Workers’ health and setting up services for basic occupational health and safety, in a number of documents and programs referred to as Basic Occupational Health Services (BOHS), is more than only learning material. Several documents have been written on the how and why of such services and strategies. Several glossaries exist explaining the terminology used in the documents and learning materials. And also other initiatives have been developed to share and spread knowledge on healthy work on a basic level.
In the following, a limited selection of these sources is introduced by a short description. In addition, the link to the original material is given.
1. WRITTEN MATERIALS FOR BASIC SERVICES
* Basic Occupational Health Services – guideline for development – J. Rantanen; edited by S. Lehtinen, 2007.
This concise book is a basic guide that has the aim to be an introduction of the concept of Basic Occupational Health Services (BOHS) that is stimulated by ICOH, ILO and WHO. This guide has been published with support of the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH).
Website URL: http://www.ttl.fi/en/publications/Electronic_publications/Documents/BOHS3Edition28Sept2007_3_.pdf
* Occupational health: a manual for primary health care workers development – WHO Regional Office for the East Mediterranean, 2002.
A manual prepared for trainers to train community health workers and public health workers to respond to the special needs of the working population. The training comprises of basic concepts, hazard recognition and evaluation, and hazard control. Trainers can be of various disciplines, for example doctors, nurses, health officers, social workers, etcetera. They should have experience in understanding the problems of the workers and what can be done to help them. It is not a prerequisite to have much experience in teaching methods. However, since the background knowledge and level of the trainees may be limited, the training should be given in simple language.
Website URL: http://www.emro.who.int/dsaf/dsa191.pdf
* Addressing work-related injuries and illnesses: a guide for primary care providers in Massachusetts – L.S. Azaroff, M. Goldstein-Gelb, E. Pechter, K. Souza, M. Valenti (eds.), 2004.
A manual to assist primary health care providers to understand and help prevent work-related injuries and health problems. The material is meant to raise awareness of some common occupational hazards and their possible health effects. It is also meant for help in making a diagnosis and plan further actions for treatment, management and reduction of the health risk (prevention).
Website URL: http://drupal.masscosh.org/files/AWRII Guide MA.pdf
2. GLOSSARIES
* Glossary for Basic Occupational Safety and Health – Van Dijk, Varekamp, Radon, Parra, 11-10-2011
* Glosario básico para Salud y Seguridad Ocupacional – Van Dijk, Varekamp, Radon, Parra, 11-10-2011
Website-URL: http://www.beroepsziekten.nl/datafiles/Glossary_BOSH_spanish_orden_alfabetico_revisado08_02_12.pdf
* Glossary of Occupational Health & Safety terms – IAPA, 2007.
Website URL: http://www.iapa.ca/pdf/iapa_glossary.pdf
3. LINKS TO OTHER INITIATIVES ON HEALTHY WORK
* GeoLibrary Chicago (GLC)
GeoLibrary.org is the Global Environmental and Occupational Health E-Library of training materials and practice tools established by the Great Lakes Centers for Occupational and Environmental Safety & Health, University of Illinois at Chicago in 2005. The GeoLibrary is a project of the Network of Collaborating Centres Work Plan in support of the WHO strategy of “Occupational Health for All.” The library user information is available in six languages, and contains training materials and practice tools located in the public domain and that are available to the user free of charge. These resources are available in many forms some of which include: complete courses, webcasts, tutorials/modules, factsheets, databases, and sample / model programs and guidelines. The materials contained in this library come from a wide variety of sources, including international organizations, governmental institutes and agencies, academic institutions, corporations, unions, and non-governmental organizations. The subdivision in topics is: General, Adverse Health Effects, Hazardous Exposures, Economic Sectors, Control Strategies, Hot Topic - H1N1, and Youth and Hazardous Work. A specialty is Road Safety at Work.
Website-URL: http://geolibrary.org
* OH learning
This website is owned by the Occupational Hygiene Training Association (OHTA). On this site you can find training materials, learn how to become qualified in Occupational Hygiene or how to develop your career alongside an international community. It includes comprehensive complete learning materials which is ordered and thus can be searched on different level, topic and language. The level of the materials ranges between awareness to executive. The different topics are divided in Basic Principles in Occupational Hygiene, Ergonomics Essentials, Noise Measurement and its Effects, Thermal Environment, Measurement of Hazardous Substances, Asbestos and Other Fibres, Health Effects of Hazardous Substances, Control of Hazardous Substances.
Website-URL: http://www.ohlearning.com
* Cochrane Occupational Health Field (FIOH, Finland)
The Cochrane Occupational Safety and Health Review Group is part of the Cochrane Collaboration. The aim is to find out the best ways to protect ourselves against health risks and dangers in the workplace, by collecting all the available research on the effects of preventive and protective measures. The results of these studies are combined in so called systematic reviews. To date (September 2011), there are 80 systematic reviews on specific OSH topics available in electronic format in The Cochrane Library.
Website-URL: http://osh.cochrane.org
* ¿Como buscar la evidentia en las fuentes de internet? – Dijk, F.J.H. van, 2011.
This book focuses on how and where to find quality (scientific) information on Occupational Safety and Health on the internet. The book is a publication of the Coronel Institute of Occupational Health (AMC), Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The first author is prof. F.J.H. van Dijk, year of publication is 2011. The publication is a result of a close collaboration with prof. K. Radon of the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich, Germany.
Website-URL: http://www.beroepsziekten.nl/sites/default/files/documents/C%C3%B3mo%20buscar%20la%20evidencia.%20Salud%20Ocupacional.%20Primera%20edicion%20abril%202011_klein.pdf (4 Mb) or via http://www.beroepsziekten.nl/content/publicaties-2011
* European Network Education and Training in Occupational Safety and Health (ENETOSH)
The ENETOSH is a platform for knowledge-sharing for education and training in occupational safety and health. It aims to cover all areas of education: kindergarten / school, initial vocational training, higher education and advanced vocational training. The website promotes sharing of practice and resources. It offers a large number of initiatives, including a tool box to select these so-called good practices. It started in 2005 as an EU funded project. Present involvement in the network is worldwide.
Website-URL: http://www.enetosh.net/
* Health & Safety Education (HSE) Risk Education Network
The purpose of this network is to support the delivery of the teaching and learning of risk concepts. The network's primary focus is on the teaching of health and safety risk by higher education institutions in engineering related subjects. Much of the content is, however, expected to be transferable to other areas and some of the resources may also be useful for those teaching in further and compulsory education. Some parts of the network are open to non-members including a diary of events, useful links and various documents that make the case for risk education.
Website-URL: http://webcommunities.hse.gov.uk/connect.ti/riskeducation/groupHome