Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects. It is also a level of functional and / or metabolic efficiency of an organization.
Occupational health is the promotion and maintenance of the highest degree of physical, mental and social well being of workers in all occupations; the protection of workers in their employment from risks resulting from factors adverse to health ; the placing and maintenance of the workers in an occupational environment adapted to his physiological and psychological equipment, and, to summarize, the adaption of work to man and of each man to his job.
Occupational health is thus essentially preventive medicine.
In the past it was customary to think of occupational health entirely in relation to factories and mines; hence the terms “industrial hygiene” or “industrial health” were in vogue. Modern concepts of occupational health now embrace all types of employment including mercantile and commercial enterprises, service trades, forestry and agriculture and includes subjects of industrial hygiene, industrial diseases, industrial accidents, toxicology in relation to industrial hazards, industrial rehabilitation and occupational psychology.
Occupational health in agriculture and application of ergonomics (human engineering) are relatively new concepts. The later is now a well recognized discipline and constitutes an integral part of every advanced occupational health service.