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Health Monitoring Activities
Planned, because health monitoring activi-
ties should comply with clearly defined and
justified objectives on the exposure to ha-
zards that could not be eliminated or due
to the health condition of the working po-
pulation.
It should include:
•
An initial assessment of workers’ health
after joining the workforce or after being
assigned to specific tasks that imply
new health hazards.
•
A specific periodical health assessment
when working with certain products
or under certain conditions that are
governed by specific regulations that
require it, or according to the risk/s as
determined by the health assessment,
or at the worker’s request when he/she
believes that the changes in his health
are the result of the job. The periodicity
does not have to be on a regular basis;
each case is established in the specific
protocols and will also depend on the
natural history of the disease or on the
conditions related to the exposure.
•
A health assessment after a prolonged
absence due to health related reasons.
Including the protection of:
•
Workers who are particularly sensitive;
therefore, the employer should guaran-
tee the protection of all workers who
could be uniquely affected by any iden-
tified hazard related to the job, due to
their personal characteristics, biological
state, or who have any type of disability.
•
Workers who are under age because
they are not fully developed and also
due to their lack of experience for iden-
tifying occupational hazards.
•
Workers who are pregnant, breastfee-
ding and postpartum.
Systematic because health monitoring acti-
vities should be dynamic and permanently
up-to-date; collecting data and analysing
them beyond the punctuality implied by
“periodical”.
Documented, reflecting the controls carried
out in respect of workers’ health as well as
the resulting conclusions. In respect of cer-
tain exposures (carcinogenic, biological, or
chemical agents) the employer must keep
individual medical records and keep these
for at least 10 years after the exposure oc-
curred, unless more restrictive regulations
require otherwise.
Providing information to the workers indi-
vidually on the objectives and methods of
medical monitoring. This, as well as the re-
sults, should be explained sufficiently and in
a comprehensible manner.
Free, since the financial cost of any occu-
pational safety and health measure, and
therefore, stemming from health monitoring
activities, should not be the worker’s res-
ponsibility (paragraph 5 of section 14 of the
LPRL). This implies that the medical chec-
kups should be performed during working
hours or discounting the time spent in the
checkups from the work schedule.
Participative, respecting the principles of
workers, or their representatives pursuant
to the Act on the Prevention of Occupa-
tional Hazards (LPRL) being able to make
queries and participate.
With the material resources adapted to
their respective functions.