Occupational health services face important changes as a result of changes in work environment, changing health and safety concepts, and legislation. To ensure good quality at a good price, it is important to control the processes in occupational health services. The concept of "prevention pathways" is presented for the management of occupational health services. The model is based on the criti...

The Study Model for Future Occupational Health (funded by a research grant from the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Labor) is a joint research project involving various organizations and agencies undertaken from 2002 to 2004. Society has undergone a dramatic transformation due to technological developments and internationalization. At the same time a low birth rate and an aging population have ...

The earliest recorded occupational health service in this country was that established in a cotton spinning factory at Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire. The mill was built in 1784 by Samuel Greg and his partners. They employed local labour and also some parish apprentices. Happily, Samuel Greg was a good christian and, having created a modern factory and a model village with a church and a school, ...

Since 1994, occupational health services (OHS) in the Netherlands have been provided by commercial enterprises with the market dominated by a few major organizations. The number of companies with their own internal OHS is decreasing. Most OHS employ occupational health physicians (OHP), occupational hygienists, occupational safety engineers and experts in occupational psychology. Companies with...

Since the antiquity and throughout the Middle Ages, physicians had been observing the harmful effects and the illnesses in people who worked in manufacture and/or mining. They would draw attention to such effects and propose solutions which often entailed improvement of working conditions and environment. The ancient physicians from Varazdin had been familiar with such literature, accepted the ...

Since 1950, the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have had a common definition of occupational health. The definition was adopted by the Joint ILO/WHO Committee on Occupational Health at its First Session (1950) and revised at its 12th Session (Geneva, November 1995). Occupational health should aim to promote and maintain the highest degree of physi...

It is becoming increasingly important for providers of health care to manage the health and safety of their workforce effectively. In the competitive world of health care, organizations seeking accreditation for quality are having to allot greater importance to health and safety than in the past. The manager of occupational health services for West Birmingham Health District, which has recently...

BACKGROUND Occupational physicians and general practitioners often appear to differ in their attitudes to the provision of health screening, health promotion and vaccination in the workplace. AIM This study aimed to explore the attitudes of occupational physicians and general practitioners to particular aspects of workplace health services. METHOD Anonymous piloted postal questionnaires wer...

Occupational health practice in the military is challenging and also an important facet of the overall healthcare service delivery. This paper describes how it enhances the operational readiness of the Republic of Singapore Navy during peacetime and operations, the organisational framework of occupational health services and the foreseeable challenges.

OBJECTIVES Occupational health service (OHS) for small-scale enterprises (SSEs) is still limited in many countries. Both Japan and the Netherlands have universal OHS systems for all employees. The objective of this survey was to examine the activities of occupational physicians (OPs) in the two countries for SSEs and to investigate their proposals for the improvement of service. METHODS Quest...