Medical Monitoring & Surveillance

Workers put themselves in danger when performing duties in lead-laden spaces. Therefore, it is the responsibility of the employer to monitor these employees and their exposure levels, and to take action if the employees have levels of lead exposure over the accepted limits. In this section, you will learn about these processes.

Before you begin, it is important to note some specific terms that will be used. OSHA often uses the terms monitoring, medical screening, and medical surveillance. The term "monitoring" is used broadly. In the brochure "Lead in Construction," for example, OSHA discusses many types of monitoring, including initial site monitoring, biological monitoring, exposure monitoring, and air monitoring.

On its webpage Medical Screening and Surveillance, OSHA defines medical surveillance as "the analysis of health information to look for problems that may be occurring in the workplace that require targeted prevention." The main purpose of surveillance is to detect and eliminate the underlying causes (hazards or exposures). Therefore, its focus is preventative.

OSHA defines medical screening as "a method for detecting disease or body dysfunction before an individual would normally seek medical care." The main purpose of screening is to early diagnose and treat effected workers. Therefore, its focus is clinical.

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