Investigating ill health

In theory, instances of ill health associated with work should be reported, investigated, analysed and recorded in the same way as any incident. If the ill health arose because of a specific incident, and occurred soon after this is usually straightforward. The trouble is that a lot of ill health cannot be attributed to a specific incident and it can come on gradually.

The main concern is that it is important to find out the direct and underlying causes of ill health so that action can be taken to prevent recurrence. Therefore, it is essential that instances of ill health caused by work are reported and that this in turn initiated the investigation process. The skills required to investigate and analyse are likely to be different to those for incidents, and this needs to be considered as part of the team competence.