With Covid-19 proving a universal game changer, how will OSH further prove and reinvent itself against the continuing threats and challenges of today and tomorrow? A new IOSH webinar series is set to explore the possibilities.

The pandemic called on OSH professionals to manage a whole new risk environment, to help employers and workers navigate unprecedented dangers in the workplace.

They’ve had to learn, act and lead quickly to help businesses and organisations find new paths to safety, new ways to prosperity. IOSH helped by providing its members and the OSH profession with a programme of free Covid webinars from the start of the pandemic.

But while, thanks to the onset of mass vaccination, we can now look forward to better times, further storms will be lying in wait. We will see:

• A greater threat from the spread of zoonotic, communicable diseases, as highlighted by the World Health Organization
• Businesses having to double down on the health and safety practices they’ve been advised to implement during Covid to ensure resilience is maintained in the future.

Infection prevention and control will become an established part of ‘business as usual’, with stopping the spread of pathogens through good hygiene practices and testing being part of the OSH portfolio to steer us to safety through choppier moments

• As we continue to work differently, with less travel and more digital and remote working, employers having to work to ensure the mental wellbeing of their staff, factoring people’s mental health in all their risk assessments, manager training, leadership and communication
• Significant numbers of workers living with the impact of Long Covid, a still little explained condition which is reported to have around 200 different symptoms. How can OSH professionals get to fully understand their needs? How can employers support them in their return to work? How can the impact of Long Covid on occupational health be best managed?

A new, three-part IOSH free webinar series is about to showcase and address all these issues, sharing best practice, experience and expertise from a wide range of sectors.

The first webinar – What comes next? Dealing with communicable diseases in a world of uncertainty – kicks things off on Thursday 15 July 2021 (12.30-13.30 BST). Keep checking our Event webinar page for booking information from late June.