Health on the job

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The oil and gas sector is potentially one of the most dangerous in industry, with exposures to physical, chemical, biological, and psychological hazards and therefore has the opportunity to make significant business gains from the effective use of Occupational Health (OH).

OH services seek to reduce the impact of work on an employee's health, at the same time minimising the potential negative impact of any health conditions they may have on their ability to perform their work. It does this through assessment, management and prevention programmes that require a clear understanding of the workplace and the work processes involved.

Healthy employees work more efficiently and take less time off work. Management of exposure to hazards, along with management of health conditions in relation to work, enhances the health of a work force with the consequent benefits. Similarly good OH practice decreases the exposure of businesses to claims, demonstrates legal compliance and improves the reputation of the business as well.

Effective OH starts with getting the policies right and from these developing appropriate protocols and procedures.

Developing protocols and procedures begins with risk assessment, looking at the functional requirements of jobs, potential exposure to hazards - where an occupational hygienist may be required if these need to be measured - and control measures. Once the risks have been evaluated the content and frequency of any health assessment programme can be determined right away, along with the need for further assessments and other activities within the workplace.

Pre-employment health evaluations provide the opportunity to assess applicant's fitness for work and to determine any adjustments or modifications to the job that may be needed, should they be required to ensure the employees ability to efficiently carry out their job. The level of examination and investigations should be related to the nature of the job. Office workers, for example, require a less rigorous evaluation than offshore workers who are exposed to more hazards and have limited access to higher-level medical facilities.

In-employment health evaluations are used to detect any change in health that may affect fitness to work. Such conditions may be work related (eg musculoskeletal problems from computer work) or work related (eg diabetes).

Health evaluations can be done to detect any harm that may have arisen from specific exposures at an early stage and enable appropriate action to be taken. Hearing tests can be used to pick up noise induced hearing loss, urine and blood tests along with physical examinations are used for those exposed to benzene, and physical examinations sometimes including blood tests can be used for those exposed to ionising radiation.

In some parts of the region such evaluations are required by law. In addition to risk in terms of exposure, risk-based evaluations can be done in relation to the task and potential outcome of medical conditions impacting on the conduct of such tasks. Evaluations for this purpose include heavy vehicle drivers (particularly those driving hazardous loads) and divers.

Drug and alcohol programmes can be effectively used to decrease the risk of incidents related to substance abuse. Some global companies require their contractors to have such programmes in place before they will do business with them. Despite the sensitivity to such issues, there are large oil and gas companies within the region who have successfully implemented such programmes.

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