Healthy and unhealthy communities - Occupational Health Flashcards
What is occupational health?
The promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social wellbeing of workers in all occupations by preventing departures from health, controlling risks and the adaptation of work to people, and people to their jobs
Who does occupational health?
- Occupational medicine - doctors
- Occupational health advisors - nurses
- Occupation hygienists
- Occupational psychologists
- Occupational physiotherapists
- Some occupational therapists
Where is occupational health done?
- NHS
- Armed forces
- Public sector
- Private sector
List the hierarchy of controls from most effective to least effective
- Elimination - physcially remove the hazard
- Substitution - replace the hazard
- Engineering controls - isolate people from the hazard
- Administrative controls - changing the way people work
- PPE - prtotect the worker with PPE
List the relevant legislations related to occupational health
- Health and saftey at work etc act (1974)
- Management of healt and saftey at work regs (19990
- Control of subtsances hazardous to health (COSHH) (2002)
- Report of injuries,diseases and dangerous occurrences at work (RIDDOR)
- Other legistlations and regulations
- Manual handling of loads
- Personal protective equipment at work
- Lead/Asbetsos/Vibration/Noise
- Equality act (2010)
a) List the type of occupational ill-health
b) Which type affects healthcare workers the most?
a)
- Respiratory
- Skin
- Musculoskeletal
- Mental
- Audiological
- Other
b) Mental
What are the two most common causes of accidental death at work?
- Falls from height
- Contacts with moving machinery
Describe how the rate of fatal injury has changed from 1981 to 2013/14 too 2018/19
Long term donward trend from 1981 to 2013/14 and plataued from 2013/14 to 2018/19
Describe how non-fatal injuries reported has changed from 2000/01 to 2018/19
Non-fatal reported injuries has decreased
Define “stress”?
Stress is the advserse reaction people have to excessive pressure or other types of demand placed on them (not a medical diagnosis)
List the top 10 stressful positions
- Prison officer
- Police
- Social worker
- Teaching
- Ambulance cervice
- Nursing
- Medicine
- Fire fighting
- Dentistry
- Mining
a) What is the most common muskuloskeletal disorder (MSD) in employees in the UK?
b) How many estimated days did each person suffering an MSD caused or made worse by their current/past work take off?
a) Back problems
b) 14 days
What skin problem was aused or made worse by work occupation the most?
Contact dermatitis
a) What are the three main types of contact dermatitis caused or made worse by work occupation? Provide examples for how they’re caused as well
b) Which type of work had the most frquently reported agents for cases of work-related contact dermatitis
a)
- Irritant contact dermatitis e.g., frequent hand washing
- Allergic contact dermatitis: delayed hypersensitivity e.g., accelerants used in glove manufacture
- Allergic contact dermatitis: immediate hypersensitivity e.g., pure latex allergy
b) Wet work
List the repiratory diseases that can be caused or made worse by work occupation
- Occupational asthma
- COPD
- Asbestos related
- Silicosis
- Pneumoconiosis
- Extrinsic Allergic Alveolitis (EAA)
At what decibal must employers provide hearing protection?
85 decibles
What should employers do if the noise level is 80 decibels and above?
Employers must assess risk to worker’s health and provide information and training
a) Which workers do infectious diseases effect?
b) What are the most common potential infections?
a) Health care workes
b) Diarrhoeal diseases
Blood borne viruses (BBV) e.g., Hep B, C and HIV
Except from infections diseases common in healthcare workers describe the other potential diseases workers can get
- Legionella (can cause a serious type of pneumonia)
- Zoonoses (farmers)
- Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) (abattoir workers)
Describe the common RIDDOR reportable diseases and how they can occur
- Carpal tunnel syndrome - regular use of percussive or vibrating tools
- Tendonitis/tenosynovitis - in the hand/forearm, where the person’s work is physically demanding and involves frequent, repetitive movements (e.g., certain laboratory workers)
- Hand arm vibration syndrome - vascular and neurological components
What sources of information can you can seek occupational health from?
- Faculty of occupational medicine
- The @ work partnership
- British Occupational Health Research Foundation (BOHRF)
- Healthy and safety executive (HSE)
Describe the health benefits of work
- Work is (generally) good for health and wellbeing including for people with health condition
- It can promote good mental and physical health
- Provide important social networks and routines
- Contribute to recovery from health conditions
Describe how unemployment puts health at risk
- Causes more illness and premature death
- Health effects linked to psychological consequences and financial problems
- Health effects start when people first feel their jobs are threatened
- Prolonged job insecurity acts as a chronic stressor - effects grow with length of exposure
Describe how unemployment and poor health impact on each other
- Unemployment contributes to ill health and having a health condition increases the likelihood of unemployment
- Increasing length of time unemployed = the greater the risk of developing a health condition
- This increase difficulties in returning to employment
