BWF members such as yourselves frequently use our Member and Technical Helplines for assistance on a wide range of Employment, Health and Safety, Pay and Technical issues. For the next few weeks, we’re putting up a frequently asked question every Tuesday in order to help members and illustrate the type of advice we are able to provide. If you have any questions that you would like to see featured, we would be happy to assist. This question and many others like it can be found in our Question Centre. If you want further advice on any of the issues, don’t hesitate to ring the helpline or browse our extensive publications library, which includes Sample Risk Assessment and guidance on monitoring the health of employees. This week: As an employer, what am I required to do in terms of Health surveillance? Health surveillance is essentially the monitoring of an employee’s state of health. It is appropriate where employees are exposed to substances which are hazardous to health, linked to a particular disease or adverse health effect and there is a reasonable likelihood under the conditions of the work of that disease or effect occurring; and it is possible to detect the disease or the effect. Employers in the woodworking and joinery industry are required to carry out health checks: Because wood dust can cause asthma, you need to make sure that any health affects are picked up early. This can be done using health surveillance. For most woods, a low level of health surveillance is sufficient. This could consist of a questionnaire administered before anyone starts work where they are exposed to wood dust, and then repeated annually. These questionnaires also provide information on what to do if you think someone has been affected. A higher level of health surveillance, including lung function testing, is needed for exposures to certain timbers which are a known asthmagen, for example Western Red Cedar.