Occupational health programmes aim to anticipate and prevent health problems caused by work. All companies should have in place appropriate arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the necessary preventive and protective measures for workers, taking into account the activities the worker will be undertaking.
The International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA) has published high level guidance on this vital issue – ‘Guidance on Occupational Health’ (IMCA SEL 033) – which provides guidance on the physical and mental condition of all people at the workplace be they employees, contractors or visitors, and their protection from harm in the form of injury or disease. The new document is available for free downloading from the IMCA website at www.imca-int.com and is also available in printed form.
“Occupational health programmes aim to anticipate and prevent health problems caused by work, ” explains IMCA’s Technical Director, Jane Bugler. “Protecting your work force is a vital component of risk management. Our members companies employ more than 250, 000 staff globally, so the work they could, and should, undertake looking after their workforce is a key issue.
“Companies should have in place appropriate arrangements for the effective planning, organisation, control, monitoring and review of the necessary preventive and protective measures for workers, taking into account the activities each and every worker will be undertaking.
“Our new guidance also covers some basic requirements for ensuring that a good occupational health strategy can be established, incorporating a combination of proactive and reactive elements including:
- Prevention of occupational ill-health;
- Early identification of any occupational ill-health;
- Rehabilitation and return to work following occupational ill-health.
“Each of these elements is discussed and we also cover basic requirements for ensuring that a good occupational health strategy can be established. We also give details of typical health risk management issues; and provide information on further reading.”
Like all IMCA guidance IMCA SEL 033 is free to download from the IMCA website for members and non-member alike. Printed copies can be purchased at £5.00 for members and £10.00 for non-members via the IMCA website at www.imca-int.com and from publications@imca-int.com.
About IMCA
- IMCA is an international association with more than 915 members over 60 countries representing offshore, marine and underwater engineering companies. IMCA has four technical divisions, covering marine/specialist vessel operations, offshore diving, hydrographic survey and remote systems and ROVs, plus geographic sections for the Asia-Pacific, Central & North America, Europe & Africa, Middle East & India and South America regions. As well as a core focus on safety, the environment, competence and training, IMCA seeks to promote its members’ common interests, to resolve industry-wide issues and to provide an authoritative voice for its members.
- IMCA publishes some 200 guidance notes and technical reports – many are available for free downloading by members and non-members alike. These have been developed over the years and are extensively distributed. They are a definition of what IMCA stands for, including widely recognised diving and ROV codes of practice, DP documentation, marine good practice guidance, the Common Marine Inspection Document (CMID) – now available electronically as eCMID, safety recommendations, outline training syllabi and the IMCA competence scheme guidance. In addition to the range of printed guidance documents, IMCA also produces safety promotional materials, circulates information notes and distributes safety flashes.
