Case Studies
Occupational Health
Providing a harm-free working environment for all staff and contractors is ScottishPower's key safety goal. Statistically, employees in Britain are significantly more at risk from work related illness than a work related accident. With this in mind, ScottishPower engaged specialist occupational health hygienists to broaden its existing health and safety skills base. The main objective of this group has been to develop and compile Occupational Health Risk Registers for each of the business units.
The Occupational Health Risk Register has been designed to indicate the health risks an employee may face whilst undertaking work within a particular job profile. For example Linesman,
Electrical Fitter, Call Centre Operator etc and also any fitness for work requirements relevant to that profile.
The health risk profile, determined by specific risk assessment of the work carried out within the job profile, is used to direct the specific occupational health surveillance monitoring requirements for example, audiometry, Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) assessment, lung function etc.
Group Health and Safety Director, George Kirk, states: "Occupational ill-health is often referred to as 'the slow accident', causing just as much pain as an accident, but often taking many years to appear. Conditions such as Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome and noise induced deafness can be prevented through proactive measures. Ongoing health surveillance helps to detect any changes in employees' health at an early stage and ensures that any failures in control mechanisms can be rectified timeously to prevent further health changes."
As well as looking at the risk to health from the work conditions the Risk Register also identifies any specific "Fitness for Work" requirements of the job, for example, work at heights, confined spaces, wearing of breathing apparatus etc. This information is, again, used to specify appropriate health assessment requirements of employees from a specific job profile.
Most companies now appreciate that a major factor in their continuing success is related to the health and well-being of their workforce and that this goes far beyond merely protecting the employee from the risk associated with his or her job.
ScottishPower proactively promotes and encourages employee health and well-being through it's Business bannered initiatives.
- "Healthwise" - Energy Networks
- "Wellaware" - Energy Retail; and
- "Focus on Health" - Energy Wholesale
Each has followed a structured approach much in line with the Scottish Executives "Scottish Health at Work (SHAW) awards scheme programmes and in the case of Energy Wholesale -Silver and Energy Networks -Bronze have met the specific award criterion. Energy Networks also achieved OSHAS 18001 award on first entry.
Specific events in the past year's programmes included healthy eating awareness, smoking cessation, first aid, promotion of running and cycling events and stress management.
