Research
Brief
Management of health needs
Introduction
Approach
A safety consequence of health problems
in a workforce is that accidents may
occur because an employee is not 'fit for
work'. However, the type of work
employees are asked to perform can also
compromise an individual's health, hence
the necessity to consider the effects of
health on work and vice versa.
The research used the following
approaches to complete each of the three
phases in the study.
As part of its legislative obligations, the
railway industry needs to have in place
arrangements that secure good
occupational health (OH) management
practice that is also business casejustified and delivered within the
commercial context of the rail sector.
Aims
The aims of this research project are:
• To assess and benchmark how OH
risks across the industry are currently
being managed.
• To identify any 'gaps' and to provide
guidance, as appropriate.
• To assess whether there is a need for
industry-wide leadership in OH
matters as a means of maintaining a
reduction in the overall industry OH
risk profile.
This project focuses on how OH is
managed within the railway industry and
its component organisations. It is not
about the management of specific health
conditions.
T389
May 2006
April 2009
Phase 1
• Review Railway Group members'
current approach to OH management
and provide comparators across the
Group.
• Examine the OH-related environment
set by Government and other
regulatory bodies.
• Benchmark with other safety-related
industries.
• Obtain opinion and comment from
other industry stakeholders including
the principal Trade Unions, OH
service suppliers and the railway
pensions industry.
Phase 2
• From the results of Phase 1, evaluate
whether some form of industry-wide
OH advisory function may be of value.
• Address the feasibility and
practicalities of how such a function
would operate and be funded.
Evaluate whether business case
justified.
• Benchmark with other industry
sectors including marine and aviation.
RSSB Research and Development Programme
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Upper Woburn Place
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www.rssb.co.uk/r_and_d.asp / research@rssb.co.uk
Phase 3
From the results of Phases 1 & 2:
• Recommend the most appropriate
arrangements for the delivery of
effective corporate healthcare
programmes for the railway industry
at three levels:
• Industry level arrangements,
frameworks and systems
• Organisational good practice
• Practical guidelines on specific OH
aspects common to most of the
industry
• Support Railway Group members in
their work to comply with current
legislation and meet appropriate UK
and International Standards.
Findings to date
• Phase 1 was completed in September
2005 and the associated report is
available on the RSSB web-site.
• It contained 53 findings of which the
most significant are listed below.
OH Management in Railway Group
Companies
• The 'lead role' for OH was generally
found to be with either the Safety or
HR functions, with some companies
having a joint lead role.
• Over 90% of companies outsource
'medical' OH services, with all
companies providing pre-employment
screening, statutory medical
provisions, stress and trauma
counselling and support.
• Formal 'Managing for Absence/
Attendance' processes were in place
in nearly all the companies
interviewed. Where rigorously
applied, some companies had seen
notable decreases in sickness
absence.
• The top OH related issues perceived
as significant by the companies were:
• Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSD)
• Psychological illness (Stress)
• Assault (Physical and verbal)
• Biological hazards (e.g. needle
stick injuries)
(RSSB Project T382 researched the
management of these issues in greater
detail.)
• Based on UK general industry
average figures, the direct payroll cost
of sickness absence across the rail
sector is around ten times that of the
total current expenditure on OH
provision.
• The cost of OH provision per
employee per annum varied from less
than £50 to greater than £150. There
was some indication that increased
spend resulted in decreased sickness
absence.
• Collecting, analysing and reporting on
OH-related data was considered by
the industry as being an area of some
'weakness'.
• There was no discernable use of
corporate Key Performance Indicators
to monitor OH activities.
Governmental & Regulatory
Activity
• There did not appear to be a
consensus over where the OH
leadership role should sit within the
rail industry.
• There were many and varied views
strongly held around standards
relating to medical fitness. There was
a consensus, however, that many
standards were in need of updating to
reflect current medical developments
and that cross referencing to obsolete
standards should be corrected.
• The research found that OH matters
had low visibility within:
• Industry guidance on the
development of safety cases
• Assessment criteria for safety case
review and acceptance
• Safety cases as currently operated
• The national targets for health and
safety within the Government's
'Revitalising Health and Safety
Strategy' and the HSE 'Better
Business' management tools were not
generally found as featuring or
influencing the work of Railway Group
Member companies.
OH Management Practice Non-Railway Sectors
• A benchmark comparison of OH
management practice between rail
and non-rail sectors suggested that
non-rail organisations were
particularly strong in the following
areas:
• Line management ownership of OH
• OH management information and
reporting
• National sickness absence levels
below that for the rail sector (note:
excludes consideration of the
relative work environments)
• The comparison found the rail sector
Managing for Attendance activities to
be as strong as the good practice
examples found in non-rail.
Next Steps
The key contents of this research were
presented at a Seminar Managing Health
and Safety in the Rail Industry, which was
held in London in June 2006. Copies of
the guidance notes from this work were
distributed at the Seminar and are still
available from RSSB. On that occasion
the industry representatives present
agreed that there was a need to collect
and analyse data about health conditions
and their impacts in order to provide tools
to help manage health risk to rail industry
employees. A follow-on project T823
Management of health conditions and
diseases has subsequently been
completed.
Contact
Michael Woods
Head of Operations Research
Research and Development Programme
Rail Safety and Standards Board
research@rssb.co.uk