Description

Pre-employment check-ups are required to cover occupational and safety hazards at workplace and ensure that the selected candidate is medically fit for the job. – e.g.: a person with TB in a call center, a cook with typhoid in a restaurant, an asthmatic as an AC mechanic or a color blind person in a clothing store, etc What do they consist of? Complete Medical / Physical Examination Laboratory Investigations Complete Blood Count (26 parameters) Blood Sugar Fasting Urine Routine & Microscopy Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) Blood Group & Rh Factor X-RAY Chest Optional Tests ECG HIV (For AIDS) SGPT (For Liver) Cholesterol (Heart) HBsAg (Hepatitis) Creatinine (Kidney) Why Pre employment checkups? Safety New applicant should be free from medical conditions that could result in sudden incapacitation that can lead to an accident, especially, for health and safety sensitive jobs. Examples of such jobs are driving, piloting, etc. Health Pre-employment is a means to establish baseline health data against which future health status of the employee be compared. It is also a means of identifying existing medical conditions, including contagious diseases which could be adversely affected by occupational exposures. Productivity and Efficiency Pre-employment medical examination is the means by which employers can satisfy themselves that new recruits are free from medical conditions which can affect the productivity of the new recruits once they are employed. Cost The cost of medical treatment is escalating. Employers who provide coverage on medical care especially the ones, who provide full, unlimited coverage, are concerned on this. They are not willing to employ job applicants who suffer from medical conditions that have high medical cost potential. It is a good practice if measures are taken at protecting co-workers as well as the public from becoming infected through direct contact with an infected food handler or by means of contaminated food handled by such a person. Other pre-employment Check Ups Lists of test to be done in persons with open sores, ulcers, pustules: PUS Culture Nasal Swabs Other diseases that need to be checked prior to employment and later at 6 months interval are: Chest and respiratory diseases like TB which could pose a hazard to co-workers Blood-Borne Infections like HIV, Hepatitis B Returning to work after an illness In most cases of infection, bacteria and viruses can still be found in someone’s feces after symptoms stop. It is therefore important that managers continue to exclude food handlers for a period of time after this. 48 hours is the recommended length of time. Extra care should be taken over personal hygiene practices on return to work though, especially hand washing. Lists of test to be done in case of person returning from a diarrhea illness: Stool Routine Stool Culture (3 consecutive stool samples taken 48 hours apart in case of cholera, typhoid and dysentery should be tested negative) Widal Test