I am one of the Occupational Health Technicians, that works for David Barber OH Limited and I was recently asked to attend several country estates for full health surveillance and driver screening. The estate employees have varied job roles from farmworkers, estate and forestry workers to gardeners and heavy plant workers.

All employees were exposed to dust, noise, fumes and had to use vibrating equipment of some form. Also, the employees had to sometimes work in extreme heat or cold and were drivers of various farm vehicles from combine harvesters to farm buggies.

Full health surveillance and driver screening/heavy plant were carried out which consisted of blood pressure, audio testing, lung function checks, vision tests, HAVS and a drivers/ heavy plant questionnaire.

After all surveillance was complete several employees had to be referred onto either their GP, an optician or our Occupational Health Advisor for Tier 3 HAVS testing. I will be returning to various locations in the next few months to carry out reviews for audio and lung function testing.

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