Ethics Guidance for Occupational Health Practice 9th Edition - Book - Page 79
Supporting workers with health needs
4.41. Occupational health professionals should assess workers’ health needs
and advise both the worker and employer to enable them to work safely and
efficiently.
4.42. Management of sickness absence is an employer’s responsibility. The
occupational health professional should provide impartial clinical advice
necessary to enable employers to discharge that responsibility in a manner that
is fair to the worker and the organisation, and in accordance with their statutory
obligations where applicable. This requires objectivity and impartial evidencebased advice.
4.43. The role of the occupational health professional is to interpret clinical
information and provide practical advice to the employer management. The
employer does not require clinical information to discharge their duty. (see
Chapter 3 Disclosure to employers)
4.44. In giving advice to the employer, the occupational health professional must
base their opinion on relevant medical evidence, which may involve obtaining
a report from the treating healthcare professional, with the worker’s consent.
(see Chapter 3 - Access to Medical Reports Act 1988 )
4.45. If, in the opinion of the occupational health professional, the work constitutes
a risk to the worker, despite the employer’s compliance with reasonable
standards of health and safety for the bulk of their workforce, (for example
because of a particular susceptibility to a an occupational hazard e.g.
a substance, stress or vibration), the worker should be given full information
about the hazard and risk, advised that it may not be in their best interests to
continue in the job, and informed as to any alternative employment that is
available to them. The GMC Guidance on Confidentiality 60 states that a doctor
“should usually abide by a competent adult’s refusal to consent to disclosure,
even if their decision leaves them, but nobody else, at risk of serious harm”.
4.46. When the occupational health professional believes that undertaking the role
poses an unmitigated risk to the worker’s health, the risk, the advice provided,
and the worker’s decision to continue working against that advice should be
shared with the employer, with the worker’s consent.
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