The primary purpose of health monitoring is to protect worker health where exposure has the potential to cause long-term harm.
In many cases, these hazards are not immediately obvious, and health impacts can develop over time. This is why health monitoring and follow-up actions are a legal requirement under relevant work health and safety legislation.
When the recommendation “review workplace controls” (or similar) is made, the following process is expected of supervising doctors and employers.
1. Review of workplace controls by the directly affected parties
How this is conducted is an employer's decision.
An appropriate workplace representative (typically a supervisor or line manager) should formally review the relevant Safe Work Management System (SWMS), Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) or equivalent WITH the worker whose findings triggered the action.
The review should be documented and the key elements should detail:
How the exposure is believed to have occurred
The identification of any gaps or non-conformance with existing safe work practices
Any corrective actions recommended
Suggestions to reduce the risk of recurrence and/or to strengthen existing controls
The written summary is then provided to the supervising doctor for the health monitoring program (and if applicable, an examining doctor).
2. Medical review and validation
The supervising doctor’s responsibility is to review the ‘workplace control review’ and advise if any suggestions are likely to enhance compliance and/or controls , or advise what, if any, further action is required.
3. Worker consultation and education
The doctor will then discuss with the worker:
the follow-up biological monitoring results, and
the outcomes of the workplace controls review.
This discussion enables assessment of the worker’s understanding of the risk, reinforces safe work practices, and allows any proposed process improvements to be clinically endorsed as appropriate.
Once completed, this documentation is retained on file to support ongoing compliance and any future regulatory audit.
Why is this process important?
If these steps are not completed:
the worker may remain at risk of ongoing exposure.
other workers may also be affected.
To comply with their professional and statutory obligations, the supervising doctor is required to escalate unresolved non-compliances to the State or Territory Regulator
Regulators may issue improvement or prohibition notices where required, including stop-work directions in high-risk settings.
How KINNECT can support you
KINNECT’s goal is to be your strategic partner, working collaboratively with you to: ensure the required steps are completed efficiently; protect worker health; and support your compliance obligations while minimising operational disruption.
A template supporting this process is available upon request from your Account Manager.