Occupational health check-ups: Framework conditions for a healthy company
Many people see health as the most important thing in life. Optimal conditions should, therefore, also prevail at work so that your employees remain safe and healthy. This is precisely why occupational health checks exist. Theiraim is to prevent work-related illnesses. They serve the purpose of early detection and individual health advice for a company’s employees.
Do you want to know whether your company has to offer this type of provision, who can provide it and what is mandatory or voluntary? Then you will find answers in this article! In our free e-book, you will also learn how to implement this digitally. Feel free to take a look!
Please note: This text refers to laws and regulations in Germany. They may differ in other countries.
What is an occupational health check-up?
Through their professional activities, employees are exposed to health risks that are more or less severe depending on the type of job. If this results in serious health risks, provides for occupational health care. Occupational health care is an occupational safety measure to maintain and promote employees’ health and is subject to medical confidentiality. Employees have the opportunity to receive advice on the interactions between work and health as part of occupational health care.
Who is allowed to carry out an occupational health examination?
The medical consultation is an integral part of the occupational health examination and is mandatory. The consultation is carried out by the company doctor. Employers may only commission doctors who are specialists in occupational medicine to carry out occupational health check-ups.
Occupational medical examination – What is examined?
As part of the preventive medical examination, the consulting doctor can recommend a specific examination after examining the employee’s medical history or workplace situation more closely. Employees can also voluntarily undergo examinations such as vision and hearing tests.
How often and when is an examination carried out?
Before starting a hazardous activity, you must offer your employees a preventive occupational health examination. After the first examination has been carried out, the company doctor sets the deadline for re-appointment. This depends on the health conditions of the person examined and the respective workplace situation. As a rule, the next occupational health examination is offered or carried out within one year, and each subsequent examination is no later than 36 months after the previous examination. To ensure that all appointments are kept and not forgotten, we recommend using digital recording of deadlines.
Is occupational health care mandatory?
In some professions, an occupational health check-up is mandatory for both employers and employees. These include, for example, the following activities:
What are the reasons for an investigation?
There are various reasons for an occupational health check-up, and it offers you and your employees a number of advantages. It helps to identify job-related health risks before they become serious. The check-up detects occupational diseases and illnesses at an early stage and is intended to prevent them from occurring.
Important: The time during which the care is provided is considered working time. As an employer, you must release your employees from their duties – after prior agreement. The company covers the costs of the care. The amount depends on the respective service content.
How are such investigations followed up?
Occupational health care – overview
Investigation of driving, steering and monitoring activities
This examination is required, for example, when operating aerial work platforms, driving cranes or industrial trucks or in monitoring centres if there is a legal basis for carrying it out. A physical examination is carried out after the work history and the examination of the person’s medical history. This includes, in particular, the assessment of hearing and vision.
Hearing damage caused by noise
This examination applies to the following work areas, among others:
Depending on the job profile, the employer must assess whether mandatory preventive measures are in place. This examination focuses on advice on hearing protection and, if necessary, physical examinations such as a visual inspection of the outer ear.
Working with respiratory protection
As part of this check-up, examinations are carried out voluntarily in addition to counselling. These include:
Depending on the risk assessment, the examination can be carried out as a preventive action or as a suitability test. For example, people working in the fire service must have a high physical resilience.
Computer workstation precautions
In addition to the consultation, the examination includes an eye test tocheck the mobility and position of the eyes, as well as colour vision, spatial vision, and visual acuity. The examination is intended to prevent visual strain, such as burning eyes when working at a computer screen.
Danger to the skin
The examination should be offered if the risk assessment makes it necessary. For example, hand eczema is a significant occupational risk for nursing employees. Skin problems can be reduced or avoided by protective measures such as wearing gloves and applying cream to the hands. This should be communicated as part of the preventive examination.
Working with risk of falling
The examination is required for the following activities, among others:
The occupational physician examines the person for disorders of the musculoskeletal system, as well as disorders of consciousness or balance. This preventive examination includes a medical history, an ECG, a hearing and vision test, a blood count, and a urine test.
Activities with risk of infection
This examination may include medical advice, a physical exam, blood pressure measurement, laboratory tests, and a lung function test if requested. The assessment must be carried out for jobs with a risk of infection, including health and care professions, agriculture and forestry, and food processing.
Working abroad
This examination is carried out before employees work abroad under particular health and climatic stresses. In addition to advice on protective measures, vaccinations and fitness to travel, further company medical examinations can be carried out if necessary.
Questions & answers about preventive medical examinations
What are the tasks and duties of a company doctor?
A company doctor is responsible for the medical care of the company’s staff. The doctors carry out occupational medical examinations, advise employees on health issues, and explain work-related health risks. Company doctors play a major role in promoting the health of the staff and supporting the company in implementing legal regulations in the area of occupational health and safety.
What is the difference between mandatory and preventive medical examinations?
A mandatory medical examination is a preventive occupational health examination that employers must arrange for employees to carry out hazardous work. The work in question may only be carried out if an examination has taken place beforehand.
Preventive medical examinations (offered or requested) are occupational medical examinations that employers can offer their employees. Participation is voluntary.
Note: The occupational health check-up should not be confused with examinations that prove health suitability for certain professional activities. There are no legal regulations for suitability examinations. It is up to an employer to decide whether to request proof of suitability from employees with dangerous work tasks.
Does a risk assessment need to be carried out beforehand?
Yes, because the risk assessment is the basis for a company to carry out a preventive medical examination. This, in turn, is an important part of occupational health precautions. It includes assessing the respective interactions between employee health and the job, individual medical advice for staff, and any necessary examinations.
Digital health management
Keeping track of the necessary preventive medical examinations is a challenge for employers and can cause confusion among employees. We have developed our ” Occupational Medicine & Health Care” software world so that everyone in the company knows precisely which examinations are possible and necessary and when they are due.
As an employer, you can schedule preventive medical examinations and see exactly which examinations are still required. Our software solution makes managing the health of all employees easier than ever.
Your employees also benefit from this tool. They can find out about upcoming appointments at any time and also have access to the documentation of all previous examinations.
Discover the benefits of iManSys and protect the health of your employees.
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