Risk Monitor Group

Occupational Health is a complex and unique field of medical practice. It involves the design, coordination and delivery of health care services to people in their working environments.

The essence of the discipline is provision of medical surveillance programmes to working populations in an effort to timeously detect, and therefore minimise the impact and severity of occupational disease.

However, in a South African setting this is a simplistic view, and occupational health services are being increasingly required to deliver services outside the traditional realm. Below is a list of the current scope of services that might be delivered by a typical South African occupational health service.

Occupational Health Risk Assessments;
Design and delivery of risk-based Medical Surveillance Programmes;
Administration and management of Occupational Injuries and Diseases;
Administration and management of Occupational Medical Records; and
Administration and management of drug dispensing.

Disability Management;
Absenteeism Management;
Oversee Employee Assistance Programmes;
Coordinate Health Education Programmes;
Coordinate HIV/AIDS Programmes;
Coordinate Employees Wellness Programmes; and
Delivery of Primary Health Care Programmes.

The Occupational Health consulting capacity of the Risk Monitor Group lies with two experienced individuals, Dr Duncan McAulay, and Sr. Estelle Struwig. Between them they have over twenty five years of experience in the field, and have worked in a large variety of industries, including mining, heavy industry, chemical, brewing, and general manufacturing.

“Design and deliver proactive occupational health care models that ensure the progressive and demonstrable improvement of employee health and well-being”.

This is achieved through constant evaluation and extension of the boundaries of “best practice”, and creation of a “culture of wellness” within an organisation.

Auditing is an extremely useful tool in the process of ensuring continuing improvement in Occupational Health service provision.

The audit system we have devised is designed to critically examine a service in a manner which has relevance to the service staff, as well as those who take responsibility for it. It is interactive, and participatory, and geared towards:

Ensuring legal compliance;
Empowering the staff to unlock the real potential of the service; and
Setting the service on a path towards being viewed by management and employees as a valuable business asset.

The effective management of employee disability or incapacity and absenteeism is an important aspect of cost containment in any organisation. Disability/absenteeism management is difficult and time-consuming and can be fraught with conflict.

It is important for organisations to have an objective, structured approach, which minimises personal issues, management downtime and is consistent with current labour legislation.

The Risk Monitor Group provides employers with just such an structured approach, in a practical, hands-on way that clearly delineates the steps to be taken, and the responsibilities of the various role players.

Traditional Medical Surveillance Programmes are often geared towards merely detecting the presence of (mainly) occupational disease. Little attention is given to the risk assessment of employee health, and the implementation of life-style changes designed to minimise future adverse health events.

Employee wellness programmes fundamentally change the way medical surveillance is approached and conducted. In addition to the exclusion/early detection of occupational disease, careful assessment is conducted of the employee’s total health status including such factors as:

In this way the health status of a working population can be progressively improved in a measurable and demonstrable way, which improves productivity and hence, the financial bottom-line.