Occupational health nurse
Occupational health nurses support the health and wellbeing of people at work.
- Starter salary£32,000 a year
- Experienced£57,000 a year
- Typical hours37 to 40 a week
What you'll do
As an occupational health nurse, you could:
- carry out pre-employment medical checks
- assess and treat employees who are injured or become ill at work
- help staff to manage conditions, such as hearing impairment or stress
- provide counselling and support
- recommend steps to employers to reduce staff sickness and absence
- carry out risk assessments
- design campaigns to promote health and wellbeing in the workplace
- work closely with managers, health and safety advisers and HR officers
- keep employee health records up to date
Working environment
You could work at a client's business or in an NHS or private hospital.
You may need to wear a uniform.
Skills and knowledge you'll need
You'll need:
- knowledge of medicine and nursing
- a desire to help people
- sensitivity and understanding
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to work well with others
- thinking and reasoning skills
- knowledge of psychology
- excellent verbal communication skills
- to be able to use a computer and the main software packages competently
How to become a occupational health nurse
You can get into this job through an apprenticeship or by working towards this role.
Apprenticeship
If you're a qualified registered nurse or midwife, you could do a Specialist Community Public Health Nurse Level 7 Degree Apprenticeship.
This takes up to 2 years to complete and is a mix of training at work and study at an accredited university.
Entry requirements
To do this apprenticeship, you'll need:
- to be a registered nurse
Work
You could apply to become an occupational health nurse if you're already a registered nurse and have the support of your employer.
You could take an approved programme in Specialist Community Public Health Nursing - Occupational Health Nursing (SCPHN - OHN).
Entry requirements for the programme can vary slightly between universities, so check with them for full details.
Career path and progression
With experience, you could:
- move into management and lead a team of occupational health staff or run an occupational health centre
- become self-employed and work as an occupational health consultant for businesses
- work for a private company
- complete professional development training to become an advanced practitioner, with more responsibility in clinical, leadership, education and research roles
Registration
- you'll need to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council
Guides for this industry
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Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0