Cash pan and healthcare provider Health Shield friendly society now is offering a free occupational health (OH) helpline to employers across the UK – whether existing clients or not.
A Health Shield spokesperson said the helpline forms the “central pillar” in the provider’s OH platform, which now provides a “one-stop-shop” for access to various OH solutions, from on-site and virtual risk assessments, to targeted prevention and intervention support for employers and employees.
The proposition includes return to work questionnaires for employees after having, or being in contact with, Covid-19 or following a period of furlough.
The Health Shield spokesperson said the OH platform is “completely self-service, with a view to it being efficient, yet simple”.
He added that via a secure, online portal, employers can request and book OH services and employees can complete questionnaires.
There are no retainers or tie-ins beyond the free helpline and employers only pay for services as and when they need them.
Carl Laidler, director of wellbeing at Health Shield, said that remote working continues and “for many this has shifted – or is likely to shift – from a temporary to a permanent arrangement”.
Laidler said that the trend has a number of OH implications.
He said: “For example, display screen equipment risk assessments do not need to be carried out where people are working from home ‘temporarily’. Where this becomes a more permanent arrangement, employers need to make sure they have taken all reasonable steps to control the risk.”
Jennie Doyle, head of marketing at Health Shield, added: “Access to a one-stop-shop for cost effective OH support services, only when needed, has long represented a problem. As is the traditional lack of integration between OH and an employer’s existing wellbeing services. All of this is particularly true where SMEs and mid-size companies are concerned.
“Health Shield’s OH platform not only helps employers of all sizes access essential OH services – more important than ever due to the pandemic – but also helps promote a deeper collaboration between OH and HR, highlighting risk mitigation and absence management solutions as well as instances where existing wellbeing services, whether provided by Health Shield or not, might be used in a preventative capacity.”