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CoronavirusReturn to work and rehabilitationSickness absence managementOccupational Health

New Covid-19 risk assessment return-to-work guidelines launched

by Nic Paton 6 Apr 2021
by Nic Paton 6 Apr 2021 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

SOM (the Society of Occupational Medicine) and the University of Glasgow have combined to launch new Covid-19 return-to-work guidelines that, for the first time, take account of community prevalence, vaccination status and previous Covid-19 infection in the risk assessment.

The guidelines are intended for workers, employers, occupational health practitioners and other health practitioners, such as GPs.

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SOM pointed that, as only 50% of UK workers have access to occupational health, for many workers their risk assessment will have to be done by their GP, employer or themselves and therefore the guidance is designed to help all parties understand their risks and the appropriate work-related control measures.

The guidance emphasises that there are multiple factors to consider in the Covid-19 return-to-work risk assessment.

These include community infection levels, individual vulnerability, workplace/commute transmission risk, workers’ concerns and expectations and, more recently, vaccination and previous Covid-19 infection.

The rapid guide describes these factors and presents a simple stepwise approach to inform decisions and facilitate safe return to work, said SOM.

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The guideline also includes an appendix on worker rehabilitation and pragmatic occupational health advice for workers with “long Covid”.

It can be downloaded here.

Nic Paton

Nic Paton is consultant editor at Personnel Today. One of the country's foremost workplace health journalists, Nic has written for Personnel Today and Occupational Health & Wellbeing since 2001, and edited the magazine from 2018.

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1 comment

Richard Heron 12 Apr 2021 - 5:51 pm

Great to see guidance for employers being made available to support safe return to work. Better still employ a competent occupational health professional to see a rapid and sustained return on your investment

Comments are closed.

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