Mobile Occupational Health Unit and Workers Health Surveillance

Mobile Occupational Health Unit and Workers’ Health Surveillance at Workplaces Republic of Turkey Occupational Health and Safety Institute (ISGUM) Dr. Nuri Vidinli nvidinli@csgb. gov. tr nurividinli@yahoo. com

Occupational Health and Safety Institute (İSGÜM) • Established in 1968 by a joint Project of the Government, the UNDP and ILO • Non-profit governmental organization

Facilities of İSGÜM • Regional Laboratories • Occupational hygiene and health laboratories • Mobile occupational health units • Pneumoconiosis Monitoring Unit • Training rooms, workshop rooms, conference hall • Library • OHS museum İSGÜM Reg. Labs

Main Activities of İSGÜM • Performing laboratory and field research on occupational health and safety and developing suggestions, • Giving service on OHS measurements and analysis, • Supporting studies of standard on occupational health and safety, • Supporting small and medium sized enterprises, • Planning occupational health and safety trainings for various target groups, • Giving OHS trainings and consultancy services in case of necessity, • Preparing publications and documentations on OHS, • Collaborating with international and national institutions, • Preparing statistics on OHS.

Occupational Health Surveillance Occupational health surveillance is • the ongoing systematic collection, analysis, interpretation, and dissemination of data for the purpose of prevention. • essential to the planning, implementation and evaluation of occupational health programmes and control of work-related ill, health and injuries and the protection and promotion of workers' health.

Occupational Health Surveillance • Workers' Health Surveillance • Working Environment Surveillance

Workers' Health Surveillance • Workers' health surveillance is a generic term which covers procedures and investigations to assess workers' health in order to detect and identify any abnormality. • It comprises many forms of medical evaluation of health effects developed as a result of workers’ exposure to occupational health hazards.

Workers' Health Surveillance at the enterprise level • The main purposes of health examinations are – to assess the fitness of a worker to carry out certain jobs, – to assess any health impairment which may be related to the exposure to harmful agents inherent in the work process – to identify cases of occupational diseases in accordance with national legislation.

Workers' Health Surveillance • Health examinations help to identify conditions which may make a worker more susceptible to the effects of hazardous agents or detect early signs of health impairment caused by these agents.

Workers' Health Surveillance Health surveillance of workers may be • Active • Passive

Active health surveillance at the enterprises level • Occupational physician actively select and invite workers to preventative medical examination to detect early symptoms of work related disease and /or non- occupational disease which can reduce work ability

Workers' Health Surveillance • In case of passive health surveillance, ill or affected workers are themselves coming to consult occupational physician. • Passive surveillance usually detects only diseases with apparent symptoms

Workers' Health Surveillance • In case of active health surveillance, occupational physicians select and examine workers who are at high risk of work-related disease or injury. • Specific forms of health surveillance depend largely upon possible health effects resulting from a particular occupational exposure. • Active surveillance is more appropriate for workers with a history of multiple exposures and those at higher risk for disease or injury.

Workers' Health Surveillance • • Types of preventative medical examinations (a) health assessment of workers before their assignment to specific tasks which may involve a danger to their health or that of others; (b) health assessment at periodic intervals during employment which involves exposure to a particular hazard to health; (c) health assessment on resumption of work after a prolonged absence for health reasons for the purpose of determining its possible occupational causes, of recommending appropriate action to protect the workers and of determining the worker's suitability for the job and needs for reassignment and rehabilitation; (d) health assessment on and after the termination of assignments involving hazards which might cause or contribute to future health impairment

Workers' Health Surveillance • Health examinations should be monitored and continuously developed to identify the work-related health effects at their earliest stage of development • Collection of data on diseases occurred to population working in a given enterprises to assess whether frequency of certain diseases are more frequent than in the general population

MOBILE OCCUPATIONAL HEATH UNITS • Early diagnosis and treatment are important in respect of occupational diseases. • Difficulties have been experienced in diagnosing in occupational diseases in Turkey. • Govenment, social security institutions, employers and employees have losses due to lack of early diagnosis and treatment of occupational diseases. • İn order to provide occupational health surveillance services, Mobile Occupational health units for İSGÜM were purchased in 2008 by a EU Project.

MOBILE OCCUPATIONAL HEATH UNITS The Occupational Health Units are vehicles that include; • 2 Mobile occupational health heart - lung screening systems, • 2 Mobile occupational health medical laboratory systems • 2 Mobile occupational health audiometry screening systems. • 8 sample transporting vehicles

MAIN AIMS AND TASKS of MOBILE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH UNITS • • • Providing occupational health surveillance services Diagnosing occupational diseases early, accurately and quickly performing mandatory periodical examinations preventing work-day lost and labour force lost that is caused when periodical examinations are performed at hospitals and health centers, giving preventive and protective occupational health services, conducting scientific investigation on occupational health and diseases, transferring samples to be taken in working environment/ from workers to İSGÜM and Regional Laboratories safely and as soon as possible transfering the OHS technical staff and OHS experts to workplaces for occupational health surveillance making investigations and training

OBJECTIVES of MOBILE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH UNITS • Supporting Small and Medium sized enterprises • Taking part, directing and monitoring activities of accreditation of both public and private mobile occupational heath units and laboratories which will serve in the field of OHS, • Performing occupational health surveillance, laboratory and field research on occupational health and safety, occupational diseases and work related diseases, occupational health and safety and developing suggestions,

Mobile Occupational Health Heart- Lung Screening Unit

Mobile Occupational Health Heart- Lung Screening Unit Passengers Room 6 passsenger seats

Mobile Occupational Health Heart- Lung Screening Unit Medical Examination Room • Medical examination equipments, • Portable diagnostic spirometers, • Portable digital ECG’s, • Height-mass body index equipments, • Refrigerator • Dry laser printer for radiological films • Work station of digital X -Ray unit

Mobile Occupational Health Heart- Lung Screening Unit X-ray Laboratory Room Mobile digital X-Ray unit and Equipment

Mobile Occupational Health Medical Laboratory Unit

Mobile Occupational Health Medical Laboratory Unit Passengers Room 6 passsenger seats

Mobile Occupational Health Medical Laboratory Unit Examination Room • Medical examination equipments • Refrigerator

Mobile Occupational Health Medical Laboratory Unit Medical Laboratory Room • UV spectrophotometer • Centrifuge • Blood counter equipment • Shaker • Urine strip reader equipment • Incubator • Deep freezer

Sample Transporting Vehicle 2 transportable refrigerators

Mobile Occupational Health Audio Screening Unit

Mobile Occupational Health Audio Screening Unit Passengers Room 6 passsenger seats

Mobile Occupational Health Audio Screening Unit Examination Room • Medical examination equipments • Refrigerator

Mobile Occupational Health Audio Screening Unit Ø 2 silent cabins Ø 2 audiometers

SERVICES of MOBILE OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH UNITS • • • Medical examination Health Assessment of Workers Blood test and urine analysis Respiratory function test ECG test Audiometric test Radiological examination Microbiological examination Risk assessment in the workplaces Occupational health and safety trainings Consultancy services