Health surveillance is any activity which involves obtaining information about employees’ health and which helps protect employees from health risks at work.
The objectives for health surveillance are:
- Protecting the health of employees by early detection of adverse changes or disease;
- Collecting data for detecting or evaluating health hazards;
- Evaluating control measures.
As part of this process, workers may need to undergo a health check or complete a questionnaire to do with their health. They must also report any health problems that may be caused or made worse by work.
Employers need to keep an eye on workers long-term health by monitoring the results of health surveillance and monitor the workplace from time from time to assess if workplace measures are working properly.
The diagram below shows a process that employers follow to implement a health surveillance system.