Editor's comment: A healthy scheme

Persuading employers to provide an occupational health scheme for a transient workforce is a tough sell.

Most employers will naturally wonder why they should take the time and effort to both fund and manage occupational health screenings and competency schemes when they perceive they won't get the long-term benefit from this mobile workforce.

True enough on the face of it, but of course, if the majority of employers do sign up, then everyone will benefit in the long term. The workers themselves will have regular screenings forewarning them of any potential health problems, thereby helping to ensure longer and more productive working lives.

And the employers will in effect be pooling their resources to provide an industry-wide occupational health scheme.

Naturally, this requires a consistent approach to the provision of occupational health screenings and competency, and a fair apportioning of the cost.

And that's just what the Constructing Better Health (CBH) scheme is aiming to do, following the successful pilot schemes it carried out last year.

The task now is to find enough occupational health providers with an agreed standard of competency - and then get employers to sign up.

Employers do, after all, have a legal obligation to manage occupational health. However, in the case of construction, they can be forgiven for being unsure how to do it. The CBH scheme should solve that problem.

But quite how it will be funded is not yet clear. Let's hope that a fair and viable way can be found and that the industry's employers will be convinced of the benefits and agree to stump up the cash.

In the long run, the industry pays the hard way for an unhealthy workforce. But for a bit of cash up front, they may no longer have to.