The occupational health service in the Department of Health

Abstract

Man still spends a considerable part of his waking life at work. Not long ago he used to do this merely to secure for himself the bare essentials of life and thus continue to survive. working conditions provide the average worker with more than the mere necessaries of life but the modern work situation, more than in the past, can pose a real hazard to his physical and mental health. Work, even hard work, need not by itself be hazardous to mental or physical well-being. On the contrary, work may often have a therapeutic effect: hence keeping an interest in an activity is very frequently vitality needful for prolonging life. It may be, however, that hidden somewhere in the working environment there lurks a health hazard unknown to the ordinary working-man. Since primeval days, man is felt the elemental need for security and self-preservation, which need he ca feel, however when conscious of a danger to his life and limb. Often, occupational risks persist because employer and employee are both nor sufficiently aware of the presence of a health risk. Instilling an awareness of the possibility of a health hazard in the working environment sufficiently strong to act as a motivator for risk recognition and prevention is one reason, among others, for running an occupational health services. [...]