16.3. Occupational Health as a specialty (16.3.1-16.3.5)

Question 1

What is Occupational Health?

Answer 1

Occupational health is an area of work in public health to promote and maintain highest degree
of physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations.
- Multi disciplinary team: occupational therapy, medicine, hygiene, psychology,etc.

Question 2

WHO/ILO Shared Definition

Answer 2

The focus in occupational health is
on three different objectives:
* The maintenance and promotion
of workers’ health and working
capacity;
* The improvement of working
conditions and the working
environment to become conducive
to safety and health;
* The development of work
organization and working
cultures to improve occupational
safety and health.

Question 3

OH concerns

Answer 3

• OH doctors are concerned with the relationship between work and health.
• Focus on prevention and management of
  work-related health issues.
• Occupational Health doctors assess the impact of health on work.

Question 4

Impact of work on health

Answer 4

Go through the different case scenarios

Question 5

Occupational injury

Answer 5

Compensation for Occupational Injuries and
Diseases Act (COIDA).
* “occupational injury” means a
personal injury sustained as a
result of an accident

Question 6

Occupational disease-test question

Answer 6

disease or disorder that is caused by the work or working conditions
* the disease must have developed due to exposure to workplace hazards and the correlation between the exposures and the disease is well-known in medical research.

Question 7

Social Determinants of Health.

Answer 7

• Non-medical factors that influence
  health outcomes
• The conditions in which people are
  born, grow, work, live, and age
• The wider set of forces and systems
  shaping the conditions of daily life.
• Research shows that social
  determinants can be more important
  than health care or lifestyle choices in
  influencing health

Question 8

Good work- test question

Answer 8

• Work that provides meaningful, safe, and fulfilling employment

Question 9

Work as SDH-Vulnerable Workers

Answer 9

-Migrant workers
- Lone working
- Disability at work
- Pregnant workers and new
mothers
- Older workers
- Gig economy, ageing and
temporary workers

Question 10

What are vulnerable workers? -Test question

Answer 10

• ## Those for whom employment is precarious, poorly paid, and sometimes dangerous, and who often suffer from some form of discrimination.

Question 11

Fitness for work assessment.

Answer 11

A medical assessment of fitness for work aims to
ensure that an employee is fit to perform the
task involved effectively and without risk to
their own or others’ health and safety.

Question 12

Give examples of fitness for work assessment -test question.

Answer 12

• Pre-employment medical
• Work-specific medical assessments
  Aviation medical examination in a pilot
• Medical assessment before returning to work
  after prolonged sick leave

Question 13

Disability

Answer 13

• The International Classification of Functioning,Disability and Health (ICF) defines
  disability as an umbrella term for impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions.
• ICF considers the environmental and personal factors that interact with all these components. Impairment is defined as a problem in body function or structure.

Question 14

Specialised UN agencies relevant to OH

Answer 14

• International Labour Organisation
• WHO
  Keyword: international standards

Question 15

Occupational Health and Safety Act 85 of 1993

Question 16

Compensation and insured medical benefits

Answer 16

• COIDA
• Occupational diseases in mines and works ACT 78 of 1973
• Medical schemes

Question 17

Ethical principles -test question!
Scenario in the test, find which principles are relevant in the mentioned context.

Answer 17

1. Autonomy: individuals must be respected as independent moral agents with the right to choose how to live their lives.
2. Beneficence: One should do good where possible.
3. Non-maleficence: One should avoid harm to others.
4. Justice: People should be treated fairly, although this does not necessarily equate with treating everyone the same.

Question 18

Differentiate between a hazard and a risk.

Answer 18

• Hazard:Something with the potential to cause harm or adverse health effects.
• Risk: The likelihood that a person may be harmed or suffer adverse health effects if exposed to the hazard.

Question 19

Hazards categories

Answer 19

1. Physical- noise, radiation, temperature
2. Chemical- pesticides, asbestos, petroleum
3. Biological- bacteria, viruses, parasites and moulds or fungi.
4. Ergonomic- repetitive motion, awkward postures, forceful motion
5. Psychosocial- anything that could cause psychological harm (examples
   include bullying, stress)

Question 20

Risk assessment and provide examples

Answer 20

Identifying health effects resulting from exposure to workplace hazards

Question 21

Risk mitigation- Hierarchy of controls

Answer 21

• Elimination
• Substitution
• Engineering controls
• Administrative control
• PPE

Question 22

Medical surveillance

Answer 22

Ifa risk can not be completeely mitigated , a risk of exposure to the hazard remains.
planned programme, to keep progress of the damage the exposure to the hazard is doing.