Branch
Occupational Health
Also Known As Occupational Safety and Health
Population Health Field
An area of work in public health that promotes and maintains the highest degree of physical, mental and social wellbeing of workers in all occupations. Its work runs from the improvement of working conditions and the working environment to the development of work organization and working cultures conducive to safety and health, including managerial systems, personnel policy and principles for worker participation. Its science and practice draw on several disciplines, among them occupational medicine, nursing, ergonomics, psychology, hygiene and safety.
Facts
Central QuestionWhat in working conditions, the working environment and the organization of work harms or protects the physical, mental and social wellbeing of workers, and how are those conditions changed? 1 Key DebateWhether the field's protections reach the workers who most need them is a live dispute: the WHO reports that more than half the global workforce works in the informal economy with no regulatory protection for health and safety at all, and the recognition of psychosocial risks at work as occupational hazards on a par with physical ones is still contested ground. 1 Connections
Associated With
Alice Hamilton, Figures Alice Hamilton founded the field of industrial toxicology and occupational health in the United States.
An early landmark of occupational mortality analysis, disease traced to the conditions of work.
Source Encyclopedia Britannica
Occupational health is described as an area of work within public health.
Source World Health Organization Official Site
Includes
Source Wikipedia: Alice Hamilton
Sources
1. World Health Organization Official Site
World Health OrganizationOccupational health topic
the improvement of working conditions and the working environment to become conducive to safety and health;
Fact sheet: Mental health at work, Risks to mental health at work
More than half the global workforce works in the informal economy, where there is no regulatory protection for health and safety. These workers often operate in unsafe working environments, work long hours, have little or no access to social or financial protections and face discrimination, all of which can undermine mental health.
View the Source WHO: Occupational Health Topic Page
World Health OrganizationWHO Occupational Health topic pageQuote, WHO Occupational Health topic page
Occupational health is an area of work in public health to promote and maintain highest degree of physical, mental and social well-being of workers in all occupations.
Encyclopedia Britannica
Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.Associated With: Farr Report on Cornish Miners, William FarrView the Source Wikipedia: Alice Hamilton
WikipediaIncludes: Alice Hamilton, Lead sectionQuote, Includes: Alice Hamilton, Lead section
leading expert in the field of occupational health
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