When is medical surveillance required

As such, employers must evaluate the exposure of employees to chemicals, toxins, radioactive materials, and other dangerous substances on a planned and regular basis to counteract the increased rate of occupational disease and improve industrial safety. So, what is medical surveillance? It is the systematic assessment of employees who are exposed to or expected to be exposed to occupational hazards. Employers undertake such medical surveillance over time for both individual workers and groups of workers.

The eventual goal of medical surveillance is to reduce occupational injury and illnesses of workers. Medical surveillance is a comprehensive source of information for the employer. By conducting regular medical surveillance and analyzing the results obtained, employers would be better able to identify work processes or worksite areas that are or have a possibility of causing harm or injury to workers.

The effectiveness of existing preventive strategies can also be evaluated by reviewing and analyzing medical surveillance results of either individual workers or worker groups over time. In effect, medical surveillance acts as a feedback mechanism for employee health concerns and issues related to the workplace. OSHA, n. OSHA recommends employers to offer medical surveillance to workers exposed to hazardous substances such as lead , asbestos , arsenic , bloodborne pathogens , radioactive materials, and a range of other materials such as herbicides and insecticides that endanger worker health while at the workplace.

Workers exposed to noise , chemical hazards, and toxic substances; requiring respiratory protection ; and working in laboratories must also be given medical surveillance. OSHA provides extensive guidance to employers on how to identify hazards that negatively impact employee safety and health at work and the relevant levels of medical surveillance required. The intensity of medical surveillance is dependent on exposure levels and the toxicity of the hazardous substance that the employee is exposed to.

Besides, OSHA under section Department of Defense DoD provide extensive guidance and resources that may be used by employers to develop and implement their medical surveillance programs. Employers are responsible for developing a comprehensive medical surveillance program to identify health hazards, develop health and safety programs, and increase the health and safety of employees. OSHA requires all costs of a medical surveillance program to be borne by the employer.

Four key areas must be covered under this program. These are explained below. Employers must set-up a system to ensure employees undergo pre-employment screening before being allowed at a worksite with health and safety hazards. Thereafter, employees must undergo regular medical examinations for as long as they work with toxic, radioactive, or other hazardous materials. These regular medical examinations will allow identifying any physical or health changes compared to the pre-employment screening records or the medical examinations done immediately before the current medical check-up.

If required employees will be given additional medical testing depending on the results of the medical exam. Employers must note that they are required to provide medical surveillance when a worker resigns or is terminated from employment. A medical surveillance program must also cover treatment plans for workers for the different hazards that they may be exposed to. These treatment plans must consider both emergency treatments and non-emergency treatments.

This will not only provide workers with the necessary medical record history but also enable employers to use data to analyze the occurrences of illness and injury against the effectiveness of safety and health preventive mechanisms and processes adopted in the workplace. The fundamental purpose of screening is early diagnosis and treatment of the individual and thus has a clinical focus. The fundamental purpose of surveillance is to detect and eliminate the underlying causes such as hazards or exposures of any discovered trends and thus has a prevention focus.

Both can contribute significantly to the success of worksite health and safety programs. However OSHA "medical surveillance" requirements are generally clinically focused e. Medical screening and surveillance are addressed in specific OSHA standards for general industry.

More ». Provides resources that contain medical surveillance information including specific hazards and surveillance guidelines. Medical Screening and Surveillance. Overview In Focus. Respirator Medical Evaluation Questionnaire.