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UK News - Breaking news in the field of health and safety
Scottish local authorities on road to better ocupational....
Scottish local authorities on road to better ocupational health provision for employees
HSE wants Scottish local authorities to look closely at the adequacy of their provisions to ensure the occupational health of their employees. The call to do so follows the Employment Tribunal case involving Dundee City Council which was in receipt of an Improvement Notice, the HSE deemed that the council had an inadequate management system and provisions in place to deal effectively with occupational health risks. The council appealed against the Notice, however the Employment Tribunal upheld the HSE's action. Dundee City Council now implements a comprehensive action plan.
Best practice
South Lanarkshire Council's work in this area is held up as an example of best practice, it introduced a holistic approach to maximising attendance, based on a variety of new and innovative early intervention themes to support staff before absence occurs, including:
free physiotherapy for employees whether attending or absent from work;
access to a comprehensive occupational health team, including an Occupational Health Physician, Medical Adviser, Occupational Health Nurse and Employee Welfare Adviser; and
access to an Employee Support Officer dealing with all absences due to psychological illness.
The Council has been sharing and discussing its approach with other public sector organisations.
Comment:
"Following the Dundee Council decision other local authorities across Scotland can be in no doubt about their duty to provide health monitoring and provision for their staff on an ongoing basis. The appropriate use of occupational health expertise and resources is necessary to comply with statutory duties but will also help employers meet non-statutory principles such as reducing work related sickness absence." - HSE Inspector.
"At a time when many organisations have taken a negative, punitive approach to managing employee absence, we have adopted a new, all encompassing and innovative approach, based around the themes of promotion of health and wellbeing; preventative support and assistance; work life balance; and support and assistance during absence. As a result we have one of the lowest absence rates of all Scottish local authorities. Our approach has huge potential for replication in other organisations." - Personnel Adviser in Corporate Personnel Services at South Lanarkshire Council
31.01.07
