Only a handful of large corporations offer OH services to their employees. How can an individual or a not-so-affording MSME get access to OH services. Is provision of OH access to all as difficult as setting up a ICU in planet Mars! Wherever there are employees, there must be OH access, however basic. How?
Access to OH will not reach everyone by just saying that all should get it. Access to OH will reach individuals, MSME, unorganized sector, other unaffordable and even some large corporations only by creating awareness. It is good to bear in mind that most are unaware of OH in addition to financial resources to implement it.
Awareness that work can harm health and that most of the time it is preventable is missing both among employers and the employees. A sick worker is an expensive worker, both for the employer as well as the employee and an awareness will reduce sickness and decrease healthcare costs.
If efforts are made to increase awareness about OH by governmental organizations, non-governmental organizations and others, will access improve greatly. OH should also be a part of basic medical curriculum of doctors and nurses so that they can identify work-related illnesses as well as help spread awareness, irrespective of the medical specialty they specialize in future.
Awareness about a sickness having a work-related cause will lead individuals’ to realize that basic OH is instinctive. Tell me tell you how?
At a basic level, OH is instinctive – the person in discomfort due to work or any other activity does something to take an immediate action that is mostly reflexive.
Example: What does a worker who is working non-stop for a long time do to reduce the discomfort experienced? Such a worker takes a break, many times gets off the chair, walks around and comes back to find some relief. This happened instinctively. The next time the worker sits for a lesser and takes the necessary break no sooner discomfort sets in. This happens as a reflexive action and the worker finds relief.
At a basic level, OH is instinctive – the person in discomfort due to work or any other activity does something to take an immediate action that is mostly reflexive.
However, if the worker doesn’t find complete relief then a visit to a OH physician is necessary. The OH physician (one who specializes in diseases of occupations) will do a workstation ergonomic assessment and advice as necessary. Similarly, for other illnesses that have pointers towards work as a cause, an assessment by an OH physician will lead to identification and mitigation of the hazards. This not only brings about relief to the person currently affected but if learnings are implemented for all doing similar work, then the illness among the employees reduces.
In India, the access to OH to workers is very low. We do not have the estimates – and that is likely to underestimate the extent of the problem and the urgency to put it right.
To know more and/or to provide OH access to your employees, you may contact
