Services for Staff

Staff with health issues that could affect their ability to do their job may be referred to the Occupational Health Service.

If you have a health issue that you feel is affecting your work, please raise it with your line manager, who may contact your HRPB to discuss a referral to Occupational Health for support and advice.If you feel you are not able to discuss the issue with your line manager, you should approach the Human Resources Business Partner for your area, who will refer you to Occupational Health for support.

Conversely, if there are concerns that work is affecting a member of staff’s health, they may be referred. Staff will be referred by their manager via the Human Resources Business Partner or, in exceptional circumstances, staff may contact their Human Resources Business Partner directly if appropriate.

A huge number of appointments are wasted each year simply because they are missed. Please make sure that you keep, rearrange, or cancel your appointment.  The earlier that you cancel, the better. If you have no other choice but to cancel your appointment, please let us know as soon as possible.

To ensure the University is meeting its obligations under health and safety and equality legislation, pre-employment health assessments may be required for all new staff. A review of the medical information is required to:

• assess whether an individual’s health is compatible with the role/programme that they have been offered;
• ensure an applicant’s health will not be affected by the job role;
• assess where a pre-existing medical condition could be aggravated by their required work activities;
• provide appropriate health advice and guidance;
• advise on adjustments required to accommodate relevant disability.

New staff receive a health questionnaire from People and Culture as part of the on-boarding process, which they are required to complete and return to the Occupational Health Service. The information supplied on the health questionnaire will be assessed and will remain confidential. A fitness report will be provided to the People and Culture Directorate. Occupational Health may need further information prior to confirming fitness, depending on the nature of the proposed work, and new staff may be asked to attend Occupational Health for further assessment or health surveillance.

The University recognises its duties under the Health and Safety at Work (NI) Order 1978, and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations in respect to ensuring that staff are provided with such health surveillance as is appropriate, having regard to the risks to health and safety as identified through the risk assessment process.

Health Surveillance is required when there is a residual risk to workers health, even after control measures are implemented. It is necessary in situations where there is a potential for an identifiable disease or health effect linked to workplace exposure, and valid techniques exist for the detection of these health effects. It is a defined programme for staff working with, or exposed to, noise, vibration, hazardous substances, fumes, dusts and biological agents.

Health Surveillance is important for:

• Detecting ill-health effects caused by work activities at an early stage, so the University can review the effectiveness of current controls and introduce further additional controls, if required, to prevent staff from suffering further ill-health effects.
• Providing anonymised data to help the University identify trends with respect to health risks caused by work activities.
• Enabling staff to raise concerns about how work affects their health.
• Highlighting lapses in workplace control measures, therefore providing invaluable feedback to the risk assessment in ensuring controls are improved.
• Providing an opportunity to reinforce training and education of staff on the risk of health effects, ensuring they comply with controls, as appropriate.

If risk assessments identify that control measures may not always be reliable, despite appropriate implementation, training of staff, monitoring and maintenance, and health surveillance can help ensure that any ill health effects are detected as early as possible.

Managers/principal investigators/schools safety officers are responsible for identifying those staff who may require immunisation based upon appropriate risk assessments for the work to be undertaken.

Risk assessments for the following work should consider the need for vaccination:

• Culturing or handling of human pathogens or purified biological toxins;
• Handling or processing of human blood, serum or tissue specimens;
• Contact with patients or work in clinical areas of hospitals (research passports).

Managers/principal investigators/school safety officers should ensure staff are informed of the need for vaccination and should forward the risk assessment to Occupational Health, who will make the appropriate arrangements.

Where the University's risk assessment process identifies a risk to an individual travelling abroad as an essential part of their duties, the school manager may refer the individual to Occupational Health for onward referral to a dedicated Travel Clinic for advice and/or vaccinations. It is important to contact the Occupational Health Service as soon as possible to ensure vaccinations can be given in a timely manner.

Staff are expected to access vaccinations for non-mandatory travel through their own GP or a recognised Travel Vaccination Clinic.

The Occupational Health Service supports the Staff Wellbeing team with advice and guidance. Please check the Wellbeing website for more information.

The Queen’s Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is provided by Inspire and offers resources to help you deal with personal and professional problems which may be affecting your home or work life, health and general well-being. Free, confidential support is available, and depending on the nature of the issue, advice/guidance or counselling will be provided by fully qualified professionals. 

• The EAP helpline is available to Queen’s staff 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.  Call free on 0800 086 9934.
• The Inspire Support Hub has extensive additional online wellbeing support, self-help tools and resources.  Details for accessing the hub are available on the QUB Employee Assistance Programme page.

Details of how to make a complaint as well as how to leave general feedback about the service, can be found here.

General opening hours are Monday – Friday 8:30am – 4:30pm. This service does not operate during the University’s holiday periods.

We are located at:

Occupational Health
5 Lennoxvale
Belfast
BT9 5BY

please see Campus Plan for more information.

Staff cannot self-refer to Occupational Health. They are encouraged to discuss health concerns which may affect their work with their line manager first. The line manager may then contact the HR Business Partner (HRBP) who will make the referral to Occupational Health. In exceptional circumstances, staff may contact their HRBP directly, if appropriate.

Managers may also refer a staff member to Occupational Health via the HRBP if, for example, there are concerns about their wellbeing at work, work is affecting their health, they are absent due to health issues, or they are returning to work after a disability-related absence.

Where applicable, staff may also be referred to Occupational Health as part of the University's Health Surveillance programme (see Health Surveillance details above).

For a return to work appointment you must be referred to us by your line manager or Human Resources Business Partner, so please contact them.

Managers/Principal Investigators/school safety officers should forward the risk assessment to Occupational Health, who will make the appropriate arrangements.

You should see your GP unless it is a requirement for your work or studies.

No, Occupational Health does not provide a primary care service. Please see the NI Direct Health Services page for further guidance on how to access GPs, dentists and other NHS services.
International staff can access additional guidance here: https://www.qub.ac.uk/directorates/HumanResources/work-at-queens/international-staff-support/

Yes. We are bound by strict rules regarding confidentiality and clinical information will only be shared with your informed consent. For more information see the University's Data Protection webpage.

Display Screen Equipment (DSE) assessment is managed by the University Safety Services. Please visit the Computer Workstations webpage for more information.

No, Occupational Health is not a counselling service. Free confidential support for staff is available via the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), provided by Inspire.

Yes, staff can have access to their own medical record through a written request under the Data Protection Act. These details can only be released to third parties, such as a solicitor, on receipt of the informed written consent of the employee, or by a court order.

Please see our needlestick/sharps injury guidance. To obtain urgent advice, please contact us between 8.30am and 4.30pm Monday to Friday.

A master list of University First Aiders is maintained and managed by the University Safety Service.

Locate your First Aider here.