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Health surveillance

3. Consult workers about health surveillance

You must consult your workers and their representatives. Health surveillance only works with their co-operation. Consultation can help increase worker’s commitment to health surveillance and compliance with control measures.

Ask workers what they think the health hazards are in your workplace. They can:

  • help you identify workplace risks
  • make sure your controls are practical

Make sure workers understand:

  • the systems you have put in place to control identified risks and your health surveillance scheme
  • why health surveillance is important and what it is for
  • what will happen if ill health is identified
  • they can attend health surveillance appointments during work time, and you as the employer must pay for the surveillance
  • their own duties in law (for example they must attend appointments)
  • what action you may take if they refuse to attend appointments

Find out more about consulting workers[8].

View a printable version of the whole guide[11]

Link URLs in this page

  1. Overviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/overview.htm
  2. Manage the riskhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/manage-the-risk.htm
  3. Understand what type of health surveillance your business needshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/types-of-health-surveillance.htm
  4. Setting up a health surveillance schemehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/setting-up.htm
  5. Act on the results of health surveillancehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/act-on-results.htm
  6. Record keepinghttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/record-keeping.htm
  7. Health monitoring, biological monitoring and biological effect monitoringhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/health-biological-monitoring.htm
  8. consulting workershttps://www.hse.gov.uk/involvement/index.htm
  9. Previous page Manage the riskhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/manage-the-risk.htm
  10. Next page Understand what type of health surveillance your business needs https://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/types-of-health-surveillance.htm
  11. View a printable version of the whole guidehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/print.htm
  12. Occupational healthhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/health-surveillance/occupational-health/index.htm
  13. Noisehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/noise/healthsurveillance.htm
  14. Vibrationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/vibration/hav/advicetoemployers/healthsurveillance.htm
  15. COSHHhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/coshh/basics/surveillance.htm
  16. Asbestoshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/index.htm
  17. Leadhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/lead/index.htm
  18. Ionising radiationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/radiation/ionising/index.htm

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Updated 2025-01-23