The proportion of workers receiving occupational health services (OHS), or OHS coverage, is considered an important indicator in the evaluation of the national OHS levels. Although the term "coverage" is used in some papers, the definition of the term appears to vary from author to author. Despite vague definitions of the term, the issue has not been much studied. It appears that this vagueness...

Achemical incident is the unexpected release of industrial material that is (potentially) hazardous either to humans, other animals or the environment. Common synonyms include the term “accident” but this presupposes an anticipated failure of control; “incidents” include also unanticipated disasters resulting from mechanical or organisational failures, and occasionally even sabotage. The essenc...

Over the past few years there has been a growing interest in quality management in occupational health services. In this article the central role of the medical profession in this area is highlighted from a personal point of view. It is argued that a powerful and active profession is needed as a countervailing power in the field of tension between employees and the company, and for balancing th...

Methods of economic appraisal developed for evaluating activities in health care system may as well be successfully used for evaluating occupational health service activities. This involves the problem of resources management and cost containment not only at the company level, but also at different managerial and institutional levels. The decision makers have to know what resources are spent on...

BACKGROUND This study was conducted with aim of providing an overview of the current status of occupational health services and identifying the most common harmful agents at workplaces of Iranian self-employed enterprises (Nano-Scale Enterprises). METHODS A cross-sectional study was performed among a random sample including 1,758 employees engaging in self-employed enterprises with 5 and less...

themselves and with industry is worthy of consideration. Compulsion by meticulous enforcement of legislation may lead to reticence on the part of certain managements to provide welfare measures. This may also lead in certain instances to failure to cooperate with official agencies. An important approach is to stimulate the concept of promotion of industrial welfare and health, irrespective of l...

PURPOSE The Swedish government initiated an investigation of how to secure and develop the competence of the occupational health services. The primary aim of the present study was to investigate whether the development of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the Swedish occupational health services in relation to attitudes, knowledge and use improved during the first 3 years of the government's ini...

Occupational Health Services (OHS) in Norway cover approximately 1.2 million employees, equivalent to 60% of the total work force. They employ nurses (800), physicians (500), physiotherapists (360), safety engineers (400), psychologists (30) and others (400), a total of 2500 full time employmancy. The average cost of the OHS amounts to 150 euros per employee, a total cost of 180 million euros p...

Various understanding of occupational health services (OHS) roles, structures and functions in European counties depends mainly on the legal, financial and organizational issues, which influence the health of employees. The OHS aims and functions are often related to public health, and/or to the management of enterprises. In consequence, quality assessment (QA) of OHS is used in the management ...

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...