Open Competition for Appointment to the role of Occupational Health Physician in An Garda Síochána

The Role of the Occupational Health Physician within their respective occupational health region will include:

Advisory Role

• Provide advice to management on occupational health issues including operation of relevant sections of the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work Act, 1989 – 2005;
• Participate in An Garda Síochána Working Groups relating to employee health & safety;
• Advise management about dealing with sickness absence and if possible returning workers to the workplace, including their necessary rehabilitation;
• Advise managers about health promotion & health & wellbeing programmes in the workplace;
• In collaboration with the Human Resources & People Development Directorate, support the development of best practice in the management of attendance;
• Contribute to strategic planning and delivery of the Occupational Health Service.

Health Promotion and Ill Health Prevention

• Support employees in addressing health & wellbeing issues relating to their roles;
• In association with management, identify workplace hazards, undertake risk assessments and implement appropriate monitoring and control mechanisms;
• In conjunction with the Health & Safety Section, facilitate recording & monitoring of workplace accident and injury trends;
• Prevention of work-related ill health and promotion of good health through good work;
• Prevention of non-work related health problems and promotion of health and wellbeing using the workplace as a venue for raising awareness of health issues, education and encouraging behaviours that promote wellbeing and resilience;
• Promoting reasonable and practicable workplace interventions for those who develop a health condition or disability;
• Advice on effective workplace rehabilitative measures for employees with impaired work ability whose work performance or attendance is affected by their health;
• In association with relevant departments, organise health promotion programmes for employees;
• In association with relevant departments, establish and maintain workplace specific preventive programmes;
• Commit to best practice and maintenance of standards in line with published guidelines for excellence in Occupational Health Practice;
• Support and promote policy and service development in collaboration with the Chief Medical Officer.

Health Assessment & Screening

• Carry out independent medical examinations of employee referred by management, assessment of employees following serious illness/accidents and review of employees seeking or being considered for retirement on the grounds of ill-health;
• Input into the delivery, evaluation and quality assurance of a comprehensive hepatitis B immunisation programme;
• Participate in the management of blood and body fluid exposure incidents in the course of work, and any other issues relating to employee exposure to biological hazards in the course of their work.

Workplace Epidemiology

• Participate in monitoring and reporting on trends in illness, workplace accidents and health of employees in collaboration with the Health and Safety Section and the Sickness Absence Section;
• In collaboration with Health & Safety Section, ensure that legal and mandatory reporting requirements in relation to notifiable injuries and illnesses are met.

Administrative

• Advisory to Garda management on employee health and wellbeing;
• Support the development and implementation of procedures for keeping and securing occupational health records by the service, and that professional standards in respect of the confidentiality and security of records are observed in line with statutory and regulatory requirements;
• Provide reports as appropriate on the health and wellbeing of employees and contribute to periodic service activities reporting;
• Coordinate and implement IT activity for the Unit in accordance with best IT system practice;
• Contribute to service planning and to the financial estimates process in An Garda Síochána;
• Act as spokesperson for the organisation as required;
• Demonstrate pro-active commitment to all communications with internal and external stakeholders;
• Workforce plan at an operational and strategic level with members of the Human Resource Team;
• Work with the Occupational Health Nursing Team and Administration Team to optimise skill mix and staffing requirements.

Evaluation of Service

• Undertake and participate in the evaluation and audit of practice and the effectiveness of service delivery;
• Conduct, encourage and support research activities as well as participate the development of appropriate audit systems.

The above are not intended to be a comprehensive list of all duties involved and consequently, the appointed post holder may be required to perform other duties as appropriate to the post which may be assigned to him/her by the Chief Medical Officer from time to time and to contribute to the development of the service. 

For more information on the role and eligibility criteria see information booklet below. 

Application form can be found in English and Irish below.