In recent years, the subject of occupational health in Nigeria has gained more daily audiences with both employees and their employers.
Workplace wellness isn’t any longer a choice. This aspect is essential for ensuring maximum productivity and preserving lives and property.
Today’s organizations face challenges that impact profitability, consumer base, productivity, and employee wellness. Occupational wellness is vital in this environment since employees are the most prominent part of the organization.
Occupational health and safety cover the physical, mental, and social well-being of people at work, including issues such as stress prevention, human resource development, and rehabilitation. The country has a regulatory framework that comprises laws and regulations enacted by the Federal Government regarding occupational health and safety.
In this blog post, we discuss occupational health and safety in Nigeria. Additionally, we will provide some general guidelines on OHS that apply anywhere in the world.
Occupational health is an all-encompassing term for anything that affects you physically, mentally, or socially while working. Your employer should be concerned about your health if you are at work. Most people don’t realize that occupational health refers to more than just illness. This concept encompasses workplace injuries, toxic exposure, stress-related illnesses, ergonomic hazards (such as repetitive strain injuries), and hazards associated with tasks such as handling chemicals or large machinery. It even covers emotional factors related to your job—for example, feeling overworked or stressed out because of workload issues at work could trigger anxiety problems or depression. In fact, under current legislation, employees have a right to feel comfortable coming to work, knowing chemicals or unsafe practices won’t harm them.
World Health Organization (WHO) defines occupational health as an area of work in public health to promote and maintain the highest physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations. Occupational health and safety (OHS) management systems identify, analyze, control, or eliminate the risks to people’s health and safety that arise from their work activities
World Health Organisation
International Labour Organization (ILO) defines occupational health as; the promotion and maintenance of the highest physical, mental, and social well-being of workers in all occupations. By preventing departures from health, controlling risks, and the adaptation of work to people, and people to their jobs.
International Labour Organization
The similarity between these two explanations shows that all workers deserve a safe working environment, regardless of the industry or country in which they work.
Occupational Health is important because it helps reduce strain on employees, which results in less sick leave, fewer employee compensation claims, and higher productivity. Occupational health programs help improve employee morale and provide a safer working environment for employees.
As a result of a successful occupational health program, employees may not only be happier at work but may also perform better at work since physical and mental stress is decreased. This program can also help prevent accidents from occurring or assist injured workers if accidents occur within your business, reducing absenteeism.
Related: How To Identify Hazards In Your Workplace And Avoid Them
7 Reasons Businesses Need To Invest In Occupational Health
Occupational Health has several benefits that include increased productivity, lower absenteeism, better workplace relationships, less workplace injury, fewer disciplinary actions, etc. Occupational Health focuses on preventing injuries before they occur by identifying risk factors that may lead to injury or illness. Workplace injuries cost a lot of money for any business. Employers have been investing more resources into initiatives aimed at improving occupational health.
Occupational health and safety (OHS) is a concept involving a variety of practices designed to safeguard people against factors that may cause illness, injury, or death related to work. These factors may be physical, chemical, biological, or otherwise.
As an affirmation that safe working conditions are essential to attaining social justice and economic growth, the Federal Government of Nigeria ratified International Labour Organization’s ILO Convention No. 155 on Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Environment in 1994. According to Article 17.3.c of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended), the government ensures and protects the health, safety, and welfare of all employees; the National Industrial Court of Nigeria Act and the OSH Policy make this law.
Major legislation that has been enacted to provide for the safety and health of the workforce include:
There are also enacted laws that guide occupational safety and health in the country, including:
In November 2006, a national occupational health and safety policy was developed.
The goals of the policy are to:
The objectives of the policy are:
The policy covers both the formal and informal sectors of the economy. It includes protection for everyone from undue persecution, effective communication, and cooperation amongst all stakeholders; prevention and control of hazards from all forms of occupational exposure provision of health surveillance and emergency medical services; training focusing on occupational safety and health.
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Occupational hazards are found across all jobs in both developed and developing countries. The World Health Organization defines occupational hazards as:
Conditions or agents which may cause harm to workers’ health during their work activity.
However, healthcare workers face the most severe occupational health hazard, they care for patients in the most unsafe occupational setting. Such hazards include physical, chemical, biological, or even psychological, which threaten the lives and well-being of these health workers. Globally, it is estimated that 1 out of 10 health workers experiences sharp injury yearly.
The development of effective interventions to counteract causes of increased prevalence and incidence in the health sector is necessary. Having an awareness of workplace hazards can help reduce your risk of injury or illness. Safety is a big concern for all workers. Be sure to follow OSHA regulations to help reduce accidents. Know what to do if there’s an emergency, keep your body in good shape, work safely around chemicals, understand your legal rights on the job, avoid unhealthy stressors, and much more.
While many of us do not work in “risky” environments, health workers are the first responders to any outbreaks and are exposed to hazards that can expose them to outbreak pathogens (in this case COVID-19). It’s important to pay attention to what we can do to protect ourselves from unsafe conditions.
Health workers can stay safe on the job by:
Health facilities, employers, and managers must ensure all health workers have the right to safety by:
Occupational health is a preventive medicine approach, which aims to optimize workplace design or working conditions to allow workers to be healthy. The goal of occupational health programs is not only to reduce disease and injury rates but also to enhance productivity and well-being.
Many examples can help you determine how employers and employees can take what kind of action on an individual level to ensure that they are happy at work. They include:
Occupational diseases are diseases that result from work. Many jobs carry a risk of disease, physical injury, or death, because of working conditions. These may be risks that employees cannot eliminate by themselves, such as exposure to substances that cause certain types of cancer because of their job.
Occupational injury: An occupational injury is a type of personal injury sustained while performing job duties in an employment setting. Work injuries can range from minor cuts, bumps, and bruises to debilitating injuries that end careers and even cost lives. Lost-time injuries require time away from work for recuperation; both short-term disability benefits and long-term compensation pay for lost wages during recovery periods, including training for new skills if applicable.
Major causes include falls, struck by/against incidents, overexertion, and repetitive stress from manual labor. Workers’ compensation insurance covers some costs of medical treatment and temporary disability payments, but it does not guarantee a full replacement of income or provide retraining or rehabilitation services. The most common occupational diseases include:
Having a healthy workplace isn’t just good for employees—it also improves business outcomes. Research shows that workplaces with healthy employees are 12% more productive than their less-well counterparts, while employers offering wellness programs see up to a 30% reduction in absenteeism.
Occupational health services are offered by Medbury to organizations that want to integrate occupational health into their employee benefits packages or as a standalone service. In addition to offering on-site occupational health services, Medbury has forged exceptional partnerships with companies that are dedicated to workplace compliance while avoiding unnecessary and costly litigation. We offer a full range of programs that create sustainable results by targeting key risk areas like:
Are you interested in bringing occupational health directly to your workplace? Contact Medbury today!
