HEALTH
How Tees Medical Services sets up health surveillance in the workplace
Proud – Shak displays trophies and certificates awarded to
Tees Medical Services .
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURES : TOM BANKS
It ’ s a legal duty of care for many firms – and an award-winning medical services specialist is increasingly turning its expert hand to health surveillance .
A scheme of repeated checks used to identify ill health at work , health surveillance is required by health and safety law when workers are exposed to possible health risks – even after controls have been put in place .
And since Tees Medical Services began providing health surveillance services three years ago , firms large and small have increasingly turned to the Middlesbrough-based firm to carry out the vital checks .
Abdul Shakeel – known as Shak – formed TMS in 2017 , building on his expertise in drug and alcohol testing . Since then , the firm , from its Boho Zero HQ , has become an award-winning specialist occupational health service .
Health surveillance has quickly become a key part of the services it offers – and Shak is urging firms that need to arrange it to get in touch .
He said : “ It ’ s an essential part of health and safety law and one which requires employers who operate in certain industries or sectors to ensure they carefully monitor the health and wellbeing , both physical and mental , of their employees .
“ Examples of categories of individuals susceptible to health surveillance include those working with noise , vibration , asbestos , lead , ionising radiation and other noxious substances .”
Shak says TMS has been helping northern organisations to not only understand health surveillance and its legal implications , but also in terms of practical application .
He said : “ Each organisation will have its own risks associated to it – some more than others and some requiring different types of screening .
“ What ’ s important is monitoring the effect of working in those environments and establishing whether ill health is being caused by it .”
Once the TMS team in Boho Zero has taken the initial inquiry , a plan of action is drawn up .
Shak explained : “ Our occupational health team will attend the company ’ s premises , or they ’ ll attend ours , and they will ask for advice initially on setting up health surveillance schemes .
“ Beyond that , once the scope of work has been defined , our occupational health professionals will attend sites across the north of England and carry out a repeated scheme of checks to monitor employee health and wellbeing .
“ It ’ s important to note it ’ s repeated – this is about establishing a longer-term , wider picture . It ’ s about measuring ill health and adverse reactions over a number of years .
“ And it ’ s important for employers to recognise that even where they have implemented a series of safety or precautionary measures such as PPE in the workplace , that does not abrogate their obligation to carry out health surveillance schemes .”
Shak believes investing in health surveillance will , ultimately , save firms money by reducing the likelihood of ill health and sickness at work .
It also allows employees to raise concerns about how work affects their health and provides an opportunity for the employer to reinforce training and education in the workplace . But how does it work ? Shak explained : “ A company gets in touch with us to inquire about the various health surveillance programmes available and which is the most applicable to them .
“ Health surveillance can involve everything from spirometry screening and chest x-rays to blood analysis to audiometry screening – and even referrals to a consultant cardiologist .”
TMS employs , externally , an occupational health team of nurses , doctors and consultants to do the assessments – either online or in person – and a risk assessment is drawn up to determine what types of screening are necessary for that workplace .
Shak said : “ It ’ s a bespoke policy in relation to that particular site – and once that bespoke agreement is reached , a timetable is set to roll the programme out .
“ Quite often employers prefer for us to go to the site . Recently we were at Newsham in Northumberland , on behalf of MGL and Rainton Steel , where they ’ re building a new rail line .
“ The length of visit depends on the size of the workforce – it can be anything from a full day to three weeks .
“ Each test usually takes 30 minutes and includes things like hearing , urine and on vibration .”
Premium equipment is used by TMS , including , as pictured , a spirometry machine that assesses lung function capacity , and an enhanced vision screener – just like you ’ d find at the optician – which doesn ’ t only test for long and near distance and colour vision , but also for things like glare , peripheral vision and depth perception .
Ordinarily , the client will simply receive the outcome of the health surveillance in the form of a certificate indicating which aspects met certain requirements . The employee , however , will receive , where necessary and appropriate , more in-depth communication – quite often to take with them to their GP if required for follow-up visits .
Confidentiality is maintained at all times and data is not shared with the employer without the employee ’ s consent .
TMS is now inviting potential clients to get in touch for free initial advice and a consultation with a view to helping those companies to set up a health surveillance programme .
And Shak can ’ t stress enough how important it is for firms to get up to speed with health surveillance requirements .
He said : “ The occupational health team will certify either that the individual is fit without restriction , the individual is fit with restrictions or the individual is unfit to work in their present role . The employer is then legally obliged to follow that advice .
“ Employers work co-operatively with occupational health companies such as TMS to secure and preserve mutually beneficial outcomes for themselves and their employees , and health surveillance is a means by which this is achieved .”
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