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Chapter 43 - The Role of Occupational Health Services and Responding to Staff Who Have Long COVID

from Section 5 - Sustaining and Caring for Staff During Emergencies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 January 2024

By
Clare Rayner
Edited by
Richard Williams ,
Verity Kemp ,
Keith Porter ,
Tim Healing  and
John Drury
Richard Williams
Affiliation:
University of South Wales
Verity Kemp
Affiliation:
Independent Health Emergency Planning Consultant
Keith Porter
Affiliation:
University of Birmingham
Tim Healing
Affiliation:
Worshipful Society of Apothecaries of London
John Drury
Affiliation:
University of Sussex
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Summary

This chapter outlines what occupational health services are and what they can do for workers and employers. It describes their role in preventing and managing illness caused by work, and supporting workers to return to their workplaces after illness. Of key importance is the management of hazard and risk at work, and preventing harm to workers. This includes anticipating the psychosocial hazards of emergencies, incidents, disasters, and disease outbreaks (EIDD), and planning how to keep staff safe and well. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the additional prolonged health impacts of COVID-19 affecting a large proportion of the population have been and are challenging for all concerned. The author uses Long COVID to consider how health services might be organised and delivered at scale. Occupational health services are accustomed to turning their capabilities to meet new needs. Early intervention is emphasised as a means of achieving earlier return to function.

Keywords

hazardLong COVIDoccupational healthsafetyworker
Type
Chapter
Information
Major Incidents, Pandemics and Mental Health
The Psychosocial Aspects of Health Emergencies, Incidents, Disasters and Disease Outbreaks
 , pp. 320 - 325
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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References

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