01
The list of who needs surveillance drifts
Job titles, sites and tasks change. A spreadsheet built from last year's exposure list can keep the wrong people in a programme, or omit people who now need one.
Health surveillance
Health surveillance software for occupational health teams.
Health surveillance depends on knowing who needs a check, what was done previously, and what should happen next. Occentra keeps that work attached to the employee, the case and a usable history.
Employee record
Priya Shah · Process operator
Role
Process operator
Leeds plant · current employment
Latest assessment
Respiratory questionnaire
Published form version 6
Mar 2024
Respiratory questionnaire completed
Mar 2025
Respiratory review completed
Mar 2026
Respiratory questionnaire due
The operational problem
Longitudinal surveillance is difficult to run from disconnected records.
Health surveillance is a scheme of repeated health checks used to identify ill health caused by work. It is not a one-off medical, a wellbeing programme or a general health screen. The difficulty is operational: the same person may need several programmes over several years, and each assessment only makes sense beside the ones that came before it.
02
Previous results live somewhere else
Questionnaires, test results, clinical notes and management advice are often stored in different systems. Comparing this year's findings with the last assessment then becomes reconstruction rather than review.
03
Recall is managed by hand
Due dates sit in diaries, shared inboxes or local trackers. Missed appointments, overdue reviews and people who have changed role are easy to lose.
04
Outcomes do not stay connected to the work
A surveillance assessment may lead to workplace advice, a restriction, a further test or a later review. If that outcome is only a document, the next cycle starts without a clear account of what was decided.
How the work should run
A surveillance cycle needs a complete history, not a fresh form each year.
A competent occupational health service still depends on the employer's risk assessment to decide who needs surveillance. Software cannot replace that judgement. It can keep the resulting work organised so each cycle is informed by the last.
Identify who requires surveillance
The requirement comes from the work people do and the residual risk after controls. Occupational health needs current employee, role and location context, not a static list.
Run the right programme of checks
A surveillance programme is a planned sequence: questionnaire or examination, further testing where indicated, clinical review, outcome and later recall. The pathway depends on the hazard.
Record the assessment against the person
Forms, appointments and clinical findings belong with the employee. The version of the questionnaire or assessment used should remain visible after the template later changes.
Capture the outcome and any follow-up
The occupational health outcome may confirm continuing surveillance, recommend workplace action, or require a further review. That decision needs to remain attached to the assessment that produced it.
Keep recall and reporting usable
Teams need to see completed, overdue and upcoming work, and retain an auditable history of what was done. Reporting should describe programme activity without exposing confidential clinical detail to the wrong audience.
How Occentra helps
Occentra treats surveillance as connected occupational health work.
Occentra does not replace risk assessment, testing equipment or clinical protocol. It gives occupational health teams a governed place to run the work that surveillance creates.
Employee and employment records keep role, location and history with the person rather than in a separate tracker. When a surveillance assessment is needed, it can be requested, accepted and carried out as occupational health work rather than as an isolated form.
Versioned forms capture questionnaires and structured assessments. Submitted answers stay bound to the published version used, so later template changes do not rewrite earlier results. Appointments, tasks and case activity keep the current cycle visible until it is complete.
Outcomes remain in employee and case context, with a readable history of meaningful events. That is what makes the next review possible. It is also what spreadsheets and disconnected clinic systems tend to lose.
Relevant capabilities
The platform pieces that make repeated assessments usable.
Surveillance work uses the same occupational health operating model as the rest of Occentra. The records stay distinct, but they stay connected.
Employees and employment context
Maintain the person, role and location information that tells a service why surveillance is being requested.
Referrals and cases
Turn a request for surveillance into operational work, with a clear status, owner and next action.
Versioned forms
Collect questionnaires and structured assessments while retaining the exact template version used for each submission.
Appointments and tasks
Schedule clinical activity and keep required reviews visible instead of relying on a side diary.
Reports and outcomes
Prepare and release occupational health advice through an explicit process, separate from the underlying clinical record.
Audit history
Retain a readable account of case progression and configuration change for later review.
Common surveillance programmes
The hazard determines the clinical pathway. The software should not invent one.
HAVS, audiometry and respiratory surveillance are familiar examples of health surveillance. Occentra does not treat them as separate products. It supports the occupational health work those programmes create through employees, forms, cases, appointments and history.
Hand-arm vibration
Where vibration exposure remains after controls, employers may need a health surveillance scheme to identify early signs of hand-arm vibration syndrome. That typically involves questionnaires, clinical assessment where indicated, fitness advice about continued exposure, and later review.
HSE guidance on protecting workers from hand-arm vibration (opens in a new tab)Noise and audiometry
Health surveillance for hearing usually means regular hearing checks, telling employees the results, keeping health records, and arranging medical examination where damage is identified. Baseline checks matter because later results are interpreted against earlier ones.
HSE guidance on health surveillance for hearing (opens in a new tab)Respiratory and COSHH surveillance
Where a hazardous substance can cause an identifiable disease and valid detection methods exist, health surveillance may include questionnaires, lung-function or skin checks, interpretation of results, and action to reduce further harm. Testing without follow-up is not a complete scheme.
HSE guidance on COSHH health surveillance (opens in a new tab)Health surveillance is not a substitute for controlling risk.
The Health and Safety Executive describes health surveillance as a scheme of repeated health checks used to identify ill health caused by work. It should only be used for workers who need it, and it does not replace the employer's duty to control exposure. Occentra helps occupational health teams organise the resulting clinical and operational work. It does not decide who requires surveillance, and it does not perform the clinical assessment.
Where this work happens
The same occupational health problem, in different operating environments.
Surveillance is most often shaped by the work people do. Manufacturing, construction and similar environments are where exposure-led programmes are commonly required.
Manufacturing
Run risk-based surveillance, safety-critical assessments and exposure records across sites and shifts.
Construction
Manage mobile workforces, contractors and safety-critical assessments across changing sites.
Fire and rescue
Coordinate safety-critical medicals, restrictions and return-to-duty decisions for operational teams.
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Related reading on the platform.
See how Occentra would support your surveillance work.
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