Module 1

Occupational Health

Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 1

Aim of Occupational health
Promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical,
mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations
Prevention amongst workers of departures from health caused by
their working conditions
Protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from
factors adverse to health
Placing and maintenance of the worker in an occupational
environment adapted to his physiological and psychological
capabilities
• To summarize: the adaptation of work to man and of each man to
his job
Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 2
Objectives of OH
• Three different objectives
1. Maintenance and promotion of workers’ health and
working capacity
2. Improvement of working environment and work to become
conducive to safety and health
3. Development of work organizations and working cultures in
a direction which supports health and safety at work
 in doing promotes a positive social climate and smooth operation
 also enhance productivity of the undertakings

Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 3

 Occupational health practice
 Encompasses the activities of all those who contribute to
the protection and promotion of workers’ health and to
the improvement of working conditions and environment
 These terms should not be understood as merely the
practice of occupational health professionals

Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 4

Occupational health approaches
 Embodies a number of principles and approaches to
guide action, such as the general principle of primary
health care advocated by the WHO and the improvement
of the working conditions and environment advocated by
the ILO

Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 5

Infrastructures for occupational health
practice
 Means the organizational arrangements to implement a
national policy and to conduct action at the enterprise level
 Infrastructures may take the form of “institutionalized”
occupational health services and include many other bodies
such as national institutes for occupational safety and
health.

Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 6

The following represent the basic functions and
most typical activities of an occupational health
service
1. Preliminary orientation to the enterprise
2. Surveillance of the working environment
3. Informing employer, enterprise management and workers
about occupational health hazards
4. Assessment of health risks
5. Surveillance of workers' health
6. Initiatives for preventive and control measures
7. First aid services and emergency preparedness
Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 7
8. Occupational health care, general preventive and curative
health services
9. Rehabilitation
10.Adaptation of work to the workers
11.Protection of vulnerable groups
12.Information, education and training
13.Health promotion activities
14.Data collection and record-keeping
15.Research
Asst. Prof. Renju Raj, Department of SE, TIST 8