Occupational health glossary
Definitions of the occupational health terms that employers, HSE managers and occupational health teams in high-risk industries work with, from health surveillance to the OSHA 300 Log. Each entry opens with a one-sentence answer, then explains how it works in practice and what US, Great Britain and EU rules say, with links to the primary sources.
B
- Baseline audiogram
- A baseline audiogram is the reference hearing test of a noise-exposed worker, against which later audiograms are compared to detect a shift in hearing.
C
- COSHH health record
- A COSHH health record is the record COSHH requires in Great Britain for each worker under health surveillance, kept at least 40 years from the last entry.
E
- Employee exposure record
- Employee exposure record, under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, means workplace or biological monitoring, safety data sheets or chemical inventories on toxic exposures.
- Employee medical record
- Employee medical record, under OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1020, means a record of an employee's health status made or kept by a physician, nurse or health care staff.
F
- Fitness-to-work
- Fitness-to-work is an assessment of whether a worker's health lets them do a specific job safely, without danger to their own health or that of others.
H
- Health surveillance
- Health surveillance is a program of repeated health assessments for workers still exposed to a hazard after controls, to identify ill health caused by work.
M
- Medical surveillance
- Medical surveillance is the program of medical exams and tests that specific OSHA standards require employers to offer workers exposed to certain hazards.
O
- OSHA 300 Log
- The OSHA 300 Log is the form on which US employers covered by 29 CFR Part 1904 record each work-related injury and illness that meets OSHA's recording criteria.
R
- Return-to-work assessment
- A return-to-work assessment reviews whether and how a worker can come back after sickness absence or injury, and which adjustments or phased return they need.
S
- Similar exposure group (SEG)
- A similar exposure group (SEG) is a group of workers expected to share the same exposure profile, used to plan monitoring and read surveillance results.
- Spirometry surveillance
- Spirometry surveillance is the repeated lung function testing of workers exposed to respiratory hazards, comparing results with each worker's own baseline.
- Standard threshold shift (STS)
- A standard threshold shift (STS) is a hearing change of 10 dB or more, averaged at 2,000, 3,000 and 4,000 Hz in either ear, against the baseline audiogram.
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