Health Surveillance

Information sourced from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). For further guidance, please visit HSE website.

Employers should provide regular health checks, also called health surveillance, at least annually. The harmful dust generated by cutting and polishing engineered stone is fine enough to reach deep inside the lungs. If inhaled, it can cause irreversible lung damage such as silicosis, COPD and lung cancer. If workers experience any lung or skin health issues, they should report symptoms as they appear. Don’t wait for a health check.

Symptoms to watch for include:
■ Shortness of breath
■ Persistent coughing with or without phlegm
■ Frequent or prolonged chest infections
■ Wheezing

What is health surveillance?

A series of health checks to identify certain diseases related to working with engineered stone provided by an occupational health professional.

This includes questionnaires, lung function testing, chest x-rays and skin checks. Chest x-rays are needed to identify silicosis.

When is it required?

Health surveillance must be in place for workers that come into contact with engineered stone dust or mist.

Make sure workers have their health checked before they start work with RCS (or within the first 6 weeks).

Every employee must be seen by an occupational health professional, at least annually.

If your workers have already been overexposed to harmful dust, your occupational health provider may need to arrange a chest x-ray straight away. Your occupational health professional will advise on frequency of x-rays.

Report any symptoms as they occur

Workers should promptly report breathing or skin symptoms to their employer or occupational health professional, don’t wait for the next health check.

Put a system in place for referral of workers to an occupational health professional if they develop symptoms at any time.

Health Surveillance does not replace your risk assessment and use of effective exposure controls

Health surveillance is still needed even when you have put controls in place. Controls prevent exposure to dust, health surveillance aims to spot any signs of health issues.

Setting up a health surveillance programme

You’ll need to:

• Tell your workers about your health surveillance programme. By law, they must cooperate with the health surveillance scheme.
• Make sure you receive feedback for each worker who has had health surveillance. This will tell you if the worker is fit to continue in their role or if changes are needed.
• Where health surveillance identifies any silica related ill-health, you must review and, if necessary, revise your risk assessment and control measures.
• Keep a health record for each worker under health surveillance for at least 40 years from the date of the last entry.

Help and guidance

HSE provides free guidance to help employers protect workers and comply with law.

Find out more about:

Setting up support from occupational health professionals

COSHH essentials – what’s required of employers to comply with Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002

Supplementary guidance for occupational health professionals