What is occupational health?
Health 1st Ltd is an occupational health and safety provider and our Occupational Health practitioners work on behalf of both you and your employer, providing advice and support in relation to the effects of work on your health and of health on your ability to work.
We ask that you read this notice carefully as it contains important information on who we are, how and why we collect, store, use and share personal information, your rights in relation to your personal information and on how to contact us and supervisory authorities in the event you have a complaint. This notice covers our services for employers and also what happens when you visit our website.
What health assessments may be required by my employer and why?
There are two types:
1) Health and safety legislation requires employers to ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, your health, safety and welfare while at work. Therefore, depending on the hazards that you are exposed to, arrangements may have been made for you to have OH assessments. Based on your job, this may occur before or after starting your employment, or may be on a regular basis as part of an ongoing health screening / surveillance programme.
A health screening / surveillance assessment typically involves a paper or electronic questionnaire, with a face to face or telephone follow-up as required and may include provision of educational resources that, with your agreement, can be emailed or posted to your address. An outcome summary is provided to your manager / HR and may include specific advice to support you at work.
2) A management referral is where your manager and / or HR refers you for a consultation so that we can provide advice and support when you are attending work with symptoms, a health condition or injury, or are off sick and / or may be ready to consider returning to work. The process is:
- The referring manager should discuss with you the reason for the referral and gain your consent (verbal, email or written) to the consultation, including providing you with our details and an explanation of what information they will send to us and for what purpose. They will then provide us with information explaining the reason for your referral and the health, safety, absence and / or performance-related questions that the consultation is intended to address.
- The consultation is either completed face-to-face or via the telephone. It is helpful if you can provide relevant background information e.g. regarding medication, appointments, test results and treatment.
- At the end of the consultation we agree with you what information regarding your health status and fitness to work will be shared with HR / the referring manager. This is done via password protected documents or encrypted email.
- If you are not in agreement for the consultation to take place, you should advise your manager or HR contact immediately. This would result in us not being able to provide professional occupational health advice on your individual case, which may not be in your best interest.
Data protection
Under data protection law known as the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) we have a responsibility to inform you that we are processing your personal information and how we are meeting our legal obligations in doing so. Please see below for further detail and our Privacy Notice.
Health 1st Ltd Privacy Notice
Who is involved?
Health 1st’s team consists of experienced nurses known as ‘Occupational Health Advisors’ (OHAs). We also use the skills and expertise of other professionals and routinely share personal data with them, such as doctors known as ‘Occupational Health Physicians’ (OHPs), osteopaths, health and safety practitioners and administrative staff and IT support who have signed confidentiality agreements or information handling terms where appropriate. Occupational health records are only shared on a ‘need to know basis’ or as part of routine clinical audit, carried out to improve and maintain clinical standards.
We will share personal information with law enforcement or other authorities if required by applicable law.
What information is collected and why?
Personal information that we collect from you during consultation or receive from your employer and process about you may include, NI number, date of birth, address, your current and past health, test results, treatments, medication, medical reports, lifestyle, job role, absence history and risk assessment information. Depending on your job role we may need to measure or assess for example your: height, weight, vision, blood pressure, breathing, hearing, sleep and mobility.
We collect and process this information for one or all of the following reasons: in order to perform our services for you and your employer, for the purpose of preventative and occupational medicine, and for our assessment of your working capacity.
Where we provide other services, such as training courses, we may collect other information from you as well which is relevant to that service. This information may also include financial details if you are required to pay for the course or service.
We will also collect any information through our website that you voluntarily provide to us and we will use it to respond to your enquiry.
Who will information be shared with and how will it be used?
Any health–related information and recommendations provided to HR / management about you relates to your ability to fulfil your contracted job role, work safely and without harm to your health or others. This will be discussed with you during your health assessment (management referral or health screening/surveillance) and your specific consent will be requested before feedback is sent. You may also choose to see it first. Where you give your consent, our report and recommendations will be sent to your employer so that they may make an informed decision about your ability or suitability to perform your role.
Information about you will not be shared with third parties without your consent, unless the law requires or allows us to do so. We do not share data outside of the European Union (EU).
How will the information be stored and for how long?
We have appropriate security measures in place to prevent personal information from being accidentally lost or used or accessed in an unauthorised way. We limit access to your personal information to those who have a genuine business need to know it. Those processing your information will do so only in an authorised manner and are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
Health 1st stores the personal information obtained about you in your confidential occupational health clinical records. These are kept securely both on paper and electronically within the EU. We record and store the different types of personal information according to health and safety law, professional requirements and best practice guidance. Our Information Security and Records Retention and Destruction Procedures are available on request.
What are your rights?
You have the right to request that your personal information is amended if you believe it is incorrect. You can also ask for it to be erased, although sometimes this may not be possible as some occupational health records need to be kept for legal reasons e.g. under health and safety law. In some limited circumstances you can also object to our processing, although this may mean that we or your employer are unable to fully perform our duties or obligations to you.
Under data protection law you can request a copy of your OH records. Please submit your request in writing and provide us with enough identification for us to verify your request. See below for contact details if you wish to discuss this further or to raise a complaint on how we have handled your personal data.
Data Protection Contact for Health 1st Ltd:
Pippa Stanford, Occupational Health Advisor
Email: pippa@health1st.ltd.uk
Phone: 07500 147223
Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)
You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO):
Phone: 0303 1231113.