The Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has published its draft guidance on information about workers' health. The guidance is open for consultation until 26 January 2023.
The ICO has also published a blog to accompany the guidance. This refers to the consultation already launched on the ICO's draft monitoring at work guidance which runs until 11 January 2023, and notes that both consultations are the first part of the ICO's ongoing project to replace its employment code of practice with new, UK GDPR-focused guidance.
The ICO is aiming to create a hub for employers and workers to visit and quickly find the answers to their questions and so wants to be able to put together helpful, easy-to-understand guidance. It aims to do this by consulting throughout the process, laying it open to individuals and employers to tell it how and where support and clarity are most needed.
The draft guidance on information about workers' health aims to provide practical guidance about handling the health information of workers in accordance with data protection legislation and to promote good practice. It covers key topics such as the lawful basis for processing health data, data minimisation, transparency and retention. It also provides guidance on data protection impact assessments (DPIAs), data sharing, security and automated decision making, and covers topics such as sickness, injury and absence records, occupational health schemes, medical examinations, genetic testing and health monitoring.
