Absence and Management of Disability At Work

Sickness absence and compensation claims are a necessary (but often excessive) cost of doing business and there may be many conflicting opinions about the appropriate duration of an employee's time off work for sickness. One employee who suffers from low back pain never misses a day of work; another may be off work for months.

We can provide clinical occupational health assessments where you need to manage staff absence. We may be able to speed up returns to work after sickness by advising on job modifications or the judicious and cost-effective use of non-NHS treatment where that is appropriate. Much long-term absence today is due simply to the NHS waiting list fiasco - many employees waiting for simple procedures can get back to work rapidly after private treatment that might take one or two years on the NHS.

Let environMED manage your short and long term sickness absence with our Attendance Management Programme. Our nurses perform telephone case management from your employee's first day off until they are ready (and safe) to return to work. They follow appropriate guidelines for disability duration and, when necessary, utilize our staff physicians and specialists to handle difficult cases.

environMED can call or write to the treating doctor to discover what barriers may be preventing the employee returning to work and to explain any workplace concerns or accommodations that may be necessary for the employee. In addition, where there are questions about an employee's ability to return safely to work, we have a network of qualified specialists around the country who can perform Independent Medical Examinations. All our staff comply with current legislation (such as the Disability Discrimination Act and the Data Protection Act) so to assure privacy and fairness to your employees and to legally protect your company.


Avian Flu and Pandemic Preparedness

Learn more about the pandemic threat. We have a range of pandemic planning solutions for your business.

Disability Adjsutment Advice

The Disability Discrimination Act placed obligations upon employers to make reasonable adjustments to work tasks and roles for those who come under the remit of the Act. While there are difficulties with interpretation and Tribunals make the final decisions, we can advise you on ways to reduce your exposure to litigation.

Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training, Drug Testing Programmes and MRO Service
Employee drug use whether in or outside the workplace is a serious safety issue. Many companies now conduct drug testing and it is a standard safety practice in some industries. Do you want to begin a drug-testing programme at your work site, but don’t know where to start? environMED can help you develop a Drug Testing Policy that meets today’s standards for regulatory, privacy and legal requirements. We can also provide a comprehensive Medical Review Officer function to review your employee drug screens in a fair and legally binding manner. “Post-Accident” and “For-Cause” testing is difficult for any manager. We can train them in Drug and Alcohol Awareness  so that they will know how and when to test your employees in a way that is legal, fair and standardized.

Epidemiological Studies

At times, workplace environmental risks can be hard to measure and even harder to understand. Even in the absence of risk, fear and misperception can destroy relationships between employees and managers. Careful industrial hygiene measurements that reference current scientific standards may not be enough to eliminate concerns. Epidemiology is the study of disease patterns in communities. When your company wishes to understand whether there is a real risk or not – for example, a cancer cluster or other outbreak of illness within a community – it may be necessary for you to conduct your own investigations. environMED can design appropriate evaluations to answer questions regarding risk for any concerned party, whether community members, employees or your legal representatives. 


Ergonomic Programmes

Sometimes even simple activities, like typing on a keyboard, can cause disabling injuries (painful to your employees and costly to you because of increased sick pay and employee compensation claims). Ergonomics is the study of how employees physically interact with the workplace. environMED nurses and physicians are trained to perform workstation evaluations for potential ergonomic problems. They can develop Ergonomic programmes for your company to pre-empt problems before they occur in your employees.

 

Exposure Risk Assessments, Industrial Hygiene Audits and Safety Audits

If you have had complaints from your employees, the surrounding community, HSE-NI or other concerned parties, you may need to better protect your workers and legally protect your company. Consider requesting our comprehensive Occupational Health Services Audit. We can conduct Occupational Medical Department, Industrial Hygiene, and Safety Audits with an on-site walk through of your facilities in conjunction with formal Exposure Risk Assessments and Toxicology Review. We can provide a certified industrial hygienist as well as certified safety experts who will guide you to resolving exposure and safety issues with your employees and provide formal reports with simple recommendations for what your organization needs to do. 


Foreign Travel Services

Even small companies now require their employees to travel abroad. Those employees may require vaccination against possible infectious diseases. Many employees experience some degree of jet lag or other ill health while travelling abroad. Even minor illnesses can make a business trip less effective resulting in additional expense and lost business opportunities. environMED has a comprehensive Foreign Travel programme that provides telephone travel counselling and travel kits with the necessary medications, including prescription antibiotics appropriate for the destination of travel. We may also be able to provide travel vaccinations for your busy executives who don’t have the time to go to their own GP. 

 

Medical Director Service, Occupational Health Policies and Procedures

environMED provides comprehensive occupational health advice to organizations. Whether you are a small firm that simply needs to have a better understanding of community health issues affecting your workers or a FTSE 100 company requiring a fully implemented Occupational Health Program, environMED can help. We can review your workplace exposures, provide a risk assessment, and develop policies and procedures to ensure  regulatory compliance and the health and safety of your workers. If you need help to set up your occupational health provision, or simply need the ability to get high-level advice as required, this is what you want.

Medical Surveillance Programs

Medical examinations are a legal requirement when workers are potentially exposed to certain toxic compounds such as asbestos, lead, radiation and respiratory sensitizers. environMED can define a cost-effective, compliant content and frequency for your workers’ examinations with a Medical Surveillance Programme. We can arrange and schedule the right examination at the right cost, working with your local medical clinic if need be. 

 

Medico-Legal Case Reviews

Regardless of who solicits our opinion, we can provide expert witnesses who will give fair, honest, and informed opinions about the cause of any illness or injury alleged to be the result of workplace or environmental exposures. 


Preparedness for Catastrophic Events, Including Bioterrorism

Unfortunately, Occupational Health Services in the 21st Century must include preparation for disaster/or terrorist attacks. environMED professionals will review your disaster protocols, make recommendations regarding necessary on-site resources including medical supplies, evacuation plans and review emergency response protocols. We are also available to lecture and answer employee questions.


Product Stewardship / 24-Hour Product Emergency On-Call Service

environMED can help your company evaluate health issues/concerns arising from the development, manufacture, distribution and use of your products/services by customers, employees or the public.  If you wish, we can provide a physician or other appropriate health professional to act as an integral member of your Product Stewardship process, serving on Risk Assessment committees, Crisis Management and Emergency Response teams.

environMED can provide an Emergency On-Call Service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We can cover your company for customer or employee questions, for product emergency, or any occupational health related emergency that happens after hours or on the weekends.
 

Risk Communication

environMED physicians and nurses are experienced in conducting risk communication to employees, managers, community groups and the media. We can help answer difficult question regarding exposure risk in everyday terms that all can understand. We can speak to small groups of employees about outbreaks of infectious diseases like TB or hepatitis and we can speak about cancer risks to large groups from communities and local press agencies. We will provide examples of absolute and relative risk so that your concerned workers, community members or news agency have appropriate measures for risks. 

Risk-directed Health Screening and Statutory Medical ExaminationsWe can advise on employee fitness for duty in specific work tasks, including pre-employment medical screening. Following appoinnotification to HSE, we can undertake asbestos, lead and other statutory surveillance.
 

Wellness Programmes, Executive Physical Examinations

All companies and many employees struggle with the costs of illness. Obesity is now epidemic in the western world and its effect on company healthcare spending will be felt for decades to come. Preventive medicine should be the order of the day but most companies do not have the expertise to offer their employees advice on how to stay well and prevent disabling, costly illnesses. environMED can develop a wellness programme tailor-made for your company such as weight loss, smoking cessation, blood pressure and cholesterol screening. Our physicians and nurses can speak to your employees and perform the necessary screening on-site. 

The health of your key executives concerns, not only the individual but also, the stakeholders in your company. How much would the death or major disability of one of your senior managers cost your company? environMED can develop a state-of-the art Executive Physical programme for your executives with all the latest medical tests like treadmill ECG to screen for preventable heart attacks and colonoscopy to prevent colon cancer. Our physicians will define a schedule and frequency to keep your executives safe from disease before it develops. You owe it to them and to the stakeholders they represent. 


Pension Fund Assessments

We have a particular interest in pension fund work, acting either for the applicant or for the fund (never for both). We have a good understanding of the criteria used by these funds to determine incapacity that merits release of benefits. We are happy to act remotely as assessor /adjudicator for pension schemes or to review individual employees face to face.



Education and Professional Development

We are also interested in education and development. We can tailor-make courses for your company over a broad range of health-related topics. We can brief senior decision makers on the health risk implications of a business activity so that they can make informed decisions. Or we can provide specific training to staff who have job-related risks, for instance, if you are about to introduce a noise protection policy. We can also arrange update sessions for your staff who have health, safety or personnel responsibilities.