Myths of absence management: Day-1 Absence Reporting increases absence because employees don’t have to speak with their manager. In fact, Day-1 Absence Reporting – initially – increases absence levels because all absence is recorded. Relying on managers to report absence data is prone to under-reporting and gaps in the data. Furthermore, with Day-1, the absence […]

About 1 in 10 people who contract Covid, will go on to develop Long Covid. These patients cannot shake off the effects of the virus months after initially falling ill. They may still experience symptoms more than three weeks after infection. Perhaps 60,000 people could be suffering from Long Covid symptoms after more than three […]

Substance abuse is contentious issue in the workplace and managers often draw a hard line when it comes to addiction. Whether the problem relates to alcohol or drugs the workplace issues are generally similar, but many wrongly believe that substance abuse amounts as grounds for instant dismissal.

Early intervention has always been our mantra. The sooner an absence is reviewed and the appropriate action taken to put a plan in place for a return to work, the better the outcomes. Short of spotting any warning signs for problem before it escalates to an absence, there’s no better time for early intervention than […]

Proposal to incorporate OH into the NHS Occupational physician Ian Torrance and Faculty of Occupational Medicine president Richard Heron recently suggested in BMJ editorial that ‘integration of the clinical specialty of occupational health (OH) into the NHS is long overdue’. Their argument was based on a viewpoint that current OH provision in UK puts employees […]

The Society of Occupational Medicine has published a report building the business case for Occupational Health (OH). Many employers are concerned about the cost of Occupational Health services but this report aims to show that effective use of OH adds real value.

Using certain types of tools creates vibration, which transmits to the operator’s hands and arms. Prolonged exposure to hand-arm vibration can cause serious medical issues and trigger HAVS – hand-arm vibration syndrome. Employers, whose staff uses vibration tools, such as drills, chainsaws, strimmers, sanders and power mowers, must carry out risk assessments and annual health […]

Fit Note – 5 years on The Fit Note was introduced in 2010 and it has been in use for a little over 5 years. IOSH, the Chartered body for health and safety professionals recently conducted a study into the Fit Note titled‘Getting the best from the fit note’, which found that there is still widespread […]

We recently wrote a comparison of OH and GP reports here on our blog but, looking at this topic from another angle, how useful are GP reports? We often find that managers will request a GP report as well as an OH report and it is perhaps useful to understand what you can expect to benefit from a GP report. […]

Telephone assessments have become the common approach to Occupational Health. Honeydew Health also now recommends teleconsultations in many cases. Although, we often face some resistance from managers who are new to the telephone appointments. Here is our list of useful facts and frequently asked questions about telephone assessments in OH case management.