After some six months of planning, the third annual EOPH conference took place once again at Aston University, Birmingham at the end of February. Some 80 delegates gathered to hear presentations from our speakers: sharing their insight on some of the current talking points in occupational health.
For those that joined us, thank you for taking the time from your busy schedules. Here is an overview of each presentation and the workplace health risks they addressed. If you weren’t able to join us, we trust this will give you a flavour of the depth of content presented – and why you shouldn’t miss the EOPH conference next year!
Contemporary issues in workplace respiratory disorder detection and management
Professor Jo Szram
Professor Jo Szram, a consultant respiratory physician specialising in occupational lung disease, started by discussing the valuable work of her team at Lungs at Work, a specialist Occupational Lung Disease clinic and a service available for referrals. Prof Szram explored the modern challenges faced by occupational health practitioners; one of which being surveillance and the difficulty in gathering the evidence. Job worries and concerns about businesses being closed make some reluctant to tell the truth about their work related symptoms or workplace conditions.
She advised to be careful about how surveillance questionnaires are positioned and promoted, and her talk explored some examples of how to construct more effective questions. A series of anonymous case studies followed, discussing workplace scenarios and what led to the referrals – with audience discussion.
Skin Health at Work
Dr Katrin Alden
Dr Alden is an occupational health physician with a background in clinical dermatology and an interest in work-related skin problems. She is also Chair of the Society of Occupational Medicine skin specialist interest group. Her presentation, designed to help delegates increase their knowledge, skills and confidence on the risks facing working skin, used real learning and case studies to give an overview of workplace-related skin health, focusing on common occupational skin hazards such as irritants, sensitisers, contact dermatitis, urticaria, infections, and other less common conditions.
Using case studies, the presentation highlighted legal and legislative requirements, risk assessment duties, COSHH obligations, RIDDOR reporting, and the need for structured skin surveillance. It also demonstrated how to identify occupational risk factors, offer evidence-based treatment plans, and implement reasonable workplace adjustments under the Equality Act 2010 to support affected employees and reduce ongoing skin exposure risks.
Exploring the gaps between occupational health and hygiene
Dr Adrian Hirst
Dr Adrian Hirst is a chartered occupational hygienist who has 35 years of practical experience and is a chartered fellow of the faculty of occupational hygiene as well as being a chartered member of IOSH. His talk introduced the room to the work of an occupational hygienist and what his profession can do. He introduced a model of workplace health with occupational hygiene to anticipate and protect people from workplace health risks, occupational health to manage the health of workers, and workplace wellbeing – to promote healthy lifestyle choices.
Dr Hirst also covered how to better work with occupational hygienists. Using examples of many visits to factories across his career, his case studies included incidents of noise levels at work and the dangers of baking dust. His closing argument was about the anticipation and prevention aspects of the occupational hygienist – advising those in the room to work more closely with his profession.
Digitalising DSE Assessment
Professor Helen Dawes and Dr Nikki Cordell
Professor Dawes is a clinical academic physiotherapist with over 25 years experience in leading innovative approaches to assessing and treating the global impact of poor posture and reduced movement and mobility. She is also the Co-founder and CMO of DigiTherapix, the system demonstrated in their talk. Dr Nikki Cordell is co-founder and CEO of Cordell Health. With up to 30 million working days lost to musculoskeletal conditions, the duo discussed the ergonomic hazards of mobile and hybrid working and presented a brand new toolkit which helps to digitally assess movement and posture so that clinical practitioners can help to prevent or treat musculoskeletal conditions.
Comparing the paper based and observational/point in time nature of current DSE assessment processes, digital assessment offers more consistency, accessibility and better real-time data – all of which will aid earlier identification of MSK disorders. With a live camera able to monitor the posture of anyone in the room, it was a very interactive session on posture and movement assessment and intervention considering different workplace contexts.
Neurodiversity in the Workplace
Dr Emma McCollum
Dr Emma McCollum is a consultant occupational health physician at University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust with a special interest in neurodiversity. She has worked with colleagues at Plymouth to develop a neurodiversity toolkit for employees and managers to facilitate support and inclusion at work. Her presentation explored occupational health referrals for neurodivergent employees via case presentations, with an overview of her new toolkit.
With an estimated 15% of the UK population having a neurodivergent condition, employers that aren’t able to make adjustments risk losing the unique skills and contributions neurodiverse people bring. That’s why Dr McCollum covered the types of neurodivergent conditions that include Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia and the workplace challenges faced in terms of noise levels and other sensory overloads, the need for routines and the risk of overwhelm – and the adjustments that employers can make to create more neurodivergent friendly organisations – often with OH guidance.
Voice at Work
Dr Finola Ryan
Dr Finola Ryan is a Consultant Occupational Health Physician with a special interest in Performing Arts Medicine. She is also an Honorary lecturer at University College London. As she explained, workers in voice-intensive roles face increased risks of vocal fatigue, strain, and disorders that can impact job performance and quality of life – yet the risks are often overlooked. It’s easy to take our voices for granted – and by raising our voices, not taking rest, speaking over machinery and often returning from sickness to voice-intensive work before we are ready, we introduce risks we are not aware of.
Her session explored the physiological demands of workplace voice use and identified some of the key risk factors. With some visual examples, Dr Ryan explained the signs of vocal overload and symptoms of voice disorders. Delegates learnt practical approaches to voice conservation, workplace adjustments, and early intervention techniques that protect workers’ vocal health.
Join us in 2027
We will be back next year with another programme of speakers covering some of the most need to know topics for occupational health professionals. It’s likely to be February again – and we will promote the event with our usual mix of posts and early bird offers later in the year.
