Occupational Health Awareness Week: Top tips for employers and common pitfalls to avoid

This week is Occupational Health Awareness Week. Here are our top tips for employers looking to get the most out of occupational health - and to avoid common pitfalls.

• Involve occupational health: To treat workers fairly and manage the risk of disability discrimination claims, employers need to make decisions on the basis of expert medical evidence - not on the basis of their own instinct or suspicions. Whether you use an internal OH team or an external provider, involving an occupational health expert is essential to obtaining authoritative information and recommendations

• Act promptly: Obtaining an occupational health report can take time, especially if it involves obtaining GP records and arranging meetings with the worker. Employers should ensure that any steps within their control (seeking the referral, acting upon outcomes) are taken swiftly so that matters progress and to reduce the risk of criticism of any delay

• Ask the right questions: When referring a worker to occupational health, think carefully about the questions you are asking. A standard proforma referral may not be appropriate for the particular worker. Use the referral as an opportunity to seek clear, practical guidance on next steps

• Review reports with a critical eye: This is particularly important when it comes to the question of whether an employee is a disabled person for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010. It is common to ask an occupational health expert whether a worker is disabled, because the answer determines what obligations the employer owes (for example, the duty to make reasonable adjustments). However, there has been criticism of employers in cases (e.g. Gallop v Newport City Council) for “rubber-stamping” a medical opinion that an employee was not disabled without applying their own thought to the issues. The Tribunal recommended in that case that, rather than asking a generic question as to whether the “employee is disabled”, the employer should ask practical questions about the impairment and its effects, enabling the employer to form its own view as to whether the definition of disability is satisfied

• Review reports with a critical, but respectful, eye: Whilst medical and OH reports should be reviewed critically, it is equally important that employers do not disregard advice unless there is very good reason to do so. Generally speaking, Employment Tribunals will ascribe considerably more weight to occupational health opinion on medical issues than to an employer’s own views

• Ensure data safeguards are in place: Employers should ensure that the personal data of employees is dealt with appropriately. This may, for example, involve password-protecting referrals and OH reports to reduce the risks of the personal data being seen by those who do not need to see it