What does OH3 do?

OH3 is a SEQOHS accredited occupational health provider with many years of experience in delivering high-quality services for clients in a wide range of diverse industries and sectors. We have been trusted by our clients since our beginning which was over a decade ago in delivering occupational health services our clients’ trust. We are proud to still serve our very first client as a result.

Our Clinical Team has the training and commitment required to build an effective partnership between yourself as the client (the employer), the employee (those requiring the medical assessment) and us OH3 (the occupational health provider). Our success has been founded on our firm belief that occupational health has a powerful positive impact in any organisation, through lower absenteeism and more effectively managed sickness absence, to improved relationships with employer and employees with increases in productivity and lower staff turnover.

By working with OH3 as your occupational health provider you can be certain that all of our Clinical Team have the training, skills, qualifications as well as extensive occupational health experience to deliver your organisation’s occupational health goals. For every effective occupational health consultation, we believe that there are three factors in making this successful, being; an employee who needs medical advice or assistance in returning to the workplace, an HR professional or Manager who is supporting the employee to achieve their productivity goals and a committed occupational health team. Following our consultations, we provide a detailed report to include advice on the diagnosis/prognosis for the recovery from this condition and their capability for return to work with any alternations to their tasks as required in order to encourage a swift recovery.

What is occupational health and SEQOHS accreditation? 

Your employees and the team behind your organisation are your most crucial resource. The people in your organisation are fundamental to the efficiency, productivity and ultimately the success of your business. One important part of occupational health practice aims to support your employees with a return to work after an illness or injury and to support your employees to stay at work through assisting with their mental and physical health.

Data from the health insurer Vitality published on the 21st February 2020 painted a clear picture of the UK’s ill-health absence problems in the workplace. This study developed by the health insurer Vitality and delivered in partnership with RAND Europe, the University of Cambridge, and Mercer is one of the largest and most comprehensive surveys on workplace wellbeing in the UK. The survey was carried out on 26,393 employees and 130 businesses across the UK in 2019 found that the UK economy lost almost £92 billion in 2019  (£91.9 billion) as a result of absenteeism. This revealed that British businesses lost an average of 38 working days per employee to physical and mental health-related absence and presenteeism in 2019 – added to the start of this year, that makes February 21st, the UK’s ‘first productive day’.

Almost three-quarters of the £91.9bn (£68 billion) productivity loss can be attributed to factors such as poor mental wellbeing and unhealthy lifestyle choices, which can be addressed by businesses through effective deployment of health and wellbeing programmes. This shows that early occupational health intervention is crucial in ensuring a positive outcome for the employee, the employer and ultimately the business.

To get the best results for your team you need to choose an occupational health provider with consistently high standards of practice. Our service at OH3 is approved by SEQOHS (Safe Effective Quality Occupational Health Service) run by the Faculty of Occupational Medicine. This external and independent measure of occupational health standards shows how important we take the quality of service that we offer to our clients. Our commitment to our rigorous standards in the delivery of our service guarantees that every one of our clinical team has accountability to a more senior practitioner (usually our Nurse Manager who is supported by our Clinical Director). We also provide ongoing training relevant to each clinician’s practice, which is then updated regularly, ensuring that our team has the highest level of both skill and competence in delivering your occupational health requirements.

Our occupational health expansion in Edinburgh

Recently we have expanded our operation to open a new clinic in central Edinburgh. We are pleased to share that we can now provide the following services in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland:

Absence Management Occupational Health Referral

Sickness absenteeism is a huge issue for organisations in Edinburgh and across Scotland. OH3 is here to provide Management and HR Professionals with the capacity to successfully handle and reduce levels of absenteeism in their organisation. Absence management referrals, or sometimes called ‘case management’ occupational health referrals are used to help assist an employee back into the workplace. These can also importantly be used to prevent an absence from occurring in the first instance. After a thorough clinical assessment with our Occupational Health Physicians or senior Occupational Health Nurses, an evaluation can be made on the prognosis for an employee’s return to work and if this can be on full or reduced duties. This will be delivered alongside support on how to improve their recovery from the condition in question in order to reduce further sickness absence. If an employee is about to go off sick with a mental health condition, or perhaps has been off work for a long time with physical injuries, an OH3 occupational health referral could help improve their recovery and successful rehabilitation back into the workplace.

Health Surveillance Medicals

Health surveillance is a system required by law that is outlined to ensure workers who are at increased risk of harm to their physical health or wellbeing while at work are protected. OH3 can carry out all of your workplace health surveillance needs with the following health surveillance medical assessments; HAVS (hand-arm vibration) medicals, hearing test audiometry medicals, isocyanate testing, respiratory observation and sensitiser medicals or skin assessments. The health surveillance program that we put in place will be risk-based. OH3 is adaptable around the delivery of any health surveillance medicals, which are carried out to fit the precise requirements of your organisation. Health surveillance medicals are designed to be carried out on workers potentially exposed to hazards at work which could have the potential to damage their health. By implementing a robust health surveillance programme you can spot any early signs of potential work-related ill health that may occur and reduce their exposure.

SEQOHS Safety Critical Worker Medical

OH3 also provide work-related SEQOHS safety critical medicals for both individuals and organisations that require them. Under current UK health and safety laws companies have an obligation of care to protect the wellbeing and safety of their workforce. This can be especially important to those carrying out safety critical tasks, such as those working in the construction sector. It is important that safety critical workers are not suffering from medical conditions or undergoing treatment which is likely to cause sudden loss of awareness or impair concentration or coordination. For example, situations where employees are working at height on a construction site, would require these medicals to ensure that they do not have a condition, either known or unknown, which could put themselves and others at risk. 

As well as our absence management occupational health referrals, health surveillance and SEQOHS safety critical worker medicals, we are also providing the following medicals in Scotland: OGUK oil & gas UK medical, EBS fit to train medical, RUK wind turbine medical, licensed asbestos medicals, Ionising radiation medicals, night worker assessments and new starter medicals

Occupational health in Edinburgh and throughout Scotland

We can provide OH services at our OH centre in central Edinburgh, onsite throughout Scotland and remotely by telephone/skype and online questionnaire assessments.  Our Edinburgh centre is located on the Third Floor, York House, 14 South St Andrew Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2AZ.