Workplace health surveillance

[4] The mission of a medical surveillance program is to keep workers healthy and ensure that employers are meeting OSHA standards in health and safety.

[5] Medical surveillance has an emphasis on prevention: it is designed to detect potential workplace hazards before irreversible health effects can occur.

[6] Clinicians with expertise in occupational health, industrial exposures, and respiratory protection screen workers with physical examinations, blood testing, spirometry (a measurement lung function), and audiometry.

The clinicians providing medical surveillance services include board-certified occupational and environmental medicine physicians, mid-level practitioners, nurses, and NIOSH-certified spirometry technicians.

[7] Medical examinations and tests are used in many workplaces to determine whether an employee is able to perform the essential functions of the job.

Critical elements of a risk management program include recognizing potential exposures and taking appropriate actions to minimize them (for example, implementing engineering controls, employing good work practices, and using personal protective equipment).

Periodic testing, including a baseline exam when an employee is hired, can often help detect a decline in function by comparing previous results.

This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.