IS HEALTH SURVEILLANCE REQUIRED IN MY WORKPLACE?

Assessment and controls

The starting point is your risk assessment. Through this you will have found out the hazards in your workplace, identified who is at risk and taken measures to do something to control the risks.
Where some risk remains and there is likely to be harm caused to your employees, you will need to take further steps. Consider health surveillance if your employees are at risk from:

• noise or vibration
• solvents, dusts, fumes, biological agents and other substances hazardous to health
• asbestos, lead or work in compressed air
• ionising radiation

Control measures may not always be reliable, despite appropriate checking and maintenance, so health surveillance can help make sure that any ill health effects are detected as early as possible. 
If you have already carried out health surveillance as described here, factor in the results in your revised risk assessment. 
Do I need health surveillance? 
If there is still a risk to health after the implementation of all reasonable precautions, you may need to put a health surveillance programme in place. Health surveillance is required if all the following criteria are met:

• there is an identifiable disease/adverse health effect and evidence of a link with workplace exposure
• it is likely the disease/health effect may occur
• there are valid techniques for detecting early signs of the disease/health effect
• these techniques do not pose a risk to employees.What sort of health surveillance do I need?
• Where your risk assessment shows that you need to implement health surveillance, you will need to put into place a programme that adequately addresses the risks and potential ill-health effects your employees may be exposed to.

In its simplest form, health surveillance could involve employees checking themselves for signs or symptoms of ill health following a training session on what to look for and who to report symptoms to. For examples employees noticing soreness, redness and itching on their hands and arms, where they work with substances that can irritate or damage the skin. 

A responsible person can be trained to make routine basic checks, such as skin inspections or signs of rashes and could, e.g. be a supervisor, employee representative or first aider. For more complicated assessments, an occupational health nurse or an occupational health doctor can ask about symptoms or carry out periodic examinations.