The Employment Medical Advisory Service is a statutory

Statute

A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs a state, city, or county. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. The word is often used to distinguish law made by legislative bodies from case law, decided by courts, and regulations...

 public service

Public services

Public services is a term usually used to mean services provided by government to its citizens, either directly or by financing private provision of services. The term is associated with a social consensus that certain services should be available to all, regardless of income...

 in Great Britain

Great Britain

Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...

 operated as part of the Field Operations Directorate of the Health and Safety Executive

Health and Safety Executive

The Health and Safety Executive is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom. It is the body responsible for the encouragement, regulation and enforcement of workplace health, safety and welfare, and for research into occupational risks in England and Wales and Scotland...

.

Purpose

The Service was created by the Employment Medical Advisory Service Act 1972 and, as of 2009, is governed by sections Part II of the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974.

Section 55 of the 1974 Act defines the Service's purpose as:

• Securing that the Secretary of State (as of 2009 the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
  The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions is a post in the British Cabinet, responsible for the Department for Work and Pensions. It was created on 8 June 2001 by the merger of the Employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security.The Ministry...
  
  ), the Health and Safety Executive and others concerned with the health
  Health
  Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...
  
   of employed
  Employment
  Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...
  
   persons or trainees
  Training
  The term training refers to the acquisition of knowledge, skills, and competencies as a result of the teaching of vocational or practical skills and knowledge that relate to specific useful competencies. It forms the core of apprenticeships and provides the backbone of content at institutes of...
  
   are informed of and advised about matters relevant to the safeguarding and improvement of the health of employees and trainees;
• Giving employees and trainees relevant information and advice on health; and
• Other purposes of the Secretary of State's functions relating to employment.

The Service is staffed by doctors

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

 and nurses who are specialists in occupational health and who are specifically able to:

• Assess how individual or group health is affected by work;
• Advise on how an individual's capacity for work is affected by his health;
• Advise on workplace first-aid provision; and
• Support health promotion programmes.

The Service's doctors and nurses enjoy all the statutory powers of other HSE inspectors.