27-04-2025
Plea for medical notes to include patients' job history amid fears over workplace toxins
Safety campaigners are calling for people's employment to be included on medical notes to make it easier for doctors to identify work-related illnesses . Ian Tasker of Scottish Hazards said the plan could help when it comes to diagnosing diseases linked to heavy industries including cancers, mesothelioma or lung damage. Campaigners also hope it could allow medics to identify patterns of disease associated with specific workplaces. Scottish Hazards, a charity which campaigns on the prevention of work-related illness and injury, will speak to delegates about their proposals this week at the Scottish Trades Union Congress. Charity boss Tasker said: 'There is an association between bladder cancer and tyre manufacturing, as well as of course mesothelioma from asbestos and cancers linked to welding fumes. 'These are just a few examples but we feel that if doctors had access to people's employment history and could see they worked somewhere they could have been exposed to dangerous toxins they may be able to diagnose potentially fatal diseases quicker. 'It also might allow them to see if people who worked at the same place all started developing the same conditions or symptoms .' According to the British Occupational Hygiene Society a quarter of Scottish lung cancers are 'likely associated with workplace exposures' and it predicts more than 300 Scottish construction workers will die as a result of exposure to hazardous dust from working with bricks and mortar. Tasker said: 'Often these types of diseases don't develop until years after the person has stopped working and it would just make it easier for everyone to have a record of where people worked so any potential exposure to chemicals could be traced. 'There are also toxins that people are working with now that may cause damage in future, that we don't even know about. So it's important to have a record. 'We want to see the Scottish Government taking action to reduce the amount of toxins in our workplaces and communities overall but also help those who have been exposed to get a quick diagnosis.' A Scottish Government spokesman said: "It is an employer's duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their staff and they must do whatever is reasonably practicable to achieve this. The Scottish Government promotes health, safety and wellbeing in the workplace through its Fair Work approach. 'The Scottish Government funds the NHS in a range of initiatives to support people with health conditions to enter, remain and progress in work. "These include Working Health Services Scotland and Public Health Scotland's Healthy Working Lives website, which provides advice and support on work related physical and mental health promotion, ill health prevention, return to work practices and workplace safety for employers.'
