Dr. Jonathan Davids explains how ongoing risk assessment drives better health outcomes
This article was created in partnership with DriverCheck.
Dr. Jonathan Davids trained as a primary care physician, but after a stint as a medical officer with the Canadian Navy, he was drawn to working with physiologically normal individuals in abnormal environments instead of the other way around.
After leaving the military, he pursued a specialty in occupational medicine and sports medicine, working with companies in primary care. But something didn’t sit right with him.
“I was giving individual workers advice on preventative strategies to improve their health and wellbeing, but they didn’t have to listen,” Davids explains. “They’d walk out of my office and I had no way to know if I made a difference. It was that cycle over and over again.”
It was occupational health that offered a way to effect real change: he could advise employers on policies and procedures that would prevent disease in the workplace, and because they have jurisdiction over with large groups of workers, he knew the protections were put in place.
“That really appealed to me,” Davids, now Chief Medical Officer of DriverCheck Canada, recalls. “It was Desmond Tutu who said, ‘There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they're falling in.’ That paradigm resonated with me, and now I’m helping employers across the country do that very thing.”
Occupational health surveillance: What to test, when to test, and why it matters
At this year’s Fitness for Duty Summit, Davids is leveraging both his expertise - the DriverCheck team provide employers with “the whole suite of occupational health surveillance, from drug and alcohol and occupational health testing, reporting, and consulting on medical surveillance to education” - and his passion for adding those safeguards further upstream the proverbial river.
At this year's Fitness for Duty Summit His session, From Noise to Neurotoxins: Navigating Occupational Health Surveillance, is designed for Health & Safety leaders, HR, and Occupational Health professionals. It breaks down the essentials including what to test, when to test, and why it matters.
It’s a common misconception, for example, that medical surveillance means the same thing for every worker. Surveillance should be tailored to specific exposures: machinists exposed to metal dust and noise don't need the same surveillance as somebody else working elsewhere in the same plant, further from the machines themselves.
Davids cautions against rolling out blanket rules - in this case, audiometric testing across the board -and instead advocates for identifying who is exposed to thresholds that need the surveillance.
“What you want to do is map out your workplace exposures as accurately as possible, overlay the regulatory requirements on top of that exposure data, and then decide whether the controls you have in place are sufficient,” he explains, adding that another misconception is that this kind of surveillance is simply a compliance exercise.
“It’s not about checking off a regulatory requirement; regulations are really the minimum standard. They don't always reflect the full spectrum of risks that may exist in a workplace, and that's something that workplaces got to pay attention to.”
What does a well-designed surveillance program look like?
Earlier this year, DriverCheck worked with a mid-sized client in the manufacturing industry who had employees exposed to noise and lead levels in certain production areas. Understanding that testing thresholds were a starting point, not a finish line, DriverCheck addressed the actual risk, investigated, and integrated tailored surveillance programs that included annual audiometric testing and periodic lead-level monitoring.
DriverCheck recommended they incorporated education sessions as well. They wanted workers to understand the consequences of not wearing their hearing protection or forgoing hygienic measures such as washing their hands thoroughly after work, and especially before eating, to get rid of lead dust.
Finally, test results and the various measures they were taking were shared with the Joint Health and Safety Committee, which went ahead and put in more barricades to dampen noise levels. For Davids, this encapsulates a well-designed surveillance program.
“They’re not getting blood work results to check a box and then letting the file collect dust; the real value comes from what they did with the information,” he says, adding that “breaking down silos so that health & safety teams are empowered to make real organizational change is another cornerstone of a program with teeth”.
“The most successful companies DriverCheck see align compliance, health data, and actual workplace realities into a single program, and have somebody who's accountable for that. The integration means surveillance becomes both a regulatory safeguard and a genuine health protection tool.”
Protect workers’ well-being — and your business’ reputation
It’s critical to view surveillance as an iterative loop. If you put in preventative measures, are they moving the needle on the follow-up testing? Whether it’s different processes, new tools, a shift in production methods, or the use of new materials, workplaces are dynamic. There should be regular review cycles that go beyond meeting compliance requirements.
“Have new hazards been introduced? Are there new exposure risks? That kind of self-check ensures programs keep pace with the workplace,” Davids says. “These programs must be treated as living systems; they cannot be static. Surveillance must adapt to new hazards as they emerge, keep up with regulatory changes, and be regularly reviewed to ensure they remain effective.”
Another best practice is to lean on the expertise of various occupational health professionals. If there’s something a company doesn’t have in-house, stay connected with those whose job it is to stay on the leading edge of what the risks are.
“It’s wise for organizations to have at least some consultation with experts to stay well-informed and not be blindsided by something coming down the pike,” Davids notes, adding that his final piece of advice (besides attending his session to learn more) is to remember that the whole purpose of medical surveillance is to make continuous improvements within your workplace.
“At DriverCheck we put good medicine first - meaning, that worker well-being is paramount. It not only protects a company's reputation but ensures the most important asset any company has, it's workers, are kept healthy and safe. So, it's important that these programs are continually reviewed so they don't collect dust."
