Generally companies send their workers to perform occupational medical examinations in order to comply with the regulations that govern the realization of them, such as: Resolution 2346 of 2007, Resolution 1918 of 2009 and Decree 1443 of 2014 for the implementation of the Occupational Health and Safety Management System, without stopping to think about the true importance of these exams for the company and its workers.
The accomplishment of the occupational medical evaluations allows the companies to obtain a Health Diagnosis of their working population, where they can visualize the demographic distribution, the risks to which their collaborators are exposed and the pathologies found in them; whether or not they are related to work, facilitating them to provide accompaniment for the promotion and prevention of employee health not only in the work environment, but also in the implementation of the Epidemiological Surveillance Systems.
It is important to know that occupational examinations can only be carried out by a specialist in Occupational Health or Denver DOT physical exams, and the employer establishes the profiles of the positions, the activities to be carried out and the risks to which they are exposed.
Pre-occupational medical examinations
Pre-Admission evaluate the physical, mental and social health of the candidate to work, determining their ability or not for the execution of the work to be done, without putting their health and / or that of third parties at risk, in accordance with the demands of work and the risks to which it will be exposed.
Periodic reviews
Periodic reviews are programmed and carried out in accordance with the risks of the employee’s activity, they intend to evaluate the possible effects on the worker’s health of the risks to which they are exposed over time and detect diseases of common origin to give them preventive management. They are also made every time they change their job, work environment or when the risk increases. All in order to guarantee the health status.
The withdrawal test
It seeks to guarantee the employee that at the time of leaving the company, does not present alterations in his state of health that are related to the work done or environment to which he was exposed.
In addition, companies must perform re-integration occupational exams and when a worker returns from a disability due to a pathology that may present a relapse or put their health at risk when performing the work.
Benefits for Companies
Not to mention the fines or demands that could be avoided, its advantages are:
- The decrease in costs due to reduction of absenteeism due to preventable disabilities, regardless of origin.
- The increase in productivity, by finding personnel with the right health conditions for carrying out the work, avoiding errors and reprocessing and dissatisfaction in their internal and external clients.
- Obtain a wide knowledge of the health conditions of its personnel, to generate mechanisms that impact it positively.
- Become an ally of your employees; by providing accompaniment in your state of health.
Benefits for Employees
When these exams are done, they will benefit:
- Knowing their state of health and diseases of common origin that can be avoided by implementing preventive medicine.
- Knowing how risks and the work environment can affect your workplace.
- Identifying the mechanisms and / or protection elements that should be used to carry out the work, allowing them to help in the reduction or elimination of risks, in accordance with the SG-SST.
- Recognizing the type of activities that may or may not be performed, for how long, in what environment, how to do them and with what tools or elements of personal protection.
- Detecting in time how the work has affected them in their health condition, to carry out actions that impact it in a beneficial way.
- Monitoring the behavior of your health status over time.