PERSONAL LEARNING ZONE

Summary:

FEATURED ARTICLE

This issue of Occupational Health [at Work] features a Personal Learning Zone (PLZ) article recommended for continuing professional development (CPD). The assignment questions, ‘Personal learning statement’ and ‘Certificate of engagement’ are available to subscribers here. These will also be stored in your password-protected PLZ. The PLZ will help you document your own CPD. Occupational health physicians and nurses, occupational hygienists and other professionals can use the resource in support of their specialism’s revalidation or CPD requirements.

Pages 17–24 Fitness to attend workplace hearings.  Good OH practice is essential when advising employers whether a worker is fit to attend a disciplinary or other employment hearing. Delaying the hearing might exacerbate an employee’s mental health condition, but the disciplinary process itself could make it worse. Adjustments can help minimise the risks while enabling the process to proceed.

ADDITIONAL CPD

The following articles, news and research items are suggested reading for CPD and professional revalidation. Subscribers can complete their online Personal Learning Zone CPD record in a Personal Learning Zone account. 

Pages 4–5. The UK government is piloting a National Work-Related Road Safety Charter aimed at businesses that require people to drive or ride for work.

Pages 6–7. More than half of all new cases of work-related ill health are common mental health conditions, latest HSE statistics reveal.

Pages 12–13. The EAT has indicated in Davidson v National Express that for unfair dismissal purposes, employers have wide discretion in deciding what permissible level of blood alcohol to set for occupational drivers, provided the level and the consequences of breaching it are made clear to staff.

Pages 14–16. The Employment Rights Act 2025 is now law, with the bulk of its provisions coming into force between April 2026 and January 2027.

Pages 25–31. Interventions to support older workers should form part of an organisational culture that promotes the benefits of a diverse and inclusive organisation.

Pages 32–35. Recent employment tribunal decisions concerning employers’ policies on the use of single-sex toilets and changing facilities by trans workers illustrate the challenges employers face in respecting the rights and dignity of female and transgender employees.

Pages 36–38. Our compendium of recent research includes a study examining the influence of leisure-time physical activity on sleep quality, even among stressed adults, an evidence review on the effects of employment on health, and a Finnish study on whether prolonged waiting time before surgery affects post-operative sickness absence.

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Tags cpd - continuing professional development

Occupational Health at Work February/March 2026 (vol. 22/5) pp39

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