Summary
The course is designed to provide comprehensive guidance to organisations who use, or plan to use, an external Occupational Health (OH) Service.
At the end of the programme participants will:
- Understand the scope of an Occupational Health service and be able to determine what would be relevant for their organisation.
- Get an overview of the legal requirements that are relevant to the use of this service including, but not limited to
- Employment Equality and Disability legislation
- GDPR
- Unfair Dismissal
- Occupational Safety and Health (OSH)
- Have the knowledge to review and update their organisation’s processes and procedures that relate to the use of their Occupational Health service.
This programme is for:
Those working in the areas of Human Resources, Health and Safety, Procurement, Employee Wellness, People Managers or Senior Management
Approach
The course will provide a comprehensive overview of the use of an Occupational Health service by incorporating Employment Law, HR, Health and Safety, and Occupational Health considerations.
Programme Schedule
Describe the purpose and scope of the Occupational Health Service
- Recognise how effective Occupational Health services contribute to employee well-being, productivity, and business success.
- Review service offerings and how they can be used in a proactive way to contribute to employee health and wellbeing, prevent absenteeism, and encourage return to work.
- Develop effective partnerships between HR, Health & Safety, line managers, and Occupational Health professionals to create a cohesive approach
Review the Legal Framework for managing Occupational Health
- Outline the key principles of Equality legislation
- Disability
- Reasonable accommodation
- Unfair Dismissals
- Safety Health and Welfare at Work legislation
- Health Surveillance
- Fitness for Work
- Managing Absence and Return to Work
- Data Protection/GDPR legislation
- Identify what constitutes sensitive personal data in the context of employee health records
- Understand lawful bases for processing health data, including consent and necessity for compliance with legal obligations
- Distinguish between what information OH professionals can disclose to employers and what must remain confidential
Occupational Health Practitioner perspective
- What does Occupational Health need to know.
- Contract/ Service Level Agreement.
- Documentation: Information about the organisation (Work Environment), Job Descriptions, Risk Assessments, other relevant information
- Limitations on what the OH Practitioner can advise or disclose
- What are the key questions for the employers to consider
Programme Facilitators
Elaine Bowers
Elaine has over twenty five year’s experience working in the area of Environment Health and Safety- including five years working in Ibec's Employer Relations Division and now in Ibec Academy as a Senior Commercial EHS Executive.
She is an alternate employer representative on the European Commissions’ Advisory Committee on Safety & Health (ACSH).
Elaine has particular interest in the cross-over between OSH and the Human Resources function, as well as EHS Management Systems and Corporate Sustainability.
She holds an MSc in Applied Environmental Sciences, a BSc in Environmental Health, a H Dip in Occupational Safety & Health and a Diploma in Employment Law.
Claire Jones
Claire is a Senior Executive working in Ibec Academy. Claire has worked in Ibec for more than 20 years and worked in the Legal Department within Ibec prior to moving into Ibec Academy. Claire is currently lead trainer and course Director on a number of diploma, certificate and short programmes for Ibec Academy. She specialises in the areas of employment law, human resource management and industrial relations.
Jo Leddy
Jo is a highly motivated, experienced OSH & Wellbeing professional. She worked as an Occupational Health & Wellbeing Lead and OSH manager in multi-national manufacturing industries for over 25 years.
Jo is an experienced lecturer and tutor in Safety, Health and Welfare at Work in UCD, NISO and Ibec Academy. Jo has been lecturing/tutoring at all levels on the SHWW programmes in UCD including the Masters in SHWW for the past twenty years. Jo designed the Ibec Academy Wellbeing Programme and has been delivering this workshop face-to-face and online for the past 5 years.
She holds an MSc SHWW (UCD); BNS (DCU); Pg Cert in Health Promotion &Workplace Wellness (NUIG); Diploma in Management and Industrial Relations (NCI); Diploma in Mediation Studies (UCD). Jo is a chartered member of IOSH.
Dr David Madden
Dr Madden a native of Limerick, graduated from UCD medicine in 1995. He is a partner in Medmark Occupational Healthcare.
He sits on the board of the Faculty of Occupational medicine Ireland and has over 25 years experience in the area of Occupational Medicine. David leads a team of doctors, nurses and support staff assisting industries with their occupational health needs in Limerick, Tipperary and Clare area.
