Occupational Health Services

Avon Partnership Occupational Health Service (APOHS) supports individuals and organisations on all aspects of health at work. They consider how current, previous or potential health problems may be affected by it.

The major role of the service is to provide independent advice to managers and employees on:

• The health of people at work
• The quality of the working environment
• Health risks of the workplace
• The occupational implications of risks to health that can occur at work and the ability of employees, through reasons of their health, to undertake the work

The potential effects of work on health can be assessed at the start of employment and at agreed intervals during employment, as required. This includes health risks associated with exposure to different biological, chemical, physical, ergonomic and psycho-social hazards of the workplace. We then work with the individual and organisation to maximise the health at work of all individuals.

This includes the provision of:

• Immunisations required for specific work exposures, eg for Diphtheria, Hepatitis B, Poliomyelitis, Rubella, Tetanus, Tuberculosis and Typhoid
• The management of needlestick injuries and other accidental occupational exposures to blood/body fluids including medication for post-exposure prophylaxis
• Statutory examinations for health surveillance, eg Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH), lead and exposure medicals, respiratory function testing for hazards such as gluteraldehyde and isocyanates, fitness screening for night shift workers, and audiometry if required
  Health monitoring – where appropriate, establishing;