Might be useful to differentiate between an oh strategy and what tasks might be encompassed within it. The issues below could be termed health promotion, and in reality needn't be undertaken by an OHA. So I would include the activities below but as a small part of overall strategy, if it is the main part it will soon become apparent that they could get these activities from someone like a fitness instructor, at half the price of an OHA. So you need a strategy that will add measurable value, and also be well within the specific remit of OH as Carr has outlined below. Ps managers should be doing pregnancy risk assessments with referral to OH in exceptional circa rather than it being routine

Carr Barnes <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Hello Christine

The types of initiatives you are thinking are not normally part of  a core OH strategy. Have you got any OH qualifications? Are you part of a team who take care of the core OH functions? OH is a speciality and I don't want to scare you but you could easily find yourself working out side your scope of practice exposing yourself and your employer to liability and risk, 

In the first instance you need to be working with the safety team on the health aspects of the risk assessments; this is the prevention/protection activities -- i.e trying to stop them becoming ill/injured from work activity in the first place which is the core of OH e..g 

• looking at a musculoskeletal policy to back up any DSE and manual handling risk assessments at the very basic level and beyond that looking at any other tasks that have a musculoskeletal load with or without awkward postures e..g mechanics having to bend over/ under vehicles, production workers standing all day and reaching/twisting, delivery men having to climb stairs, walk for long periods, occupational drivers etc 
• health surveillance and respiratory allergens, 
• skin surveillance if risk of skin damage
• hard, arm and full body vibration syndrome
• stress (work related)
• ....to name but a few! I advise you dig into the HSE website for a few days to read about the various industries, exposures etc as a basic starting point.

BTW pregnancy risk assessments are just that .. risk assessments.. not medical or OH assessments .. they are ideally done by the line manager as he knows the work place and personal medical information should not be part of the discussion; anything highlighted by the RA can then be referred to OH, safety or HR for further advice as appropriate.

Once all the core stuff is well looked after and embedded then you need to look at organisational health promotion initiatives e..g

•  adding value to the attendance management process so that employees return to work as early as possible as work is good for health and for promoting recovery from surgery, illnesses etc. As part of this we look at barrires occurring to RTW  and if they can be removed, and if not can the be reduced. .. e.g. if waiting for NHS physio is delaying RTW in a physically demanding work environment then there may be a business case argument for business funding to an OH physio service to expedite RTW and re-establishment of task fitness.
  
• early intervention and referral programmes
• mental wellbeing policies and EAPs 
• Health @ Work leaflets e..g for the pregnant employee, posture breaks for DSE workers etc 

Then you look at the more individual level initiatives of disease prevention  to encourage the employee to promote their own health and make healthy choices .e.g. wellness days, exercise classes etc 

Remember your role is to add value to the business's bottom line by supporting the attendance and performance with OH strategies.

You may find the following (link and attachments)  helpful 

http://www.cdc.gov/workplacehealthpromotion/index.html

Good luck 

On 26 July 2014 11:59, Christine Mortell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

Currently, I am putting together OH Strategy for the Autumn. I am new to OH and so wish to run initiatives that are easy to begin with to gain my confidence.

We have started to offer spinning classes in the onsite gym. I have linked in with the nutritionist in the canteen. There is a mothers room onsite that is used for storage. I have performed a lot of pregnancy risk assessments and so wish to promote breastfeeding etc. I am planning on running two days in September for BP Checks, Weight and BMI.

Any suggestions would be welcome.....

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