The company behind occupational health services at all of Britain’s seven airports has been awarded the prestigious contract to supply OH to the construction workforce for the London 2012 Olympics.
Duradiamond Healthcare, which provides occupational health services for airports giant BAA and has been responsible for services on its new Heathrow Terminal 5 project, has been selected as part of a consortium by the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) following a tendering process.
Duradiamond and OH provider Health Management will develop a programme to run for the 9,000 staff who will be employed to build the venues and infrastructure of the Olympic Park.
The health and safety of staff in the run-up to the 2012 Olympic Games is a controversial issue. The Athens games of 2004 came in for heavy criticism after at least 13 workers were killed and many more injured in the rush to complete projects on time. But Sydney’s Olympics four years earlier only suffered a single fatality.
Lawrence Waterman, ODA head of health and safety and a former Institution of Occupational Safety and Health president, told Occupational Health the consortium’s remit will be to ensure health and safety is built into the construction and design of the site.
Its teams will carry out health questionnaire assessments of all new workers, offer health checks and provide an on-site emergency first aid and paramedic service from a dedicated health centre.
“London 2012 is a shop window for the UK construction industry and a shop window for occupational health,” he said.
While the main emphasis would be health and safety, wider OH issues such as musculoskeletal disorders, dermatitis, men’s health, smoking cessation services and diet would also be on the OH agenda in the run-up to the games, he added.
