Faculty of Occupational Medicine (FOM) – Construction Worker Health Assessment Guidance

This Guidance has been produced by members of The Society of Occupational Medicine Construction Special Interest Group (SIG) as a resource for Occupational Health to promote consistency of health standards for construction workers.

The FOM’s state that the aim of this document is to:

• Promote consistency of approach to the assessment of specific workers ensuring they are suitably medically assessed to perform the specified tasks without damage to self or others. These workers are collectively referred to as safety critical workers (SCW).
• Ensure that results from assessments are interpreted to draw meaningful consistent conclusions from the information supplied.
• Promote evidenced based best practice in line with professional standards.
• Assist the employer in meeting health and safety legislative requirements and Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance.

What defines a Safety Critical Role is any task identified by risk assessment that could result in harm to the individual worker and to other employees and third parties should the individual worker experience incapacity or ill health e.g.: Scaffolding, Working at Heights, work with Plant machinery, drivers, roadside workers, etc.

The purpose of a Safety Critical Medical, is defined as: “Where the ill health of an individual may compromise their ability to undertake a task defined as safety critical, thereby posing a significant risk to the health and safety of others.” Employers have a duty of care to ensure the health and safety of their employees.

Safety-critical workers (SCW) should not be suffering from medical conditions or undergoing any medical treatment which could lead to a sudden loss of consciousness or incapacity, impairment of awareness, concentration, balance or coordination or significant limitation of mobility.

The FOM Guidance “Construction Worker Health Assessment Guidance” provides full guidance on the parameters which the Safety Critical, sometimes called Fit for Work medical, should include and the suggested required standards that Unity works to in the provision of our SEQOHS Safety Critical Medicals.

Contact us for more information

If you have any questions about SEQOHS Safety Critical Medicals or any other occupational health services for your business, please don’t hesitate to call us on 01603 250015 to discuss your requirements or email us at mail@unityoccupationalhealth.com

https://www.som.org.uk/sites/som.org.uk/files/SOM_Construction_Guidance_Launch_Copy_v1.0.pdf

Information sourced from www.som.org.uk