OH SERVICES

The Doctors Inn comes with years of experience in occupational health, acute and chronic medical services. We have a dedicated well trained and well experienced occupational medical team that includes; occupational doctors, general practitioners, occupational nurses, occupational hygiene technologists, audiometrists, spirometrists, radiographers, laboratory technologists and in addition the rehabilitation team of physiotherapists, rehabilitation technologist, and many others. The complementary teams serve different but all important duties in the occupational multidisciplinary team work during medical surveillance examinations and also during vocational rehabilitation following injuries. The Doctors Inn is well equipped to offer the following occupational health services to any organization both at Doctors Inn Health Center and onsite.

Occupational Health Policy Development

Occupational health services (OHS) are generally guided by company policies that vary from company to company. Mining is a high risk and safety sensitive sector that is under constant monitoring by the Department of Mines and Botswana Chamber of Mines. Company policies allow well-orchestrated and uniformed handling of health and safety processes. Doctors Inn has a wealth of experience in identifying and designing tailored occupational health policies for companies including those in the mining sector. Some of the OHS policies include the following;

• Occupational health Risk Based Medical Surveillance (RBMS) Plan for guiding all fitness examinations and standard for the mine.
• Drugs and Alcohol Management Plan
• Return To Work Policies for injured or ill workers returning to work.
• Workplace Covid-19 Management Policies
• Hazard Identification Risk Assessment Plan

Risk & Hazard Hygiene Management

Safety sensitive work and risk can be a constant challenge that an OHS must remain attentive to. There are many occupational hazards which without a trained and experience expertise, risk may go unidentified while causing injuries to workers. An intricate relationship between the occupational doctors, occupational hygienists and the safety officers is crucial for the success of workplace safety practices and meeting the legal requirements.

Generally occupational hazards are classified as follows with examples given;

Occupational Hazard Categories

• Physical; noise, dust (silica), vibrations, heat and cold, etc.
• Chemical; ammonia, blasting chemicals etc.
• Biological; Covid-19, tuberculosis, food handling bacteria, etc.
• Ergonomic; working postures, manual handling, etc.
• Psychosocial; workplace bullying (WPB), fatigue and work related stress (WRS), etc.

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Management of Occupational Risk

• Risk in the workplace is managed through the following processes;
• Hazard Identification Risk Assessment – HIRA. This is a quick and low cost process that gives an overall impression of hazards in the workplace and risk can then be calculated from it.
• Occupational Hygiene. This is a discipline of identifying and evaluating hazards for the purpose of control and workplace safety.
• Risk Stratification and Management. With hazard information from various sources including the above, risk evaluation and management can be made and advise give to Tshukudu Metals management.

We are constantly (on daily basis) giving advise on various health and safety matters including Covid-19 regulations to other mining companies and timely operational decisions are then made on the basis of this risk assessment and advise.

Workplace Clinic & Emergency Care Management

According to the clinic licensing authority, the Ministry of Health, all workplace clinics must be under the care and supervision of a Botswana Health Professions Council registered medical doctor. A clinic in Botswana requires at least a nurse to operate. Doctors Inn will start up with nurse staffed health post which must be set up as a matter of urgency for treating minor injuries and medical conditions, stabilizing and observing emergencies, medical record keeping and occupational surveillance compliance management. The available ambulance must be made available in the mine to support this service. The ambulance will be operated and controlled by the Doctors Inn clinic staff and driven by a driver supplied by your Organization.

Vocational Rehabilitation & Compensation Assessments

Even with the best policies, safety profiles and intentions, accidents and diseases often do occur. Rehabilitation starts at the point of first aid care and often that can decide the future of a worker. It is crucial that workers are equipped with first aid training and refresher courses performed routinely. Vocational (work) rehabilitation processes commence at the time of injury and continues through emergency care, curative (hospital) management, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, etc and subsequently in the proceedings of returning the worker to work. This service is best coordinated by an occupational physician who is trained to understand the importance of the worker being properly reintroduced to work, with proper fitness for work evaluations, workplace modification that may be needed, in a timely manner. Unplanned, uncoordinated and delayed RTWs often lead to workers not having in meaningful employment ever after recovery from injury.

Compensation assessments are part of vocational rehabilitation processes. In Botswana the Commissioner of Worker’s Compensation makes the final determination of who is compensated and also decides on the amount of compensation. All occupational injuries and disease are for submission to the Commissioner. The role of the occupational physician in compensation is to determine the degree of an occupational injury or disease and document in the Commissioners form for compensation assessment.