Workplace Health Surveillance Services

Occupational Health Services
Health Surveillance

MCL Medics delivers health surveillance across construction, manufacturing, energy, and public sector sites nationwide. Our approach is risk-targeted rather than blanket, your programme matches the actual hazard exposure your workforce faces. Every technician and nurse is part of the MCL Medics team, not a subcontracted agency.

If your employees are exposed to noise, dust, vibration, or skin irritants, health surveillance is not optional. It’s a legal requirement under HSE regulations, and the consequences of failing to provide it are severe, improvement notices, prosecution, and personal liability for directors and safety managers.

We deliver compliant, risk-based surveillance programmes either onsite through our mobile units or at clinics nationwide. Every programme is designed around your specific hazard profile, not a generic menu of tests. You get the surveillance your regulations require, delivered with minimal disruption to your operations, with complete audit-ready records maintained for every employee.

Service at a glance:

Service: Statutory health checks for noise, dust, vibration and skin exposure risks.
Delivery: Onsite via mobile units (minimal disruption) or at our nationwide clinics.
Compliance: Meets COSHH, Noise at Work and Vibration at Work regulations.
Outcome: Fitness for work certificates and long-term health record management.

Certifications & Accreditations

What is Health Surveillance?

It’s a system of ongoing health checks designed to catch early signs of work-related ill health. Unlike voluntary wellbeing programmes, surveillance is mandated by law wherever employees are exposed to specific workplace hazards. It does two things: it protects individual workers by detecting problems early, before they become disabling or irreversible, and it validates whether your existing control measures, ventilation, PPE, noise barriers, vibration-dampened tools, are actually working.

Surveillance is not treatment. It’s monitoring. The tests detect early physiological changes that indicate hazard exposure is affecting health. If changes are detected, the response is to review and strengthen your controls, adjust the employee’s exposure, and if necessary, refer them for specialist treatment. The employer receives fitness-for-work certificates; the employee receives peace of mind; and the organisation receives documented evidence that it’s meeting its duty of care.

Core surveillance services

Hearing Conservation (Audiometry)

For employees exposed to noise above the lower exposure action value of 80dB. Required under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005. The test combines an otoscopic ear examination with a calibrated audiometric assessment to detect early noise-induced hearing loss, a condition that is permanent, progressive, and entirely preventable with proper controls and monitoring.

Results are categorised against HSE L108 standards, allowing you to track trends across your workforce and identify whether your hearing protection programme is effective. Employees showing early deterioration can be reassessed, moved to quieter tasks, or provided with better PPE before the damage becomes significant.

Respiratory Health (Spirometry)

For workers exposed to respiratory sensitisers like isocyanates, flour dust, wood dust, or welding fumes. Required under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002. Spirometry measures lung volume and airflow to detect early occupational asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) before symptoms become disabling.

Early detection is everything with respiratory disease. By the time an employee notices breathlessness during physical tasks, lung capacity may already be significantly reduced. Regular spirometry catches functional decline at the subclinical stage, when intervention, reducing exposure, improving ventilation, changing PPE, can prevent the condition from progressing.

Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS)

For anyone using vibrating tools above the Exposure Action Value. Required under the Control of Vibration at Work Regulations 2005. HAVS causes permanent damage to blood vessels and nerves in the hands and fingers, leading to pain, numbness, and loss of grip strength that can end a person’s ability to work in their trade.

We deliver the full tiered pathway from Tier 1 questionnaires through to Tier 4 physician assessment. Tier 1 screening identifies employees reporting symptoms. Tier 2 clinical assessment confirms the diagnosis and grades severity. Tiers 3 and 4 involve specialist physician evaluation for advanced cases. Your results are recorded against the standardised grading system so you can track progression and adjust exposure limits accordingly.

Skin Surveillance

For roles involving regular contact with irritants such as epoxy resins, solvents, metalworking fluids, or industrial cleaning agents. Visual skin inspections under COSHH regulations detect early occupational dermatitis before it becomes a chronic condition, a compensation claim, or a reason for an experienced employee to leave their role.

Skin surveillance is the most overlooked surveillance requirement. Many employers focus on noise and respiratory hazards while missing the fact that their workforce is developing dermatitis from substance contact that proper monitoring would catch in its early stages.

Why Choose MCL Medics?

Onsite mobile units

The clinic comes to your car park. Staff are tested in 20-minute slots with minimal disruption to shifts. Our mobile units are fully equipped with sound-proof audiometry booths, calibrated spirometry equipment, and HAVS screening capability. We can process large cohorts in a single visit.

HSE-qualified clinicians

Every assessment is conducted by specifically trained occupational health professionals. Your Fitness for Work certificates are legally defensible and audit-ready. Our technicians hold current certification in audiometric testing, spirometric assessment, and HAVS screening.

Complete record management

We maintain long-term health records and trend data, giving you the evidence base for HSE audits, risk reviews, and compensation claim defence. Records are stored securely and retrievable for the duration of each employee’s employment and beyond, as regulations require.

SEQOHS-accredited governance

All surveillance is delivered within MCL’s accredited governance framework by directly employed clinicians. Your records are maintained to the standard that HSE inspectors expect, and your programme is designed to demonstrate compliance, not just perform tests.

Designing Your Surveillance Programme

Not every employee needs every test. Surveillance is risk-based, which means the programme should be driven by your risk assessments, exposure data, and the specific hazards present in each role. We work with your safety team to design a proportionate programme that covers your regulatory obligations without over-testing employees who do not need it.

The design process starts with a review of your risk assessments and exposure monitoring data. We identify which roles trigger which surveillance requirements, set appropriate testing frequencies, and build a schedule that minimises operational disruption. For multi-site employers, we coordinate national delivery so every location receives the same standard of testing and record-keeping.

What This Means for Your Business

Health surveillance is not just a compliance obligation. It is an early warning system that protects your workforce and your balance sheet. Noise-induced hearing loss, occupational asthma, and HAVS are all progressive conditions that become permanent and compensable if not detected early. The cost of a single occupational disease claim including compensation, legal fees, and increased insurance premiums, dwarfs the cost of the surveillance programme that would have caught it.

HSE enforcement adds another dimension. An improvement notice for inadequate surveillance disrupts operations and creates a compliance record that affects future contract bids. A prosecution carries unlimited fines and director liability. Proper surveillance, conducted by qualified clinicians within an accredited governance framework, is the most cost-effective protection available.

The conditions health surveillance detects, noise-induced hearing loss, occupational asthma, HAVS, are progressive. The longer you operate without compliant monitoring, the greater the risk that an employee’s condition has advanced beyond the early stage where intervention is effective, and into the territory where compensation claims become inevitable.

FAQs

Yes, if your employees are exposed to workplace hazards covered by COSHH, Noise at Work, or Vibration regulations. HSE can issue improvement notices or prosecute employers who fail to provide it. In serious cases, directors can face personal liability.

Frequency depends on the hazard. Noise and HAVS typically require annual monitoring. COSHH surveillance varies by substance, some sensitisers require six-monthly testing, others annual. We design a schedule based on your risk assessments and regulatory requirements.

The clinician provides a Fitness for Work certificate with recommendations. If exposure has caused early damage, you may need to adjust the role, reduce exposure, improve controls, or refer for specialist treatment. Early detection is the whole point, catching problems before they become permanent.

Yes. Our mobile units are fully equipped for audiometry, spirometry, HAVS screening, and skin surveillance. We can process large groups in a single day with minimal disruption to your operations. For smaller numbers, clinic appointments are available nationwide.

All surveillance records are maintained in our secure clinical system. You receive summary reports showing fitness outcomes, trend analysis, and any recommendations for exposure management. Records are retained for the duration required by the relevant regulations and are available for HSE audits.