Stuart
I agree with you regarding the complexity of causes of sickness absence.
However, I would contend that many of these are not OH issues but are more
within the remit of management and HR. Unfortunately I often see OH being
drawn into issues that are not part of their remit or within their training
to resolve. Surely, OH's involvement in sickness absence should be limited
to health aspects.
I read your argument about the weakness of evidence on cost:benefit of OH.
Yes, but the same actually applies to almost all forms of preventative
maintenance. As I know from practical experience in managing an engineering
company, a manager will never know for certain whether that preventative
maintenance programme did actually cost less than running his operation
without it and hoping nothing will break down. He assesses the situation on
the "balance of probabilities", i.e how does he rate the risk and cost of a
major breakdown and its likelihood against the cost of the preventative
maintenance programme when making his decision as to what resources to
provide. He will take past history into account, of course, but he will
still be working in an area of considerable uncertainty.
In a sense it is like an insurance policy. You hope that the premiums will
have been paid out for nothing - as you hope you will never have to claim.
However, what the policy does provide is peace of mind. That, as I know from
personal experience, is a powerful persuader - and perhaps why in
engineering so much attention is paid to preventative maintenance.
Chris
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