Health & Safety
Occupational Health
Occupational Health helps employers to understand how work impacts the health of their workforce and whether workers are fit to carry out their role.
Working alongside medically-trained Occupational Health practitioners minimises the risks associated with work-related diseases through the assessment of safe working practices, health surveillance and sickness absence management.
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How we help
Improving wellbeing at work
We can provide seamless Occupational Health support through our sister company, Healthwork, which is the ultimate service provider.
The service is designed to assist clients in complying with legislation relating to employee health at work and to optimise employee health, attendance and wellbeing. Through their core advisory service, they offer a wide range of support that can be tailored to your organisation to enable you to:
Establish each individual employee’s fitness for work through assessment undertaken by an Occupational Health clinician
Help to manage employee absence by providing independent, robust and evidence-based opinion on an individual’s ability to perform their role
Support effective return to work strategies by providing advice on an occupational rehabilitative plan, including guidance on adjustments and timescales
Determine whether employees are likely to meet ill-health retirement criteria for the relevant pension scheme
Assist in promoting general health and wellbeing of the workforce
Related resources
Free webinar
Managing Work-Related Stress Resulting from Conflict, COVID and Other Causes
Support for business owners, HR teams and managers
Work-related absences of any kind whether physical or mental can seriously impact your bottom line. Whether the employee remains at work through their illness or is off sick long term, Occupational Health intervention can stop unmanaged conditions from hampering your commercial success.
Through utilising Healthwork’s extensive range of support services, you’ll have the expertise you need to improve performance and attendance – whilst taking care of your employees’ welfare at the same time.
Occupational Health clinicians can assist you in tricky matters such as identifying whether an injury or absence derives from the workplace and assessing if the individual’s medical history is consistent with the complaint. From a legal perspective, they can also provide recommendations on any necessary adjustments that need to be made to help an employee meet the expectations of their role.
Popular FAQs
Common Occupational Health queries, answered by our sister company, Healthwork.
What is Occupational Health?
Occupational Health is a specialist branch of medicine concerned with the effects of work upon health, and health upon work. It assists the employer to fulfil its duty of care in making reasonable adjustments, where possible, and in supporting a safe working environment.
What standards of competence are applied to your nurses and physicians?
All our doctors are Consultant Occupational Physicians and hold the highest level of qualification in occupational medicine, i.e. membership of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine of the Royal College of Physicians. Our nurses are registered with the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC), and have an in-depth understanding of occupational hazards, risk and industrial disease.
What is an Occupational Health Referral?
If an employee has been absent from work for an extended period or has had frequent short-term absence, Manager or HR Managers may refer them to Healthwork. The purpose of the referral is to provide employers with clear, impartial and professional advice on matters relating to an employee’s fitness for work. Occupational Health Referrals are undertaken by a qualified Occupational Health Nurse/Physician (OHN/OHP) which may be telephonic or a face-to-face assessment.
What is Health Surveillance?
Health Surveillance is about systematically checking for early signs of work-related ill health in employees exposed to certain health risks/hazards. It means putting in place certain protocols and procedures to achieve this, including Occupational Health assessments.
Who needs a Health Surveillance assessment?
The employer will identify and advise Healthwork of any areas within the business where Health Surveillance may be required. This could be due to the employee working with tools which vibrate, a noisy environment, working in a dusty environment or with chemicals, etc. There are a number of different areas where Health Surveillance may be required.
What's included in our fixed-fee Health & Safety support
Accident and Incident Investigation
An accident in the workplace is every employer’s worst nightmare. We can help to guide your investigation, advise on corrective action and protect your interests in the event of regulatory enforcement.
Can you help us prepare an accident investigation report?
Yes. This can be tricky to get right, especially as once you reach conclusions and set out the actions you have taken, the document is disclosable to the other side in the event of a personal injury claim or prosecution. We’ll help you stick to the facts, keep opinion separate, and make sure the report is presented in a way that protects your best interests and, most importantly, identifies the things that need to be put right to prevent reoccurrence.
We have been written to by the regulator regarding a health and safety incident. Can you help?
Yes. In the event of a serious accident or emergency, we will support your investigation and advise you on your communications with the enforcing authority. We will be there to help mitigate damage, guide you and support you. If you have received a letter from the regulator, we can help you to formulate a response until legal advice is required, in which case (if you have chosen to take it) our Legal Expenses Insurance is activated.
Advice Line
Whether you’re facing an immediate crisis or just in need of an expert second opinion, get sensible, proportionate and practical advice at any time with our unlimited advice line support.
Who will I be advised by?
At Ellis Whittam, we’re big believers in a personal approach. That’s why we assign each of our clients a named consultant, with who will become your main point of contact for advice, guidance and support on all health and safety matters. If you take up our full Health & Safety service, your consultant will also be the one to conduct your health and safety audit and produce your policy and handbook. This means you’ll receive consistent advice from a dedicated expert who truly understands your organisation’s safety system, arrangements and goals.
What if my consultant isn’t available?
If, for whatever reason, your dedicated consultant isn’t available when you call, our office-based Helpdesk Team will be able to resolve most issues for you or direct you to the relevant guidance or template you need via our Knowledge Hub. If you have a particularly urgent or technical query, our Helpdesk Team can triage this to another expert within our team. Rest assured you’ll never be left without support.
Audit and Inspection
From a policy that isn’t being executed properly to a procedure or risk assessment that’s out of date, we can conduct a thorough examination of your premises, practices and procedures to identify and remedy any areas where you’re exposed.
What form does the audit take?
There are a number of different models and templates for conducting health and safety audits. Most commonly, and the approach we adopt at Ellis Whittam, is what’s known as a General Risk Assessment (GRA). This is a systematic examination of your workplace to identify possible causes of harm, the likelihood and severity of that harm occurring given the safeguards already in place, and any further control measures needed to reduce risk to as low a level as is “reasonably practicable”.
Will you just provide a report of the issues identified?
No, we report on both compliant and non-compliant areas, and the report will provide clear solutions and recommendations to address particular areas of concern. Unlike some providers, we won’t insert default ‘corrective action required’ responses unless it is absolutely clear what you need to do; we edit to provide clarity. Plus, if you have any questions or concerns, your dedicated Health & Safety Consultant will be more than happy to assist.
Become Your Competent Persons
We’re so confident in our ability to manage your compliance that we’ll even act as one of your legally-required competent persons, which all organisations must have access to by law in order to meet the requirements of health and safety legislation.
What is a competent person?
Put simply, a competent person helps an organisation to comply with health and safety law and take all reasonable steps to keep people from harm. This will be one or more persons who have the ability to recognise the health and safety risks associated with your organisation and identify sensible and proportionate solutions. The meaning of competent person can be found in Regulation 7 of the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999. This states that “every employer shall, subject to paragraphs (6) and (7), appoint one or more competent persons to assist him in undertaking the measures he needs to take to comply with the requirements and prohibitions imposed upon him by or under the relevant statutory provisions and by Part II of the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997.”
Why would I appoint somebody external to my business?
Will the individual you appoint as your in-house competent person be able to dedicate enough time to this responsibility? They might know your organisation inside and out, but do they have the necessary skills, knowledge and training to keep you compliant? Do they have a working understanding of health and safety legislation and how it applies to your organisation? Appointing an impartial person, external to your organisation, gives you access to technical expertise and the benefit of hands-on experience, and brings structure to the way you manage health and safety. We’ll help you to set up an effective safety management system, show you what good looks like, and give you clarity over what you need to be doing.
e-Learning
Taking time out for employee training isn’t always possible. Nevertheless, as an employer, you want to know that your staff are fully equipped to undertake their duties confidently and safely – and that your organisation is protected – without affecting productivity or spending a fortune.
A convenient and powerful alternative to classroom-based training, our online e-Learning courses incorporate videos and interactive testing for impactful and engaging employee training.
What types of courses are available?
Our ever-growing library of e-Learning courses currently covers over 100 topics, including HR courses such as Equality & Diversity, Sexual Harassment and Social Media Use; soft skills courses such as Communication, Leadership and Change Management; and compliance courses such GDPR, Anti-Money Laundering and the Bribery Act. We also offer an extensive range of Health & Safety courses, including Accident Reporting, Risk Assessment and First Aid. Download the full course brochure.
How much do the courses cost?
All of our e-Learning courses are free for the first year when you purchase our Employment Law & HR or Health & Safety managed service. This means you’re not paying per head or per course, which not only keeps down but gives you complete cost certainty over your training expenses. This is particularly handy if your workforce is growing, as you won’t need to purchase extra licenses, giving you exceptional value for money.
Legal Expenses Insurance
An optional element of our fixed-fee Health & Safety support, our FCA-regulated Legal Expenses Insurance (LEI) can cover against the commercial ramifications of a serious safety incident.
What happens if there’s an accident in our workplace? Is it likely we will be fined?
Most reportable accidents in the workplace are not followed up by the regulator, but if they do take an interest, you are more likely to be subject to some sort of enforcement action being taken. This may be an enforcement notice or Fee for Intervention (FFI) breach. Alternatively, it may be the start of criminal proceedings that end up in court, the cost of which can be significant.
Does LEI include legal representation?
Yes. If you choose to defend the claim, our LEI includes legal support right the way through a case, including barrister’s costs. Here, there will be a prospect of success assessment; the likelihood of an acquittal will need to be more than 50% in order to be covered by the LEI. However, if you’ve followed advice from your dedicated Ellis Whittam Health & Safety Consultant, there’s no reason why you wouldn’t be covered in this situation. In reality, if we have identified an issue and you’ve taken the corrective action we recommended, you shouldn’t find yourself in this situation in the first place.
SafetNest Software
Our innovative Health & Safety Management Software will revolutionise your approach to safety management by creating smart “to-do” lists, cutting out the admin and allowing you to monitor your compliance at a glance.
How can SafetyNest help me?
Our H&S software can transform how you manage health and safety. By turning heavily-administrative, time-consuming tasks into automated processes, it will increase standards and efficiencies across your organisation and free up valuable time. By being able to monitor your compliance at a glance, you’re not left in the dark about how you’re performing and can quickly and proactively identify what action is needed, reducing the potential for an incident and giving you peace of mind. It can also be instrumental in demonstrating compliance to the regulator, increasing your chances of a stress-free inspection.
What exactly is a ‘risk status indicator’?
One of the main benefits of our Health & Safety Software is that you can see, at a glance, exactly how you’re performing and what needs to be done to maintain compliance. When you log in, you will immediately see your Current health status, which gives you visibility of all sites and their current RAG status for ‘Audit’, ‘Registry’, ‘Monitoring’ and ‘Risk assessments’, as well as Location monthly health status, which allows you to select a site and see the progression of the RAG status in any given time frame.
Policy and Handbook
Whether you’ve got nothing in place or are in need of an expert review, our Health & Safety specialists can provide you with a policy and handbook tailored to your organisation, processes, activities and environment.
Who will the Health & Safety Policy be written by?
Your Ellis Whittam Health & Safety Policy will be written by an experienced Health & Safety Consultant with recognised qualifications and technical expertise. If you take up our core Health & Safety service, this person will become your dedicated consultant for all health and safety matters – meaning the advice you receive will be consistent and based on a genuine understanding of your business. Plus, for any questions or areas of your policy that require specific technical expertise, as well as support from your named consultant, you’ll be able to rely on a nationwide team of experts with vast and diverse specialisms and experience.
What sections will it include?
Your Health & Safety Policy will be based on the principle of plan, do, check, act. It will include a statement of commitment describing how the business is organised to fulfill its legal responsibilities (refined to reflect post holder titles), followed by an arrangements section covering all risk areas that are relevant to the business and how they will be managed (contractors, fire, first aid, machinery maintenance, lone working, etc.). For each, it will follow a format of “we recognise”, “we will” and “the approach we will take is…”. It will also cover the importance of risk assessment, monitoring and review.
Risk Assessment
Risk assessment is a fundamental element of health and safety management. Get an expert steer on formulating assessments for specific risk areas such as DSE, manual handling, COSHH and fire safety.
Is a risk assessment a legal requirement?
Yes. Under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999, all employers, regardless of size or sector, must undertake a “suitable and sufficient” assessment of the health and safety of risks their employees are exposed to while at work, as well as the risks to any non-employees (customers, visitors, contractors, etc.) who may be affected by their activities. If you employ five or more employees, it is a legal requirement to keep a written record of your assessment and significant findings. If you’re not sure where to begin with risk assessment, we can help you.
We have an in-house health and safety team, but they haven’t had formal risk assessment training.
Risk assessment is the foundation of an effective safety management system, yet many individuals with this responsibility have not been taught the basic principles of how to conduct a risk assessment and what the law expects. This can result in an inaccurate estimation of risk, which may lead to certain control measures being recommended that are not necessary or, worse, control measures not being identified or implemented. If you are keen to make sure this essential task is being done properly, our expert Health & Safety Team can devise a risk assessors training package to develop internal competence.
Why choose us?
Experts in Health & Safety
We have the expertise to help you simplify complex health and safety legislation, find workable solutions to health and safety challenges, and protect your organisation from the rising cost of non-compliance.
- Approved by a Primary Authority
- Dedicated specialists with recognised qualifications
- Genuine hands-on experience of managing risk
- Cost certainty with our unlimited, fixed-fee model
- The confidence to act as one of your competent persons
Who you’ll be working with
Simon Wilkinson
Principal Health & Safety Consultant
Ian Watson
Regional Health & Safety Manager
Toyah Marshall
Principal Employment Law Adviser
Client stories
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Gus Hosein
Executive Director, Privacy International
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WorkNest supports our 280 staff members with Employment Law and Health & Safety and has provided quality management training too.”
Lisa Best
Head of Service Delivery, Catalyst Choice
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We get a great deal of comfort and satisfaction knowing that we have support as and when we need it, in a decisive and responsive way.”
Richard Berry
Group HR Director, Culina Group
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We moved our legal support to WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) having previously used a time and line law firm. It was important, though, that an all-inclusive fee structure did not come at the expense of quality. Thankfully we’ve been delighted with the service we’ve received from WorkNest.”
Chief Executive
Waverley Care
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What we recognised in WorkNest is the background that they have. They are able to supply knowledge and experience in a number of disciplines, which enables us to develop our business in a way that’s safe, to do it on time and with a quality to it.”
Debbie Rainbow
Director of Human Resources and Health & Safety,
Bluestone National Park Resort
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Celia McKeon
Chief Executive, The Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust (JRCT)
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As the company started to get larger, we knew we had to protect our employees and our contractors both onsite and in the offices. WorkNest is exactly what we needed to move the company forward.”
Joanne Beaver
Operations Director, Beaverfit
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Pineapple have worked with the team at WorkNest (formerly Law at Work) since 2003, and we have built a trusted partnership together. We particularly like WorkNest’s concise and practical advice concerning employment law/HR issues and also appreciate their totally supportive approach in all areas of health and safety.”
General Manager
Pineapple Dance Studios
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I’ve taken WorkNest into every organisation that I’ve worked with. I’ve introduced them to many teams and many colleagues and referred them with absolute pleasure because I genuinely trust in the service that we get.”
People Director, The Works
