Dame Carol Black to lead occupational health taskforce

Professor Dame Carol Black is to head up the taskforce that will produce a voluntary occupational health framework for employers this summer, the government has announced. The taskforce, which is meeting for the first time today, intends to devise a framework that will set out the minimum levels of occupational health provision to stop sickness-related job losses and better support people to return to work after a period of ill-health. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, just 28% of employers in Great Britain offer occupational health services, with large employers (89%) three-times more likely than small firms (28%) to do so. Only an estimated 45% of workers have access to OH services. Plans to develop the framework were announced in November in the government’s response to its Occupational health: working better consultation, which ran last summer. Dame Carol, who authored the landmark 2008 report Working for a Healthier Tomorrow and recently received a rare GBE in 2024’s New Year’s honours list, will be joined in the group by experts in OH, public health and business. Its aims include: increasing information on OH for employers and the benefits it can offer for retaining employees empowering employers to play an...