I used to work for a company where the OHA conducted the initial HAVS health
surveillance. Any employee displaying symptoms was automatically referred to
the OHP for further assessment and recommendations would be subsequently be
made regarding restrictions in vibratory tool use etc etc. I too found that
employees were either reluctant to admit they had any symptoms (for fear of
losing their jobs) or they were very well 'couched'. The main (worrying)
thing I found was that when I explained to those with symptoms what the next
steps would be, a lot of them told me that it wasn't necessary because they
had already been assessed via the union several years ago (not through OH)
and had received a pay out from the company. However, although they had
successful claims, none of them had been given any advice with regard to
their condition and no restrictions etc had been placed on their vibratory
tool use. As the testing and diagnosis had been done via the union there had
been no OH involvement and there were no records in their OH files. The
employees were therefore under the impression that once you'd received your
'compensation' that that was it and no further action would be required. It
is unclear as to why the OH Dept wasn't notified by the company about these
employees and it is worrying that the union appeared to have been more
interested in the compensatory aspects rather than the on-going well being of
their members. This scenario may have been unique to this company but I
thought it was worth sharing as the same thing may be happening in other
companies.
Maxine Oliver
|