Rank: New forum user 
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Whilst the HSE have published guidance for occupational hygienists to undertake health surveillance by questionnaire (specifically COSHH & lung function tests) have you undertaken this? Or would it be reasonable to delay health surveillance until a point where full testing can be undertaken safely?
Thanks. Rachel
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Rank: Super forum user 
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As most surveillance of this nature is annual why not delay by a few months? Likely providers will be doing so to protect their employees
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 2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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As most surveillance of this nature is annual why not delay by a few months? Likely providers will be doing so to protect their employees
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2 users thanked Roundtuit for this useful post.
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Rank: Super forum user
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The answers to this and most questions on the forum is: it’s down to a risk assessment. As Roundtuit has said, for most situations the overall risk is low and delaying the health surveillance by a few months(6 months?) is probably ok but in some situations that’s might not be acceptable. You need to look at the substances involved and the risks that they pose and then decide whether to delay. The HSE won’t come after you if you can justify a delay based on the current situation but if they feel that you are taking unecessary risks with people’s health they will not be happy.
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Rank: Super forum user
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With regard to the delay, as has been stated, it all depends on the risk assessment. COSHH has been mentioned. Of course, COSHH covers all routes of exposure, not just inhalation. As a result of the advice to frequently hand wash there has been an increase in the number of cases of dermatitis. So an annual review here would not be adequate. As it happens, even at a sub-clinical, i.e. invisible, level, irritant skin damage can predispose to colonisation by transient micro-organisms and to sensitisation and allergic contact dermatitis. So frequent skin checks, preferably using skin hydration measurement to detect the invisble damage, could be a wise move in our attempt to prevent infection. Please note that I am not suggesting that we ignore the hand washing advice but that we ensure that action is included that helps restore skin condition following the washing. If anyone wants more on this PM me.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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Rank: Super forum user
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telemedicine is nothing new we have been doing it for years...the difficulty is the PT access to or the quality of the technology they have access to....you can do annual review of lung function by checklist as a very minimum which also can be done as an online appointment...we have even talked some through doing the full lung fucntion test it remotely in the past...biological monitoring has continued for those that are working, skin checks are taking a little longer as some pictures are blurred so we have to ask for more or better, hearing surviellence is on 2m rules (we take digital hi-res photos of the ear canal anyway with PT assistance)...staff infection control and hygiene have always been top of the agenda...I guess what I am trying to say we should be careful of using COVID19 as a excuse for not doing something when all we need to do is think differently about how it can be achieved safely...
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2 users thanked stevedm for this useful post.
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