Occupational Health and Safety

Worried about extra costs? Let's reduce them!

– Avoid fines and penalties;

– Reduce occupational health risks;

– Lower accident rates and medical leave.

Make Occupational Health and Safety a Key Asset to Your Business!

Create safe and healthy environments for your employees!

Medical Consultations (Occupational Medicine - OM)

Improve the physical and mental health conditions of workers and prevent workplace accidents.

Do the consultations take into account the workers clinical history and medical background?

Problem:
Many companies in the market do not pay attention to clinical history such as past illnesses, hereditary factors, etc.

Consequence:
Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) services have the mission not only to prevent workplace accidents but also to prevent and identify health risks for workers. The absence of screening processes does not contribute to effective worker health prevention and may lead to costs related to illnesses.

Do the consultations take into account the mental health and well-being of the workers?

Problem:
A large part of OHS companies do not consider this important dimension in their clinical assessments.

Consequence:
Psychosocial risks arise from deficiencies in the design, organization and management of work as well as from a problematic social work environment which can have negative psychological, physical and social effects such as work-related stress, burnout or depression.

Complementary Exams (CEs)

To assess the health and work capacity of workers identify occupational risks and prevent work-related diseases.

Do the consultations include complementary exams (CEs)?

Problem:
Some OHS companies offer only consultation fees without exams in order to present a competitive price.

Consequence:
The proposal presented will later be increased with the inclusion of these mandatory exams.

Are the exams appropriate and conducted in accordance with the risk exposure?

Problem:
There are companies that do not provide the indicated exams or all the necessary exams for the workers job functions.

Consequence:
The contracted services do not meet the real needs of the company and the worker. As a result there will be an actual financial cost with no return for the company and a health risk for the worker.

Data assessed by Occupational Safety integrated with the Occupational Health area

Integration of the information managed by the Occupational Safety department into a single system facilitating access and analysis by the health team (occupational nurse and doctor) to improve the prevention of accidents, injuries and diseases originating from or exacerbated by the workplace.

At what level are medical data cross-referenced with safety data?

Problem:
Many companies do not analyze in an integrated way the information related to workstations and work environments together with the workers health status and clinical history.

Consequence:
The service provision will not add value to the client. Both areas are complementary and by law must be managed together for the benefit of the workers and the client.

Occupational Diseases

Prevent occupational diseases, identify possible work-related health issues and promote a safe and healthy work environment.

When an occupational disease is investigated by official authorities are the OHS team members (doctor, nurse and Safety Technician) dispatched and the conducted risk assessments presented?

Problem:
Usually companies do not make their resources available or charge separately for the hours spent.

Consequence:
As a result the service is incomplete and will represent an additional cost for the client.

Workplace accidents

Investigation of the causes that led to a specific workplace accident and analysis of actions to implement to prevent recurrence, thereby avoiding future accidents.

Does the proposal include the services and costs related to the handling of all workplace accidents?

Problem:
A large part of external OHS services do not clearly include the characterization of all workplace accidents in their proposals for client companies.

Consequence:
Besides offering an incomplete service this will result in an additional cost later presented to the client.

Prevention and Risk Assessment Plan

Identify, analyze and evaluate the highest-risk indicators promoting all necessary actions to improve workers safety and health conditions, prevent workplace accidents and occupational diseases and foster safe and healthy workplaces.

Are risk assessments conducted at the workers specific workstations, covering all risk groups and their possible vulnerabilities or only at the general workspace (infrastructure)?

Problem:

A risk assessment should include the analysis and evaluation of all workstations and the exposure of their workers to risks, identifying possible vulnerabilities or physical conditions and ensuring the definition of appropriate prevention and protection measures.

However many assessments represent a general analysis of the work environment, focusing mainly on the company’s infrastructure, neglecting the condition of the worker their information and consultation. This results in plans with general measures that are difficult to apply or ineffective.

Consequence:

The price will certainly be lower but the work carried out will be incomplete, failing to consider the real needs of the workers, not promoting adequate information regarding the risks they are exposed to, nor informing them about the measures to adopt for their protection. Ultimately this leads to ineffective management of workplace risks and missed opportunities to improve each workers health status.

Check if the risk assessment data will be analyzed, processed and conclusions presented in a report.

Problem:
A large part of OHS companies simply present the raw survey results without any data processing or useful outputs.

Consequence:
Raw survey results provide no value to the company as they do not allow for conclusions or corrective actions to be drawn. In other words it will be a real cost with no benefit for the company.

Check if in case of changes at the workplace, new follow-up visits are included.

Problem:
Many OHS companies do not include follow-up in their service and in the implementation of improvement actions.

Consequence:
This will be an unaccounted additional cost which will be presented to the client later.

Check if the risk assessment includes all activities (routine and non-routine) performed by workers inside the facilities as well as outside, accompanying workers in all the activities they carry out.

Problem:
Some OHS services do not accompany workers through all the tasks they perform, limiting themselves to checking work done on-site and not analyzing activities carried out off-site, such as travel to clients or other tasks that also involve risks likely to cause accidents or occupational diseases.

Consequence:
As a result the risk assessment will be incomplete, failing to identify all the risks workers are exposed to and the necessary clarifications will not be provided to the employer to fully prevent workplace accidents and occupational diseases.

Assessment of Measurable Risk Factors

Identify and quantify the different measurable risk factors that can increase the likelihood of accidents or occupational diseases.

Are measurable risk factors (lighting, thermal comfort or stress, occupational noise) included in the contract and will they be assessed with a view to presenting a report containing results and proposed measures related to the risk assessment and complementary diagnostic exams conducted during the Occupational Medicine consultation?

Problem:
Some companies do not carry out the assessment of measurable factors according to the activity (e.g., occupational noise).

Consequence:
The Risk Assessment thus becomes incomplete since risk factors are not measured and therefore concrete measures tailored to the specific situation are not defined. The definition of concrete actions to be implemented as well as the development of a control program for a given risk is only possible after its correct measurement and evaluation.

Annex D of the Single Report

The Single Report is a mandatory document in Portugal which must be completed annually by companies and submitted to the competent authorities.

Check if Annex D of the Single Report is included in the OHS service cost. Confirm that the data are accurate, the delegation properly carried out and that the content corresponds to the service actually provided by the company.

Problem:
In the OHS market, many operators do not provide support in this area merely entering the data that “belongs” to them, often parametrized automatically rather than according to the actual service performed.

Consequence:
Annex D of the Single Report summarizes and should reflect how the company manages OHS. Therefore the service provider must assist the client company by completing the data in accordance with the legal obligations required and with the actual data based on the service effectively provided thus avoiding fines.

Worker Consultation

Worker consultation is a mandatory requirement that promotes the active contribution and involvement of workers with the aim of reducing occupational risks and workplace accident rates in companies.

Is the mandatory worker consultation carried out according to their professional activity (does it comply with the established frequency and are the data properly processed)?

Problem:
A large part of OHS companies conduct worker surveys and simply present the results without any data processing or integration into occupational risk management. Most of the time this worker consultation incurs an additional cost, billed separately.

Consequence:
Simply applying surveys and presenting statistical results without integrating them into occupational risk management does not add value to the company as it does not allow for conclusions to be drawn or corrective actions to be defined. In other words it will be a real cost without the proper benefit for the company.

Health Promotion

Ensure the physical, mental and social well-being of individuals in the workplace. These actions aim to prevent illnesses, promote healthy lifestyles and improve the quality of life for workers.

Are health promotion actions carried out taking into account the risks and health status of the working population?

Why?

Many companies have standalone health promotion actions in their portfolio which are implemented in companies without first identifying the real needs of the workers and/or the company.

Consequences:

Health promotion actions without a strategy, applied sporadically, yield limited results both for the worker and for changes in the work environment.