important to couch this in
terms that they can understand and relate to. Inevitably this will
ultimately relate to the bottom line, i.e. the survival of the organisation
financially. This is always a problem when considering occupational health
as it is difficult to produce precise figures about what an improved
occupation health system will bring. We are talking about a 'what might
happen if we don't do this...' It's a bit like selling insurance. You hope
that the premiums will be a waste of money as you will never have to claim,
but......'
However, there is another way of considering this.
When thinking about your presentation you might find it helpful to keep the
following thought in mind.
"Occupational health is about keeping that essential asset - the workforce -
operating effectively."
What manager does not have his car serviced regularly, rather than wait
until it breaks down at 2 a.m. in the fast lane of the M25 in pouring rain?
He may not think of it this way, but what he is doing is preventative
maintenance. Most good organisations will have a preventative maintenance
programme for buildings, plant and equipment. They consider this a sensible
investment, even though they cannot actually quantify the savings that
preventative maintenance will bring. What would they save/would it cost if
they did not do the preventative maintenance and then were faced with a
serious breakdown that stopped production for a few days? So actual figures
are perhaps not quite as important as we sometimes imagine. We can present
the advantages of preventative maintenance in another way.
I know that this does not answer your questions in your posting, but if you
approach the presentation to management from this basis, i.e. that
occupational health is not a luxury, but really part of their preventative
maintenance programme, my experience has been that they are more likely to
view it positively, as you are speaking their language.
Hope this is of some help.
Chris
Chris Packham
FRSPH, FIIRSM, FInstSMM, MCMI, RSP, MBICSc
EnviroDerm Services
Unit 10, Building 11, The Mews, Mitcheldean, GL17 0SN
Tel: 01386 832 311
Mobile: 07818 035 898
www.enviroderm.co.uk
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