The health monitoring
Health surveillance is an aspect to take into account in job safety analysis (JSA) of occupational hazards.
It is essential for companies, since it allows to anticipate all kinds of unforeseen events. Paying attention to health monitoring is not an option and it is necessary to know it to the minimum detail.
What is health surveillance?
It consists of controlling the health of workers to prevent their working conditions from harming them. This is the main objective pursued by this practice. The way to carry it out is through medical and periodic examinations. Employee surveys, biological and safety checks, or job status studies are helpful.
Why is it useful to companies and workers?
For starters, companies can recognize health problems and tackle them in time. In this way, they will be able to carry out the pertinent studies on health in the jobs they offer. If multiple employees become ill, perhaps work conditions are causing it. Therefore, it is essential to establish measures to avoid greater damages.
Along with this, it is also possible to check through surveillance that the measures taken are effective. Prevention plans must not remain on paper, but must demonstrate that they generate the expected consequences.
Current regulation in Spain
In Spain, the health of workers is regulated by various regulations. The first of these is the Spanish Constitution itself in articles 40.2 and 43, then, the Spanish General Law of Health, the Prevention of Occupational Risks and the General Law of Public Health. In addition to these, there are different royal decrees and regulations, as is the case of prevention services.
Along with this, there would be a sectoral regulation for the different economic activities and a regional about medical-pharmaceutical assistance in prevention services. Thus, the protection and surveillance of the state of health are solidly protected.
Responsibility of employers and workers
Employers will have to create JSA protocols and healthy working conditions. In addition, they will carry out surveillance tasks periodically and adapted to the needs of the sector. As for the workers, they must comply with the instructions, protect their own health and not take more risks than necessary.
In this way, both subjects will complement each other for mutual benefit. Acting otherwise would have extremely serious consequences that are worth avoiding.
Ultimately, health surveillance is essential to create a safe work environment. All kinds of regulations underpin these tasks and make them clear to avoid serious problems in the workplace. In this way, workers will not have to take risks for their well-being.