Ethics Guidance for Occupational Health Practice 9th Edition - Book - Page 77
4.31. Vaccination status of the worker is medical information and cannot be shared
without the worker’s consent. Whilst grouped and anonymised data about
immunisation status of a group of staff can be shared, it is important to ensure
individual workers cannot be identified. If there is a risk that workers might be
identifiable in such grouped data sets (e.g. due to a small number in the group),
the information should not be disclosed. The immunity status, however, can be
shared without consent provided the employer has a legitimate interest in
obtaining such information e.g. in clinical settings to mitigate risk of
transmission of communicable diseases. The reason the worker is non-immune
is confidential. i.e. whether it is refusal (including because of a
misunderstanding) or contraindication (e.g. allergy to an ingredient in the
vaccine).
4.32. When informing the employer that a worker is not immune the OH professional
should provide sufficient information to enable the employer to make a riskbased decision to balance the interest of the public versus the interest of the
worker.
Health surveillance & Risk management
4.33. Health surveillance programmes form part of a work-related risk management
programme and are designed to identify early signs of work-related disease
and determine fitness for ongoing exposure and adequacy of control
measures.
4.34. Health surveillance is often a mandatory requirement of employment in this
scenario and required by statute. Examples of regulations requiring employers
to institute health surveillance include:
Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 51
Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005 52
Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005 53
Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002 54
Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 55
Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 56
Diving at Work Regulations 1997 57
Work in Compressed Air Regulations 1996 58
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