1. OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH PRACTICE IN
MINING INDUSTRIES
MODULE-3
BOHS-Basic Occupational Health Services
OPEN-CAST MINE
UNDERGROUND MINE

2. “BOHS”
-A WHO/ILO/ICOH/FIOH JOINT EFFORT The WHO/ILO/ICOH/FIOH have launched the joint
effort on the development of Basic Occupational
Health Service (BOHS) policy and guideline in order
to improve coverage and quality of occupational
health services (OHS) in the world.
 The principle of BOHS is to ensure the provision of
OHS for all workers by developing new service
provision models, which are adaptable to local
conditions, low cost, widely covered the workforce,
and still meet the quality requirements of OHS.

3. Occupational Health
As
Primary Health Care (PHC)
 The renewal of primary health care (PHC), which
has been recently put forward by WHO,
convincingly demonstrates the importance of the
provision of occupational health through PHC in
addition to multidisciplinary health services in
order to reach underserved working populations.

4. What is occupational health ?
Occupational
health
encompasses the
social, mental and
physical well-being
of workers, that is
the“ Whole Person”
(ILO/WHO)

5. The ILO Convention 161
 The ILO Convention No.161 defines occupational
health services as services entrusted with
essentially preventive functions and responsible
for advising the employer, the workers and their
representatives in the undertaking on the
requirements for establishing and maintaining a
safe and healthy work environment which will
facilitate optimal physical and mental health in
relation to work and the adaptation of work to the
capabilities of workers in the light of their state of
physical and mental health.

6. Broadest context of Occupational Health
 In its broadest context, occupational health
practice should be understood as the activities of
all those who contribute to the protection and
promotion of workers’ health and to the
improvement of the working conditions and the
work environment.
 These activities should not be seen as limited only
to the practice of occupational health
professionals.

7. Why is occupational health important?
Workers spend at least
eight hours a day in the
workplace.
Work plays a central role
in people's quality of
lives.
As a result of the hazards
and a lack of attention
given to health and
safety, work-related
accidents and diseases
are common in all parts
of the world.

8. Basic Aim of Occupational Health
Overall, efforts in
occupational health
and safety must aim to
prevent industrial
accidents and
diseases, and at the
same time recognize
the connection
between worker health
and safety, the
workplace, and the
environment outside
the workplace.

9. Poor working conditions affect worker health and safety
Poor working conditions
of any type have the
potential to affect a
worker's health and
safety. Occupational
hazards can have
harmful effects on
workers, their families,
and other people in the
community, as well as
on the physical
environment around
the workplace

10. Why it’s difficult to Identify the cause of Occupational disease ?
 The long latency period
 It may be too late to do anything about it




or treat / cure them even
Difficulty to trace back what hazards the
worker was exposed to in the past.
Changing jobs
Personal behaviours (such as smoking
tobacco or drinking alcohol)
New chemicals and new technologies are
being introduced which present new and
often unknown hazards to both workers
and the community.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Eliminate/Control/ Contain
Hazards at Workplaces are only
the best options, to prevent
Occupational Diseases.

11. Costs of occupational injury/disease
Work-related accidents or
diseases are very costly and
can have many serious effects
on workers, their families and
Employers.
Unfortunately some employers
assume little responsibility
for the protection of workers'
health and safety.
In fact, some employers do not
even know that they have the
moral and often legal
responsibility to protect
workers.

12. Direct costs of an injury or illness for Workers
1. Pain and
suffering of the
injury or
illness;
2. Loss of income;
3. Possible loss of
a job;
4. Health-care
costs.

13. Indirect costs of an accident or illness
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Injured/ill worker has to be
replaced;
A new worker has to be trained
and given time to adjust;
It takes time before the new
worker is producing at the rate of
the original worker;
Time must be devoted to
obligatory investigations, to the
writing of reports and filling out
of forms;
Accidents often arouse the
concern of fellow workers and
influence labour relations in a
negative way;
Poor health and safety conditions
in the workplace can also result
in poor public relations.

14. The costs to employers:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Payment for work not
performed;
Medical and
compensation payments;
Repair or replacement of
damaged machinery and
equipment;
Reduction or a temporary
halt in production;
Increased training
expenses and
administration costs;
Possible reduction in the
quality of work;
Negative effect on morale
in other workers.

15. The investment on prevention Pays
 The investment in prevention is meaningful from
the economic point of view. Prevention reduces
costs due to occupational injuries and diseases.
 It is estimated that the social cost of occupational
diseases is two-threefold higher than the
investment that would have been necessary to
prevent them.

16. It is crucial that employers, workers and unions are
committed to health and safety
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Workplace hazards are
controlled - at the source
whenever possible;
Records of any exposure
are maintained for many
years;
Both workers and
employers are informed
about health and safety
risks in the workplace;
There is an active and
effective health and safety
committee that includes
both workers and
management;
Worker health and safety
efforts are ongoing.

17. A successful Occupational health and safety
programme requires:
1. Strong
management
commitment.
2. Trade Union
coordination.
3. Worker
participation.
4. Enforcement
strength.

18. More Important Role to be played by:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
General Physicians
Specialist doctors
Nurses
Para-medics
Social scientists
Healthcare
Administrators
Teaching Institutions
-----------------------They need to understand the
dynamics of HazardsHealth issues, which are
specific to Industries, unlike
in general practice.

19. BOHS eventually Aims at
 BOHS programs should aim to strengthen the
entire national OSH system and to foster a
preventative approach and safety culture that are
critical to achieving sustainability of
improvements in safety and health at work.
 It is the way forward towards a progressive
development of occupational health services in
all parts of the world with an utmost goal to cover
all workers in all occupations.

20. Prevention is the key AIM of
Occupational Health
Overall, efforts in
occupational health and
safety must aim to
prevent industrial
accidents and diseases,
and at the same time
recognize the
connection between
worker health and
safety, the workplace,
and the environment
outside the workplace.

21. Hopefully this Module would have helped to appreciate
the Fundamentals of Occupational Health and the
Basic Occupational Health Services (BOHS) being
promoted by IAOH, in the context of making a start at
Primary Health Care Levels.
THANK YOU
G.JAYARAJ
Member-IAOH
Email: jayaraj_dr@yahoo.com