As discussed in this column back in September last year, IOSH has published
Professionals in partnership, an OH guidance document that aims to enable
safety practitioners to become more involved in OH issues.
The guidance encourages practitioners to develop their awareness of OH
issues, to make appropriate interventions within their levels of competence and
to form close working relationships with other OH professionals. It also acts
as a signpost document, directing readers to useful OH publications and
provides website addresses of OH organisations.
In order to gauge the efficacy of the new guidance, short ‘before’ and
‘after’ questionnaires are being distributed to users.
Professionals in partnership is registered as a project in the ‘knowledge’
Programme Action Group of SH2 and the results from the questionnaires may be
posted on the SH2 and IOSH websites, once sufficient data have been generated
for analysis.
The guidance has the support of several OH practitioner groups, including:
Association of Occupational Health Nurse Practitioners (UK), British Institute
of Occupational Hygienists, British Occupational Hygiene Society, The
Ergonomics Society, and Society of Occupational Medicine as well as the backing
of the HSE’s SH2 team.
If you would like a free copy of Professionals in partnership, please
contact Andrea Alexander on 0116 257 3100 or e-mail: [email protected]. The guidance and questionnaire are also
downloadable from the IOSH website at: www.iosh.co.uk
Members may also be interested to know that IOSH has developed a CPD course,
Occupational health for OSH practitioners, which is complementary to the
guidance – please contact Zoe Whitehead on 0116 257 3100 for further details.
