The term ‘safety critical work’ 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.”
It is essential employers minimise their risk and the risk to their employees by ensuring they have their employees undertake safety critical medicals.
This screening will check for medical risks which could endanger their workers, such as – Uncontrolled diabetes, hearing impairment, poor vision, epilepsy etc.
Employers may also include health surveillance for this type of employee.
Health surveillance will ensure regular screening is undertaken to monitor the health of the workforce and highlight any workforce trends in ill-health.
N.B. The decision to employ or remove an employee from safety critical work is ultimately the responsibility of the Employer.
