Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance her Department provides to the construction industry on the requirement of employee medicals as a pre-requisite for employment in that sector.

The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) provides a range of general and construction-specific guidance on work-related health risk assessments, health surveillance, and medical surveillance required under health and safety law. This can be found on HSE’s website http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/index.htm and

http://www.hse.gov.uk/construction/healthrisks/index.htm

Work in construction can involve exposure to a range of health hazards such as noise, vibration, chemicals and dusts. Employers are legally required to assess these risks to properly manage and control them.

Control measures can include a health assessment before work starts to confirm a worker’s fitness for the work and establish a baseline for future health surveillance assessments. Some specific work activities, such as tunnelling in compressed air, require a medical assessment by an HSE Appointed Doctor.