OHM

Health monitoring is required under the General Risk and Workplace Management regulations and is based on the health hazards your employees are exposed to.

Common workplace health hazards include:

– Noise exposures – factory machinery, power tools, jackhammer, power saw and more
– Chemical and airborne contaminats exposures – solvents, asbestos fibres, airborne dust, fumes
– Ergonomic exposures – repeated lifting of heavy or bulky items leading to lower back pain.
– Hazardous substances exposure – aluminium, cyanide, chromium, lead and others

Examples of health monitoring associated to common workplace health hazards include:

– Hearing testing for staff who are exposed to noise levels above 85dB.
– Lung function testing for staff who are exposed to any kind of respiratory hazards such as wood and concrete/silica dust and welding fumes.
– Biological monitoring involves the collection of a body sample, usually blood or urine and is specific to the substance the individual is exposed to.

Health Monitoring should be completed on an annual basis to detect any early changes in an individual’s health status and to  confirm that the business’ current control measures are working. In instances where several staff show a reduction in their health status due to work-related
health hazards a review of existing controls should be undertaken.

A reduction in health monitoring results sometimes require a retest within a short time frame.

An example of this would be a person who has just returned from a longhaul flight prior to
completing a hearing test causing a reduced result, the testing should be rescheduled to
another time.

For instances where there is no explanation for a reduction in the test result a further review
by either the individual’s General Practitioner or an Occupational Physician is required.