Calculators and Evaluators Calculate. Evaluate. Interact. Question of Health Most employers are aware that they must process workers' personal information in a fair and proper way under the Data Protection Act 1998, but what about processing employees' health information? In extreme cases, ignorance of the law can lead to criminal charges. How much do you really know? Answer the following questions and see how you rate. Name Business Email Question 1: Do the following types of information (stored electronically or filed) fall within the scope of Data Protection law? a) Questionnaires intended to identify worker’s health problems Yes No b) Information about disability or special needs Yes No c) Eye tests using a display screen Yes No Question 2: Employers can only collect sensitive health information with good reason. Are the following ‘good reasons’? a) To meet legal obligation Yes No b) For clear medical purposes Yes No c) The worker has agreed and signed an authorisation Yes No Question 3: The adverse effect of collecting health information on the employee has to be assessed – with certain exceptions. Are these exceptions? a) When there is a clear legal duty to collect the information Yes No b) When the benefit gained from processing the information justifies the intrusion on privacy or other adverse effect Yes No c) When the employee has some obvious health problem Yes No Question 4: Are the following actions considered ‘good practice’? a) Being satifsfied that your actions are justified by real benefits Yes No b) Having a clear purpose for processing health information Yes No c) Collecting no more information than is strictly necessary Yes No d) Collecting the information in writing on a form Yes No e) Tape recording the information in an interview Yes No Question 5: Do these rules apply? a) Sickness and injury records must be kept with absence and accident records Yes No b) Sickness and injury records can never be used where absence records would suffice Yes No c) The only ‘non-medical’ persons who may access health records are those for whom it is an integral part of their job Yes No Question 6: When is a medical examination and testing permissible? a) When someone applies for a job Yes No b) When the employer is satisfied that it is necessary and justified to establish whether a potential employee is (or will remain) fit for the job in question Yes No c) To satisfy the legal requirements of a pension insurance scheme Yes No d) In order that the employee can join an Occupational Health and Safety scheme Yes No Question 7: Is it legal? a) To obtain a medical sample (a DNA swab, for example) covertly Yes No b) To use a medical sample given for a particular purpose to screen for other medical conditions Yes No c) To retain information gained from a medical examination or testing after its original purpose has been fulfilled Yes No c) To delete properly obtained health information from a worker’s file Yes No Question 8: When is it legal to test employees for drugs or alcohol? a) When their behaviour repeatedly gives cause for suspicion Yes No b) When the criteria for testing have been justified, documented, adhered to and communicated to the employees Yes No c) When it is a random test, confined to workers whose duties expose them and others to safety risks Yes No d) When the test is needed to reveal habitual alcohol abuse or the use of illegal substances outside the workplace Yes No e) When the workers are made aware beforehand that the test is taking place and about its possible consequences Yes No Question 9: What can genetic tests legally be used for? a) To predict the worker’s future general health Yes No b) To detect conditions that might impact on their own or others health and safety Yes No c) To confirm the accuracy of previous genetic tests Yes No d) To determine whether factors in the working environment might adversely affect the employee or cause them to pose a risk to others Yes No e) To reveal information about an employee’s predisposition to communicable diseases Yes No Time's up
