Health Surveillance & Workplace Medicals in Melbourne

Workplace health surveillance in Melbourne and Victoria

Victorian employers work under a different legal framework from most of Australia, and their health monitoring programs need to reflect that. Employees Health has delivered doctor-led occupational health services since 1996, and we run health surveillance for Melbourne businesses onsite at their workplace or through clinics, from inner-city construction sites to manufacturing plants in the west and south-east.

Victoria’s OHS laws are not the model WHS laws

Victoria has not adopted the national model Work Health and Safety Act. Workplace health and safety in Victoria is still governed by the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017, regulated by WorkSafe Victoria. The terminology is different too: Victorian law places duties on “employers” and refers to “employees”, where other states talk about a “PCBU” and “workers”.

Under regulation 169 of the OHS Regulations, an employer must provide health monitoring for an employee exposed to a scheduled hazardous substance where that exposure is reasonably likely to affect the employee’s health. WorkSafe Victoria’s guidance says monitoring is at the employer’s expense, should start before work begins so there is a baseline to compare against, and should be carried out under the supervision of a registered medical practitioner with experience in occupational health. A program designed for New South Wales or Queensland may not use the same language or triggers, so it is worth checking that your provider works to the Victorian requirements.

Silica and engineered stone in Victoria

Victoria moved early on silica. Before the national ban, businesses working with engineered stone needed a licence under Part 6.1 of the OHS Regulations. Since 1 July 2024, manufacturing, supplying, processing and installing engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs has been prohibited, and that licensing scheme is now archived. Work on legacy engineered stone installed before that date can continue without a licence.

The health monitoring duties have not gone away. WorkSafe Victoria says employers, including former engineered stone licence holders, must continue to monitor and report on the health of employees likely to be exposed to crystalline silica. Where a former licence holder’s employee was already being monitored for engineered stone dust and still needs monitoring for respirable crystalline silica, that monitoring must remain under a specialist occupational and environmental physician or a specialist respiratory and sleep medicine physician, and copies of the reports must be given to WorkSafe within 30 days of being received.

Silica also matters well beyond stone benchtops. Tunnelling, road and rail projects, concrete cutting, demolition, brick and tile work and quarrying all generate respirable crystalline silica. Our silica health surveillance medicals combine an exposure history, a respiratory questionnaire and lung function testing with chest imaging where the program calls for it.

Asbestos work in Melbourne

The OHS Regulations 2017 include specific requirements for managing and removing asbestos, including licences for removal work. Melbourne’s older housing, schools and industrial buildings mean many demolition, renovation and maintenance workers come across asbestos-containing material. We provide asbestos health surveillance medicals for removal and demolition crews, with assessments before work starts and at regular intervals after that.

Other services for Victorian workplaces

• Hazardous substances. Monitoring for lead (including blood lead testing), isocyanates in spray painting, panel beating and polyurethane work, solvents, welding fumes and other scheduled substances.
• Lung function testing as part of respiratory monitoring for dust and fume exposures.
• Noise. Onsite audiometric testing for employees in manufacturing, food processing, construction and logistics.
• Sun exposure. Onsite skin cancer checks for outdoor crews, councils and utilities.
• Leadership health. Corporate and executive health assessments for head offices and senior teams.

Melbourne, Geelong and regional Victoria

We work across metropolitan Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, and travel to Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, the Latrobe Valley and Gippsland, Shepparton and the north-east, and western Victoria. Running the assessments at your site means employees spend minutes away from work rather than half a day travelling to a clinic, and a single program can cover several sites. We can schedule around shift patterns, production runs and planned shutdowns.

Reporting you can act on

Each employee’s results are reviewed by a doctor. You receive a health monitoring report for each employee, a workforce summary that helps you check whether your controls are working, and clear recommendations where someone needs follow-up. Employees receive their own results and are referred on to their GP or a specialist where appropriate. If you are not sure whether a task triggers the Victorian health monitoring duty, call us before you book and we will talk it through.

Get a free quote

Call 1300 880 804, email our team or send us an enquiry.