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Industrialsafetytalk: Health and Safety Legislation
News Release from: HSE Health and Safety Executive | Subject: Sickness and rehabilitation conference
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 17 January 2006
Conference to focus on sickness and
rehabilitation
The Health and Safety Executive's manufacturing sector is announcing a 'best practice' conference on rehabilitation and managing sickness absence among employees in manufacturing industries.
The Health and Safety Executive's manufacturing sector is announcing a 'best practice' conference on rehabilitation and managing sickness absence among employees in manufacturing industries The conference takes place on 9 March 2006 in Stoke-On-Trent, UK, and is aimed at key intermediaries involved in manufacturing industries, such as trade associations, employer associations, trade unions and training organisations
It brings together a series of speakers who will share their success stories on how they implemented effective programmes to manage sickness absence and rehabilitation, together with the business and human benefits that flow from them.
Delegates will be able to take away examples to adapt and apply to help their own stakeholders realise similar successful strategies.
Announcing the conference, Terry Aston from the HSE's manufacturing sector said: "Long-term sickness absence costs UK businesses over £3.8billion each year.
"Organisations that have implemented effective management programmes have reaped huge rewards in terms of having a healthy workforce, reducing costs, improving competitiveness, improving workplace relationships and holding on to valued staff.
"One of our speakers will, for example, show how his company reduced musculoskeletal disorders by 90 per cent and, through that, saved not only considerable human suffering, but also £0.5million in the first year of their programme alone.
"Other businesses can learn from this experience".
The venue for the conference is the North Staffordshire Medical Institute, Hartshill Road, in Stoke-on-Trent.
Organisations and individuals who are interested in attending should forward their details, including the organisation they represent, to Tracey Oliva at the HSE (Manufacturing Sector, Stakeholder Engagement Section).
The Health and Safety Executive has developed a good practice approach to help employers work in partnership with employees and their representatives to manage long-term sickness absence and help those off work sick, whatever the cause, to return to work.
It sets out the steps on helping people return to work, provides advice on barriers to return and lists sources of help and advice.
Further information on managing sickness absence can be obtained from the HSE website.
On 19 October 2005 the Department for Work and Pensions, HSE and the Department of Health launched the first stage of a strategy aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of working-age people.
The strategy, Health, Work and Wellbeing - Caring for our Future, pulls together all the different strands of government work in this area.
It will help break the link between ill-heath and inactivity, encourage good management of occupational health including prevention, transform opportunities for people to recover from illness while at work and enable people to maintain independence and sense of worth.
It also puts the emphasis on creating healthy working environments.
The strategy document can be found as a free PDF download via the Department for Work and Pensions website.
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