COVID-19

COVID 19

Blackwell Associates are still providing health surveillance services in line with HSENI guidance. In view of the need to balance the current constraints presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to protect the health, safety and welfare of workers, HSENI have released updated guidance on how health/medical surveillance can continue (https://www.hseni.gov.uk/news/health-and-medical-surveillance-and-safety-critical-medicals). In short, legislative requirements still apply to employers regarding health surveillance, but remotely administered questionnaires and telephone assessments continue to be recommended in the main so as to comply with social distancing measures. Based on the HSENI’s guidance, Blackwell Associates Ltd remain in a position to help identify whether a worker’s health is being adversely effected by their work by helping employers comply with relevant health and safety regulations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A recent BBC NI news item (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-52753845) has highlighted the Road Haulage Association's (RHA) concerns regarding the difficulties and delays HGV/PCV licence holders have been experiencing in getting a medical examination report due to the pressures faced by General Practitioners in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. The British Medical Association (BMA) have reiterated the utility of Occupational Health services in providing such HGV/PCV driver medical examinations, and Blackwell Associates Ltd are, as always, in a position to offer this service to our clients in a timely manner. If your organisation has a commercial need for such driver medical examinations at present and if you would be interested in availing of this service, please contact our office for more information.

In general, all appointments can be booked in the normal way through our office and using the normal downloadable referral form on our website. Please contact us for further information.

Virtual Consultations

To complement our services and with particular relevance to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, we offer virtual assessments as a means of conducting sickness absence interviews with employees. All our clinicians are trained and experienced in undertaking telephone / video assessments and offer concise and quality advice to employers.

Appointments can be booked in the normal way through our office and using the normal downloadable referral form on our website. Please contact us for further information.

Covid 19 Up Date

The Society of Occupational Medicine has produced a guidance document on how employers / managers can support workers to get back to work with ongoing symptoms following COVID-19 infection and Long COVID.

The guidance draws from the latest evidence and has been developed by experts working in Occupational Health, Human Resources, Psychology, Rehabilitation, and people with Long COVID.

This guidance document is available at the link below:

https://www.som.org.uk/COVID-19_return_to_work_guide_for_managers.pdf

'The University of Glasgow and The Society of Occupational Medicine have launched COVID-19 return to work guidelines (https://www.som.org.uk/sites/som.org.uk/files/COVID-19_return_to_work_in_the_roadmap_out_of_lockdown_March_2021.pdf) which, for the first time, take account of community prevalence, vaccination status and previous COVID-19 infection in the risk assessment.

There are multiple factors to consider in the COVID-19 return to work risk assessment. These include community infection levels, individual vulnerability, workplace / commute transmission risk, workers' concerns / expectations and more recently, vaccination and previous COVID-19 infection. This rapid guide describes these factors and presents a simple stepwise approach to inform decisions and facilitate safe return to work.

For more complex cases, individual return to work advice can be sought from an occupational health (OH) specialist. If your company / organisation would be interested in availing of this service, please contact our office for more information.'

Return of face to face medicals and assessments

Following the implementation of control of infection measures including signage, screens and the provision of hand sanitisers, from 1st June 2021 we are once again able to facilitate face to face consultations upon request. Given the ongoing nature of the COVID-19 pandemic however, virtual consultations will continue as the predominant means of assessment for the time being.

We would ask that if clients wish to book a face to face consultation for their employee, they should make this clear when making the appointment.

All the services you need,
all in one place.

We offer a wide range of services to meet every type of need.

•    Sickness Absence assessments
•    Pre-employments assessments
•    Telephone consultations
•    Training courses
•    Climbers medicals
•    Chester Step Fitness
•    Safety Critical assessments
•    Health surveillance for COSHH
•    Noise at Work Regulations
•    DSE Risk Assessments
•    Executive Medicals
•    Forklift truck drivers
•    Health Promotion
•    HGV medicals
•    Asbestos medicals
•    HAVS Tier 4
•    Physiotherapist assessment
•    CBT assessment and sessions
•    Training room facilities
•    Room hire