Primary and acute care
Occupational health expert witnesses
Listed occupational health expert witnesses address the relationship between work and health, including fitness for work, workplace exposure and adjustments. The discipline is distinct from a treating clinician’s opinion about the same condition.
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The evidence
What an occupational health expert witness is asked to determine
An occupational health instruction may concern exposure history, the adequacy of health surveillance, the advice given to an employer, or whether a condition is capable of being attributed to work. The report should distinguish clinical findings from the employment decisions that followed them.
- Whether the exposure history is capable of accounting for the condition alleged.
- Whether health surveillance was undertaken and its results acted upon.
- Whether advice on fitness for work and adjustments was appropriate to the clinical findings recorded.
- Whether the condition is attributable to work, aggravated by it, or independent of it.
- Where an occupational opinion ends and a treating specialty must address diagnosis or prognosis.
Practitioners are listed across the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Location can be narrowed in the register’s location listings before an instruction is made.
Claim contexts
Claims that instruct this discipline
These links describe the question occupational health evidence can answer. They do not prescribe the scope of an individual instruction.
Asbestos and industrial disease claims
Exposure history and health surveillance in occupational disease.
View claim type → 02Personal injury claims
Work-related injury and its effect on capability for employment.
View claim type → 03Psychiatric injury and PTSD claims
Work-related psychological injury and the advice given to the employer.
View claim type →Search the register by the discipline used in the instruction.
See occupational health listingsReport routes
Reports prepared
Occupational health files, surveillance results and employment records support a records review report. Where present capability and future course are in issue, a condition and prognosis report addresses them.
Respiratory, dermatological or psychiatric evidence may be required alongside an occupational opinion depending on the condition alleged. Requirements for each report type are held on its own page.
Occupational health expert witness evidence
An occupational health expert witness examines the exposure and surveillance record alongside the clinical history, and states what can properly be attributed to work.
Listings can be filtered by discipline and location, and the approach is made to the practitioner direct. See guidance from Faculty of Occupational Medicine alongside the case material.
Directory search
Occupational Health listings
Occupational Health Expert Witness Cases & Claims
Related expert witness specialties
Questions answered
Frequently asked questions
Will an Occupational Health expert witness respond to Part 35 questions?
Yes - CPR 35.6 entitles the parties to put written questions on a report, and answering them is part of the expert's duty to the court. A Occupational Health report prepared for proceedings in England and Wales carries the Part 35 statement of truth, with equivalent duties applying in the other UK jurisdictions.
Can an Occupational Health expert act as a single joint expert?
Where the court directs a single joint expert under CPR 35.7, the instruction is agreed between the parties and put jointly - a routine basis of instruction in this field. Whether a particular practitioner accepts SJE appointments is confirmed with the practitioner at the enquiry stage.
Will the expert attend joint discussions or give evidence at trial?
Where the court directs discussions between experts under CPR 35.12, they meet and produce a joint statement of what is agreed and what is disputed; attendance at trial - in person or by video link - is likewise a matter of court direction. These commitments are confirmed with the practitioner at instruction.
Can I choose an Occupational Health expert of a specific gender, or one who assesses remotely?
Yes on both counts. Every listing displays the practitioner's gender, consulting locations and assessment types - face to face, remote or both - so sensitive-instruction preferences can be applied at the shortlisting stage, before any contact is made.