Fitness for Work: The Medical Aspects, Edition 5

Keith T Palmer · Ian Brown · John Hobson

Jan 2013 · OUP Oxford

About this ebook

The 'bible' of occupational health, Fitness for Work is the most in-depth and comprehensive resource available on the effects of ill health on employment. Expert authors provide practical guidance on the employment potential of anyone with an illness or disability, as well as examining the art and skills of fitness for work assessment and its ethical framework. Fully revised and updated, Fitness for Work, fifth edition now includes, for the first time, important new chapters on work in cancer survivors, health promotion in the workplace, and managing and avoiding sickness absence. Following in the all-encompassing and comprehensive tradition of the previous editions, it also continues to provide coverage of and information on support for rehabilitation, work at older ages, health screening, and the full array of medical and surgical health problems that can affect fitness for work. Chapters are organized by medical condition to enable effortless reference, and are co-authored by a topic specialist and a specialist occupational physician providing a comprehensive view of the subject. The latest developments in legislation and government guidelines are included ensuring the book is up-to-date and provides the most current procedures in the field. Fitness for Work delivers a wealth of valuable consensus guidance, codes of practice, and locally evolved standards to enable well-informed clinical judgements to be made. All occupational health professionals should have a copy of this highly-regarded resource on their desks.

About the author

Professor Palmer was Editor-in-chief of the BMJ Group journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine from 2004-2009. Currently, he chairs the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council and serves as Academic Dean and Deputy President of the Faculty of Occupational Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of London. Professor of Occupational Medicine at the University of Southampton, he has held a full-time tenured Medical Research Council (MRC) consultant grade post in occupational epidemiology in Southampton continuously since 1995, receiving a personal chair in 2007. Professor Palmer has authored over 100 peer-reviewed papers and reports covering many topics related to work and health. In 2012 he was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Pesticides. Dr Brown is a medically qualified registered specialist and consultant in occupational medicine and toxicology. He is also a graduate in agricultural biochemistry and nutrition and has a wide range of knowledge and experience covering occupational health medicine, toxicology, agriculture, and food safety. Dr Brown is Director of Occupational Health and Head of Department at the University of Oxford and Honorary NHS Consultant Physician. He was formally independent chair of the government's Pesticide Residues Committee, serving from 2000 until 2011, and remains a member of the Advisory Committee on Toxic Substances of the Health and Safety Executive Board. Dr Brown is also Chairman of the Advisory Committee on Animal Feedingstuffs, a member of the General Advisory Committee on Science of the Food Standards Agency, and has been appointed as a strategic advisor to the Faculty of Occupational Medicine. John Hobson is a practising consultant occupational physician. He has been the honorary editor of the journal Occupational Medicine for over ten years. He holds academic appointments in occupational medicine at Keele, Manchester and Birmingham universities.