Health

The employee should receive a baseline or initial medical examination based on an activity hazard assessment prior to being assigned to a hazardous or potentially hazardous activity (e.g., exposure to toxic substances or radiological materials, repetitive motion, heat/cold stress).

The minimum requirements for a baseline medical (depending on the exposures of the job at hand):

• Complete medical and work history.
• Physical examinations.
• Pulmonary function test.
• Eye examination.
• EKG
• Audiogram
• Urinalysis
• Blood Chemistry.
• Heavy metal screen.
• Radiological bioassay.

Evaluation of stresses related to repetitive motion.

These assessments are done on biological agents concentrating on identifying hazards, assessing the risks of these hazards and controlling these risks.

Biological agents are everywhere some are beneficial to life and some are harmful. Workers and employers do not know the risks associated to exposure to biological agents. We are there to do the assessments and classify these biological agents into four groups:

Group 1
Unlikely to cause human disease;

Group 2
Can cause human disease and might be a hazard to workers; unlikely to spread to the community; there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available;

Group 3
Can cause severe human disease and present a serious hazard to workers; it may present a risk of spreading to the community, but there is usually effective prophylaxis or treatment available;

Group 4
Causes severe human disease and is a serious hazard to workers; it may present a high risk of spreading to the community; there is usually no effective prophylaxis or treatment available.

Biological agents can infect the body through different sources:
Infection at the workplace can occur via different sources such as (Advisory committee on Dangerous Pathogens, 2003):

• blood and other body fluids;
• human bodies, animal carcasses and raw meat;
• human or animal waste products such as faeces and urine;
• respiratory discharges such as coughs and sneezes;
• skin contact.

Allergic and toxic reactions can occur via:

• moulds or mould spores;
• dust mites, feathers, animal hairs, pollen.

One can control the exposure to biological agents through basic personal hygiene and wearing personal protective equipment (PPE).

Pulmonary function tests are a group of tests that measure how well the lungs take in and release air and how well they move gases such as oxygen from the atmosphere into the body’s circulation.

Pulmonary function tests are done to:

• Diagnose certain types of lung disease (such as asthma, bronchitis, and emphysema)
• Find the cause of shortness of breath
• Measure whether exposure to chemicals at work affects lung function
• Check lung function before someone has surgery

It also can be done to:

• Assess the effect of medication
• Measure progress in disease treatment

The risk assessment is a systematic approach of identifying the Occupational Hygiene Risks, generated/accompanied by the process and prioritization of these risks.
The assessments are based on a holistic approach with all the interrelating factors which contribute to the occurrence of occupational disease being considered. The key is to identify the risk and not just the hazard associated with the process

Most substances are inherently hazardous; however, it is the actual circumstances of the use that will determine the risk of that substance. The risk will depend on the hazard potential of the stress / substance e/g/ how is it used, how is it controlled, the exposure and duration (how much and for how long).