Background
In 2018 the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine (ANZSOM) compiled a history of occupational medicine in Australia to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
In 2023 we will be celebrating the 30th year of recognition of the specialty of occupational medicine in Australia and 2024 will be the 30th year since the foundation of the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) in the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP).
Also, it has been recognised that the second generation of occupational physicians in Australia, whose careers span a period of unparalleled changes in the nature of industry and employment, and the organisation and management of work place and health and safety policy and services, are in the process of transitioning to retirement.
It would seem that now is an opportune time to capture the information they have, before it is lost, and to draw together and build on existing efforts to describe our professional history. These include the work done by ANZSOM referred to above, and a series of oral histories with occupational physicians transitioning to retirement being undertaken by Dr Farhan Shahzad, and published in the AFOEM President’s Newsletter.
Project concept
A joint initiative of the RACP and ANZSOM, the archive will feature a timeline listing key events in our heritage and linking to information including documents, images and audio/video histories.
Members are now invited to contribute to this work, which will be managed through the RACP Library.
Click here for more information about the project
Submit your content
If you have any photos, videos, documents etc relevant to the history of occupational medicine, please submit them using the form below. For multiple documents, please upload separately. If more than 4 uploads, please submit additional forms.