Orsus Group Blog

What Is Occupational Health?

Written by The Orsus Group | Oct 25, 2022 12:00:00 PM

At its core, occupational health is designed to ensure job safety for employees across an entire organization while minimizing financial, legal, and reputational risks for employers. As part of this process, employers conduct occupational health screenings to gauge whether a new, existing, or returning employee is physically prepared for a particular job within the organization. Since occupational health screenings occur across a range of industries and professions, we’ll explore the common goals and practices that apply to this process.

Whether an occupational health screening is being offered to a recent hire, a current employee changing roles within the company, or to a long-standing employee who is returning from a prolonged absence, these general principles apply. Occupational health screenings are conducted to accomplish the following:

  • To determine whether a job candidate is capable of fulfilling the physical requirements of a job before starting work

  • To determine whether an employee is physically capable of resuming work after a lengthy medical absence

  • To regularly evaluate an employee’s health when a job involves exposure to potentially hazardous materials

  • To identify any preexisting conditions that could make an employee vulnerable to job-related risks or hazardous materials

  • To outline and designate the working conditions for employees with disabilities, injuries, or illnesses

In addition to these outcomes, individual occupational health screenings can have a broader positive impact on an organization by helping employers locate existing or recurring health hazards in the workplace. When these issues can be identified and addressed, it improves working conditions for all employees and demonstrates the employer’s ongoing investment in workplace health and safety.

Occupational Health and Wellness

Employers should also be aware of the growing relationship between occupational health and occupational wellness, the latter of which emphasizes employee mental health, work-life balance, workplace flexibility, and supportive company culture.

With recent research indicating that 40% of American workers characterize their jobs as “very or extremely stressful,” it’s crucial for employers to implement an HR strategy that includes wellness programming and utilization of the software and expertise necessary to support streamlined human capital management (HCM) from hiring to retirement. Paired with these approaches, occupational health screenings can help your organization ensure discerning, high-quality hiring practices, while also improving the daily working conditions of your employees to improve retention and employee satisfaction.

Ensure Occupational Health and Wellness with The Orsus Group

Our employee and occupational health screenings are designed to address the specific needs of your business and industry. Whether you’re in need of health screenings, drug screenings, or an assessment of occupational wellness practices within your organization, we help you implement a strategy that mitigates risk, improves employee retention, and boosts employee productivity.

When it comes to concrete safety and health risks within the workplace, our occupational health screenings can also reduce workers' compensation and disability claims and help your organization hone its practices and workplace environment to support employee wellness. 

Paired with dedicated professional support, we provide all of the following occupational health services:

Drug Screening – Using a network of thousands of certified collection sites across the country, we provide timely urinalysis screening, hair testing, instant testing, and DOT testing to inform employers and reduce the risk of substance abuse within your workforce.

Health Screening – In partnership with a number of nationwide clinics, we provide comprehensive health screening services, including the following and more:

  • Pre-Employment DOT Physical Exams
  • Pre-Employment Non-DOT Physical Exams
  • Vaccinations
  • Titers
  • Tuberculosis (TB) Tests

Background Check and Screening – Our Occupational Health and Wellness Services are offered in conjunction with our comprehensive background check and screening processes, which include all of the following and more:

  • Verification Services (Employment Verification, Education Verification, Professional Reference, Professional License Verification)

  • International Services (International Criminal Searches, International Education Verification, International Employment Verification)

  • Supplemental Services ranging from Social Security Number Tracing & Verification to Civil Court Records searches

At The Orsus Group, we help you meet all health and safety requirements while improving hiring, employee retention, employee satisfaction, and the overall productivity of your workforce. It’s important to understand the risk involved in selecting or not selecting a screening, which is why we work closely with you to determine your needs and develop an ideal strategy for your organization.

Ready to measurably improve your organization’s occupational health and wellness practices? Contact us today to start our collaboration.