Recorded 24 May 2024

Occupational Health metrics are an important component of Work Health and Safety (WHS) performance indicators. Recent articles on the increasing prevalence of silicosis and  resurgence of “black lung” has increased awareness of work related health impacts. Yet, despite the critical impact of occupational illness and disease, workplace health and safety reporting commonly focus on workplace injury reduction.

If PCBU’s had a framework of leading indicators for health, they could monitor health impacts in the workplace and also demonstrate year upon year progress. It is acknowledged that lagging indicators for occupational health outcomes – such as worker compensation statistics  are inadequate in identifying the true extent of worker illness and disease.

The Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists (AIOH) aims to identify a set of leading and lagging occupational health indicators that can support PCBU’s to identify and track the workplace conditions and factors that can adversely and positively affect worker health. The goal of this AIOH scheme is to support Business Leaders and Occupational Health and Safety Professionals in choosing internal occupational health indicators, developing an external tool which will be useful in benchmarking Australia’s Occupational Health performance and thus “Raising the Standards” for worker health protection.  We will also be using this as an opportunity to consult with you to get an idea of what you think need to be focused on in health risk management and what you think represents good practice.