Occupational medicine is a medical specialty which aims to prevent any alteration or degradation of workers’ health as a result of their work. It is thus:

• to monitor the hygienic conditions in the workplace;
• prevent risks;
• but also to monitor the state of health of workers.

 It should be noted that the occupational physician also plays the role of adviser for the employer and the employees.

The occupational physician has a preventive role. It intervenes in particular in the following situations:

• improvement of living and working conditions;
• the adaptation of work rhythms or even positions according to the physical and mental health of workers;
• protection of workers against all nuisances (the risk of work accidents, the use of dangerous products, etc.);
• prevention of alcohol and drug use in the workplace;
• prevention of harassment;
• checking the general hygiene of the workplace;
• carrying out epidemiological surveys;
• running an awareness campaign on public health issues related to professional activity;
• carrying out medical visits, in particular hiring and return visits or even periodic visits;
• or the performance of measurements and samples for analysis (such as noise, light or dust).

In France, the occupational physician exercises independently:

• in health services established in companies (we speak of autonomous services);
• in inter-company occupational health services.
• clinical and hospital settings;
• businesses ;
• or even government agencies.

In Quebec, the fields of practice of this specialty concern:

Note that in Quebec, specialists in occupational medicine are part of community health, which also includes specialists in public health and preventive medicine (or community medicine). These specialties focus on health, health problems and the actors who determine them.

Consulting an occupational physician does not entail any particular risks.

During the medical visits they carry out, the occupational physician is required to perform a number of examinations, such as a blood pressure measurement or a basic hearing or sight assessment.

It should be noted that these specialists also have recourse to the use of other disciplines, and in particular epidemiology, biostatistics, or even health monitoring.

Training to become an occupational physician in France

To become an occupational physician, you must follow the following steps:

• 6 years of study at the faculty of medicine;
• at the end of the 6th year, students take the national classifying tests to access the boarding school (their classification, more or less good, will allow them to choose their specialty and their place of practice);
• the internship in occupational medicine lasts 4 years and ends with obtaining a DES (diploma of specialized studies) in occupational medicine;
• finally, in order to be able to practice as a neurologist and hold the title of doctor, the student must also defend a research thesis.

The training to become an occupational physician hasu Quebec

The course to follow to become an occupational physician is as follows:

• the student must follow a doctorate of the 1st cycle in medicine, a stage which means 4 or 5 years;
• then, the student will have to follow a subspecialty in occupational medicine for a period of 2 years, after having completed a primary specialty (either in internal medicine or in community medicine).

To find an occupational doctor:

• in Quebec, you can join the association of community health specialists ³;
• in France, via the website of the Ordre des médecins