The committee considers and reports on matters affecting the health, safety and welfare of people at work and the practice of occupational medicine in the NHS, industry and other sectors.
The committee also advises the BMA on the implementation of health, safety and welfare legislation. Plus other aspects of occupational health as they may affect its members and their working environment.
Our priorities
To get all working people access to occupational health services
At ARM 2023 a motion was passed to push for an occupational health service with universal access for all workers which is free at point of service. We continue to lobby the government to fund training programmes for sufficient occupational health specialists, as it does for all other medical specialties in the UK.
Ensuring the future occupational health workforce to enable universal access
There is a dire shortage of specialist occupational physicians, due to an ageing workforce and a clear lack of training opportunities. The occupational medicine workforce has been steadily declining since 2009.
However, as there is no legal obligation on the state or employers, to provide an occupational health service, neither party has an incentive to finance training programmes for occupational health professionals. We hope to fix this by lobbying for occupational medicine to be included within the medical school and post graduate curricula, which may encourage more doctors to enter the profession.
Promoting the specialty
The expertise of specialist occupational physicians is vital to ensuring healthy working environments and staff safety at work. An important part of our work is to actively promote the occupational medicine specialty with external stakeholders.
The occupational physician
This guide aims to formalise the guidelines and advice that the BMA has offered to its members, to Government departments and to other organisations on matters affecting occupational health.
Read the occupational physician guide
GPC Negotiations and Occupational Health
OMC are working with the General Practice Committee England (GPCE) on building occupational health provision, with a view to providing general practice OH support UK wide.
Fatigue
OMC is concerned about NHS clinicians who are sleep deprived. Fatigue is recognised as a contributory factor in a range of adverse outcomes including driving accidents resulting in morbidity and mortality. It also presents a danger to patient safety. OMC is lobbying for the "too tired to drive" provisions, which require employers to provide appropriate rest facilities or cover the cost of alternative arrangements for safe travel home, to be applied around the UK.
OHP Job Plans
Job plans are relatively common but not exhaustively applied and there is no requirement in the commercial sector to have one.
The following motion was passed at ARM 2024: ‘the BMA to take a policy position in which consultant occupational physicians working outside the NHS are supported to have job plans with equivalent protection to those of doctors working in the NHS, including a balanced working week of DCCs and SPAs’.
Use our example job plan as guidance for employers and employees which covers positive and negative aspects of the job.
Our people
Chair: Dr Kathryn McKinnon
Deputy Chair: Dr Chris Valentine
Our meetings
- Friday 25 September 2026 - hybrid meeting at BMA House and via Microsoft Teams.
- Friday 29 January 2027 - virtual meeting via Microsoft Teams.
- Friday 9 April 2027 - hybrid meeting at BMA House and via Microsoft Teams.
All meetings run from 10.30am - 3pm.
Take part in one of our free courses designed to give you the right skills to:
- break down equality and inclusion bias (CPD-accredited)
- value difference and inclusivity
- live our BMA behaviour principles.
How to join
There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills.
Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of the OMC, this is:
- Seats/term - every year, elections for four seats on OMC take place for a one-session term.
- Timeline - the nomination period opens a month before ARM and voting closes a few days after ARM.
- Eligibility - all BMA members can stand for election but only ARM delegates can vote.
Of the nominees, BMA council elects a further three seats for a one-session term.
Elections
This election section is kept up to date with details about running elections, so make sure to keep checking it throughout the year.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the work of the OMC, email [email protected]
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