The following aims are central to service provision within the Network:

• Preventing work-related ill health and promoting health and safety through improving work practices.
• Providing confidential information, advice and support.
• Listening and responding to the needs of individuals and empowering them to take action.
• Identifying and targeting those most in need and concentrating on those with least access to other sources of help.
• Encouraging workplace health promotion, which involves improving the working environment and promoting the active participation of employees in health activities.
• Providing not-for-profit services, which are free of charge for individuals.
• Providing independent services, free of any perceived biases.
• Providing accessible services.
• Being flexible, and able to adapt and respond to changing workforce needs and occupational health and safety issues.
• Contributing to the identification and understanding of existing and emerging patterns of occupational ill health.
• Helping to ensure that workers are informed of their rights to compensation and welfare benefits.
• Recognising the importance of worker participation in managing health and safety considerations.
• Taking a holistic and multidisciplinary approach, including prevention, rehabilitation, legal and financial considerations, employment rights, case management, vocational choices and training, and an understanding of other support agencies.
• Developing partnerships, which enable a range of accessible occupational health and safety services to be available through a variety of integrated approaches.
• Encouraging regional variations in service provision, which may reflect workforce and community needs.

Network Aims and Objectives

Standardise and integrate services

Develop quality standards within a Framework of Best Practice for occupational health services in primary care and for SMEs. These Frameworks, which would allow for regional variations, would bring about further integration and consistency, provide guidance for members, and enable evaluation to be carried out more effectively.

Expand services and build capacity

The Network aims to ensure that occupational health and safety support is available to patients in every Primary Care Trust. The Network aims to expand and build occupational health and safety support for SMEs in cities and regions throughout the country, in partnership with business support agencies. The Network also aims to establish and develop walk-in centres, which would be centrally located hubs of occupational advice and information, accessible to all.

Develop training

The Network aims to develop a national training programme for advisers carrying out occupational health and safety interventions in primary care and SMEs.

Develop evaluation

Network members have extensive experience of evaluation methodology and reviewing evaluation tools to aid service development. The Network aims to build on this experience, and to develop and deliver national evaluation tools, and ensure that all evaluation is widely promoted outside of the Network. Evaluation should help create a national evidence base of best practice for occupational health and safety support within primary care and SMEs.

Share resources

Network members will work together to share resources, including databases, publications, information sheets, and websites, for the benefit of all members. This may involve the creation of resource centres, where new material, information and examples of best practice could be gathered and made available in an accessible electronic form.

Secure network funding

The Network will seek to secure long-term, centralised funding and bring together new funding sources to enable significant development as a Network.

Raise awareness

The Network will continue to raise awareness about work-related health and safety issues and the need to improve and strengthen occupational health and safety support nationally. Increased public awareness should help to reduce the costs of work-related ill health to individuals, employers, and society as a whole.

Increase membership

Future membership of the National Work and Health Network will be encouraged for not-for-profit occupational health and safety providers delivering services within either primary care or walk-in-centres, or for businesses or organisations, and in agreement with Network principles and aims.

Establish partnerships

Members currently have established links with trade unions, local authorities, chambers of commerce, academic institutions and primary care trusts in their respective areas.

The Network will endeavour to establish and develop partnerships with central and local Government agencies, primary care trusts, trade unions, chambers of commerce, business agencies, universities and research institutions, employer networks, health & safety enforcement agencies, the Hazards Campaign, and other interest groups.