Health Surveillance

Health surveillance may be a system of ongoing health checks. These health checks could also be required by law for workers who are exposed to noise or vibration, ionising radiation, solvents, fumes, dusts, biological agents and other substances hazardous to health, or add compressed gas .

Health surveillance is vital for:

detecting ill-health effects at an early stage, and ensure better controls to stop them getting worse

providing data to assist employers evaluate health risks

enabling employees to boost concerns about how work affects their health

highlighting lapses in workplace control measures, therefore providing invaluable feedback to the danger assessment

providing a chance to strengthen training and education of employees (eg on the impact of health effects and therefore the use of protective equipment)

Your risk assessment should be wont to identify needing for health surveillance. Health surveillance shouldn't be used as a substitute for undertaking a risk assessment or using effective controls.

Health surveillance is required to:

protect workers who are at an increased risk

identify work-related unhealthiness at an early stage in order that steps are often taken to treat the condition and stop further damage

give early warning that protective control measures are not any longer effective