Occupational health is a key pillar to fostering supportive and healthy working environments. This year, Occupational Health Awareness Week runs from 22 to 28 September, with a particular focus on utilising occupational health to increase workplace retention levels and helping employees to maintain a good level of physical and mental health.

What is occupational health, and why is it important?

Occupational health focuses on employee wellbeing and aims to reduce or prevent ill-health arising from hazards in the workplace. Occupational hazards can be seen in different forms, from physical hazards such as exposure to chemicals to psychological hazards such as stress.

Employers use occupational health professionals to create and maintain a healthy workplace and advise on any health risks or issues that may arise. For example, in professions involving exposure to hazardous substances, occupational health doctors or nurses can provide health surveillance services to monitor any health risks carefully.

Not only does occupational health focus on minimising risks to physical health, but it also on protecting mental health in the workplace. The pandemic led to an increase in sickness absence (an estimated 118.6 million working days were lost due to sickness absence in 2020), but it has also had an impact on mental health and wellbeing. According to Dr Paul Nicholson, author of ‘Occupational Health: The Value Proposition’, the working from home culture that has spawned from the pandemic has “blurred the boundary between home and work”. In some instances, it has created an ‘always-on’ work environment.

Occupational health and the law

In the UK, the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 provides the statutory basis for occupational health. This piece of legislation imposes a duty on employers to protect their employees from risks in the workplace and is primarily enforced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). There are also additional regulations in place to cover more specific workplace hazards, such as the Work at Height Regulations 2005.

In 2023/24, there were 61,663 employee work-related non-fatal injuries reported to the HSE under the Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations (RIDDOR), and 4.1 million working days lost due to workplace non-fatal injuries. Where an incident like this occurs in the workplace and has (at least in part) been caused by a breach of health and safety law, the employer may be criminally and/or civilly liable.

Stewarts specialises in assisting individuals who have sustained life-changing injuries at work. For more information on the common questions arising when bringing an accident in the workplace claim, you can read this article written by Warren Maxwell, one of our experienced personal injury solicitors.

Occupational health services in the UK – room for improvement?

Focusing on enhancing employee health has wider potential benefits for employers, including an increase in productivity and improved employee retention rates. However, the pandemic has shown how unexpected factors can have significant impacts on occupational health. It is clear that there is a particular need for improvement to the occupational health services currently provided in the UK, with many workers still not having access to adequate services. Research has shown that there is still a degree of uncertainty and scepticism shown by employers about the benefits of employing occupational health professionals, with two-thirds of occupational health nurses in the USA being asked to prove their value to customers.

While the need for such professionals is perhaps more obvious in high-risk business such as the construction industry, it is the more ‘subtle’ health risks in the workplace, namely psychological risks, that require more attention and focus. The Society of Occupational Medicine works to promote the benefits of occupational health programmes and to increase awareness of their importance to both employers and employees.

Throughout Occupational Health Awareness Week, the Society of Occupational Medicine is running various events and providing useful free resources that aim to educate employers on the importance and significance of occupational health, as well as the wider benefits. For further information, please see Occupational Health Awareness Week 22nd-28th September 2025 | The Society of Occupational Medicine.