Railmed offers a range of health surveillance services. See below.
Hand Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS) or 'Vibration White Finger' may be caused by prolonged use of vibrating tools, and is the most commonly recorded work-related condition. The early detection of HAVS is essential for the long-term health and wellbeing of employees and reduces the risk of health claims being made against employers.
Employers are legally obligated to identify and assess the risk of HAVS to their workforce and to ensure a suitable programme of health surveillance is established. Railmed manages the entire surveillance process for our Customers, from evaluating the questionnaires to organising referrals.
Railmed offers a HAVS surveillance service that starts with staff completing a simple questionnaire. For those personnel exhibiting potential health conditions a referral services is available with an occupational health professional to provide advice to both the employee and their employer to reduce the risk of HAVS.
The early stages of surveillance involve simple questionnaires for employees to complete, which is evaluated by Railmed. These are completed:
Railmed recommends that after three years of reporting 'no symptoms' from the annual questionnaires, employees should be consulted by a qualified professional to explore any HAVS issues that may have remained undetected.
This requires employees to complete a more detailed questionnaire with assistance by one of our trained nurses who will examine the hands. The results are reviewed by an occupational physician who will make a formal diagnosis and "stage" the condition.
The long-term exposure of fumes, dust, or other substances in the workplace can cause sever respiratory illnesses, such as asthma, bronchitis, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Railmed can offer respiratory surveillance programmes to detect reduced function of the lungs, which may indicate health problems associated with respiratory illnesses.
Lung function can be determined through spirometry screening. It measures expiration and inspiration flow rates to give an indication as to how well the respiratory tract is working.