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Way of the future
By Rachel Irving
Volume 50, No. 12, July 12, 2007 |
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NEXT LEVEL: Environmental and Occupational Health Specialist CMDR Neil Westphalen in his office at HMAS Stirling. He is the Senior Medical Officer at Fleet Base West Health Centre and one of only a few Envrionmental and Occupational Health Specialist in the ADF.
Photo: ABPH Jarrad Ollife |
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Taking Defence’s safety culture to the next level is the focus of the future thanks to one of Navy’s senior medical officers.
CMDR Neil Westphalen, SMO at HMAS Stirling, recently graduated as a Fellow of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, currently the only permanent Defence MO to hold the qualification.
“In a practical sense, occupational health looks at the effects of people’s jobs on their health and the effects of their health on their ability to do their job – that’s the day-to-day aspect of this type of medicine,” CMDR Westphalen said.
He said that while Defence covered occupational safety very well, occupational health is “the next level”. To reflect Defence’s commitment to this area, a centre for occupational health was recently established in Canberra.
“Occupational safety identifies risks and helps prevent accidents. Occupational health takes it one step further and is a crucial element in looking after our people’s best interests.
“Occupational health examines longer-term exposures and on-going environmental and occupational exposures, which may or may not have adverse health effects over an extended period of time.
“It examines issues which may cause health problems, as opposed to accidents, and then looks at the health implications and attempts to find practical solutions for prevention.”
Some of the issues CMDR Westphalen is examining include the health effects of potable water contamination and exposure to noise within the workplace.
“Occupational health looks at not just policy, but is about health surveillance – monitoring people, identifying work place hazards, and looking at trends and issues.”
CMDR Westphalen hopes to see other ADF medical officers specialise in occupational medicine.
“It’s the way of the future,” he said. “It’s about looking at key trends as they emerge and ensuring we have the information on what to do. It’s about focusing on the things that need to be done, not ‘band aid’ solutions.”
He said one of the key advantages of specialising in occupational medicine was that doctors were still able to work with patients, unlike other specialities within Defence, which took doctors into the administration or policy arena.
The road to his Fellowship was long and demanding, including the completion of a Masters of Public Health, but CMDR Westphalen said it was worthwhile.
Medical Officers wishing to find out more on CMDR Westphalen’s work or wanting to undertake an occupational medicine speciality are encouraged to contact him at neil.westphalen1@defence.gov.au |
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