What is Occupational Health?

Occupational health is a field of practice dedicated to supporting the health and safety of employees in the workplace. While occupational health solutions works with injured employees, one of its primary focuses and goals is to prevent injuries from happening in the workplace. Occupational health combines a variety of health-centered modalities to help employees heal existing injuries and educate them about preventative measures. Occupational health places a large emphasis on education. Through training on subjects like fitness and nutrition, coupled with the one-on-one support occupational health also offers, employees will reach health goals like weight loss or improving heart health more easily. 

Areas of Occupational Health

One of the benefits of occupational health’s wide range of focus is that it can be tailored to each employee. Here are some of the tools occupational health uses to promote employee health and safety. 

• Massage

Massage is a known, successful tool for reducing pain, stress, preventing injury, and supporting the recovery from an injury. 

• Mobility Health Self-Assessments

Often available online, mobility self-assessments help discover any injury risks or other mobility dysfunction and will offer solutions for prevention. 

• Ergonomic Solutions

With assessments and tools, ergonomics support employees’ posture, which will prevent repetitive motion injuries from the office to the loading dock. 

• Telehealth

Reduce costs and increase access to medical care through the use of TeleHealth consultations. These are also more convenient for employees and reduce time away from work. 

• Onsite First-Aid

Registered nurses in the workplace provide onsite care for injuries and health issues that don’t require a trip to the emergency room. 

• Infectious Disease Control

Keep your workplace safe from COVID-19 and other bacterial and viral infections. Infectious disease control manages risk and reduces the number of lost working hours due to illness. 

• Case Management

With case management, employers will see reduced costs from workers' compensation claims and lost working hours. Employees heal faster and are back to work sooner with case management. 

• Nutrition and Fitness

Nutrition and fitness can be daunting areas of health for some. With experts who tailor a nutrition and fitness plan just for them, employees can take charge of their health. 

• Health Fairs

Bring services like mobile assessments and education about healthy lifestyles together in one place to set up your employees for health success. 

• Wellness Challenges

Wellness challenges boost workplace morale, encourage teamwork, and help employees become more active and engaged in the workplace. 

Benefits of Occupational Health to Your Business

The cost of workplace injury is high, both to the employer and employee. While the emotional cost is higher to the employee dealing with pain and the trials of medical care, the financial cost to the employer is high for several reasons. First, there are the rising costs of health care. Then there are the costs of any workers' compensation claims, which cost employers billions each week. Finally, there’s the lost productivity while the injured employee is out of work recovering, or seeking medical treatment. It’s estimated that 104 million days of work are lost each year to workplace injuries. Many of these injuries are avoidable, so occupational health helps to prevent unnecessary pain and suffering. Safety in the workplace is a basic human right, and with occupational health, employers can make their work environments not just healthy but safe as well. 

Occupational health simply makes logical sense. It is far more cost-effective to implement an ergonomics program than it is to pay for carpal tunnel syndrome workers' compensation claims. And, with occupational health services, employees receive support around coordinating their medical care. This leads to faster recovery times, which means fewer expenses to the employer, and less productive time lost. Healthy employees are happier and more productive, by a whopping 20% compared to their unhappy counterparts. This translates into tangibles like better client relationships and faster progress on projects. And, workplaces that emphasize the health of their employees are more likely to retain their talented workers and be able to attract qualified job candidates in the future. 

BioFunctional Health Solutions Offers Occupational Health Services

When you source your occupational health services through BioFunctional Health Solutions, not only will you be receiving all of the above benefits, but also their elite and one-of-a-kind functional massage and hands-on treatment system. It is trusted by professional athletes and Fortune 500 companies. Their treatments are customized, non-invasive, and tailored to resolve your employees’ source of pain. If you’re ready to support your employee’s health, safety and lower your healthcare costs, reach out to BioFunctional Health Solutions today!