Health Monitoring

Legal Requirements for Health Monitoring

An employer should consider any pre-existing health conditions prior to employing an individual. There is an implied duty not to place a person in a job or task that may be an unreasonable further risk, due to the nature of the person's existing condition(s). Job applicants should be asked about any relevant conditions, having regard to privacy, natural human rights and the avoidance of bias based on race, gender, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or similar discriminatory practices. Where a relevant health condition exists, consideration should be given, all other abilities being equal, as to what available capacity or job the person may be suitable for. Where uncertainty exists, a registered medical practitioner should be engaged to assess and advise the rationale for placement or otherwise

Some hazards, such as noise, hazardous substances, irritants, stress, musculoskeletal disorders and similar can have delayed, cumulative and long term effects, however, the employer's liability remains the same as for other hazards. Similarly, the required response is the same in terms of the need to assess, control and monitor

If the employer provides (for example) hearing protection and enforces the wearing of it, this does not necessarily fulfill the employer's obligations, because it should be possible to monitor the effectiveness of this protection. For all health hazards, the employer must consider monitoring such as audiometry, lung function, blood testing or other appropriate means

Procedure for Health Monitoring

Health risks to personnel must be included in the hazards identified and controlled. Where exposures to health risks exceed what is considered safe, the hazard must be eliminated, substituted, isolated, engineered, administered and/or personal protective equipment used

Where exposure can only be controlled by minimising through the use of engineering controls, administrative controls or personal protective equipment, employee health must be monitored at appropriate intervals, including after a critical exposure and at termination of employment. Information gathered must be made available to all employees exposed to the risk, however, not in a way that identifies any individual

Where individual health indicators show harm is being caused, an investigation should be carried out to manage the outcome for the individual(s). This may include medical treatment, rehabilitation, retraining or consideration of an alternative job.

Where health monitoring results or investigations indicate that the hazard controls are not adequately protecting the individual(s), this information should become part of a review and upgrade of current hazard controls.

How to complete Health Monitoring using SafetyBase

Entry to the Health Monitoring file type under the Hazards heading should be restricted to persons who have employees' consent. The local Administrator can set permissions for individual file types

Open a Health Monitoring file by entering the name of a person, the type of exposure and submit it. SafetyBase prompts you to enter data about the monitoring results for that person

If you have advanced versions of SafetyBase, they prompt further follow up actions to be taken

Using Tasks while completing Health Monitoring

Tasks can be notifications, instructions, alerts or corrective actions associated with a particular file. You can add Tasks as you go during data entry, using the inline New Task button in your screen. You can also use the Toolbar at the bottom of your screen during data input, or the Tasks tab after you submit the file

As you create a file, SafetyBase may automatically set suggested Tasks, depending on some of your droplist selections. Watch for inline informational messages, which are there to alert you if a droplist might create an automatic Task

Please note that although these automatic Tasks may be created as helpful prompts, they do have generic wording, so you have the choice of creating Tasks yourself. This is advisable if you prefer the wording to be specific or personal. If appropriate, you can select the "Recurring" button, which lets you create a repeating schedule, (say, an inspection, review or check-up interval)

When any Task is set in the system, it will display in the form you created, a summary tab in the file and in the Task List of the person it is allocated to (Recurring Tasks don't show until they are due). Tasks are also e-mailed to the allocated person on the required number of days prior to the Due Date

A small number of tasks have been set as mandatory (example, reporting serious injuries to the statutory authority). These cannot be deleted

SafetyBase Tips and Tricks for managing Health Monitoring

• Attach an electronic document (example, an existing health report): Use the Attach Documents inline button in the Toolbar at the bottom of your screen while entering data, or afterwards, using the tab. Browse to the document and submit it. The document will download and be available for viewing

• Link a relevant SafetyBase file (example, Accident Report, Hazard Details or similar file that has direct relevance): Use the Link Files function, by using the inline button in the Toolbar at the bottom of your screen while entering data, or afterwards, using the tab. Select the SafetyBase file from the drop-lists and submit. The file will be linked

• Remember you can associate People with this file type, using the Associate People inline button in the Toolbar at the bottom of your screen while entering data, or afterwards, using the tab.You can then get reports on their safety history.

• Check file history in the "Status Log" tab. This automatically records status changes to the file. If you would like to monitor the file, click the "Watch" button at the top of the file summary. This will place the file on your Watchlist and e-mail you whenever the file status changes