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What is Occupational Medicine?

Occupational Medicine is the branch of clinical medicine most active in the field of Occupational Health. Its principal role is the provision of health advice to organisations and individuals to ensure that the highest standards of Health and Safety at Work can be achieved and maintained. Occupational Physicians must have a wide knowledge of clinical medicine and be competent in a number of important areas.

You only need to think how much of our waking life we spend at work, to realise how much our health depends on the workplace environment. The International Labour Organisation and World Health Organisation Committee on Occupational Health in 1950 produced a definition of Occupational Health which demonstrates the scope of the task:

'Occupational Health should aim at – the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well being of workers in all occupations; the prevention among workers of departures from health caused by their working conditions; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health; placing and maintenance of a worker in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological equipment and, to summarise, the adaption of work to people and of each person to their job.'

For further information please see the joint Faculty of Occupational Medicine/Society of Occupational Medicine on-line publication Careers in Occupational Medicine from which the above is adapted.

The Library contains a wealth of information about all aspects of the Faculty's work, including its publications - select library type 'publications' and press 'search'. Please also see the frequently asked questions - library type FAQ - for answers to questions such as What does an Occupational Physician do?, What is an Occupational Health Service? and more…

If you are interested in a qualification in Occupational Medicine, please click on the link to Education and Training, then Diplomas.