Pre-shift health monitoring is now done with an electronic health monitoring system (EHMS) at the Kursk NPP. This is a special system intended for simultaneous measurements of blood pressure, pulse, body temperature, and activity of the central nervous system of some of the plant employees.
“The pre-shift monitoring is intended for the atomists engaged in important work, including the control room personnel, who control the power units,” says Vera Kosmalyuk, Head of the Psychophysiological Support Laboratory at the Kursk NPP. “The monitoring when done by the medical personal used to take up to 5 minutes. The automated access point takes measurements in one minute, thus preventing crowd gathering, which is especially important now."
The system takes measurements, compares the results with reference values, and also records data in the computer and forwards them to the medical station. In addition, the system accumulates each employee data throughout the whole pre-shift monitoring period. The EHMS signals in the case of any changes in the employee health. The examination procedure is captured on video. Another advantage of the system is that it generates electronic reports.
“Medical personnel participation in the pre-shift health monitoring remains possible. If the parameters are normal, the person goes to work, in the case of deviations, a health worker comes in and provides medical assistance, decides whether an employee can be allowed to work,” says Vera Kosmalyuk. “It happens that an employee was in a hurry, that is why the pulse and blood pressure are high. It should be noted that the measurement procedure may be repeated at the automatic access point. With the EHMS, we move to another level of the "human-system" relationship."
The health station of the administrative building No. 2 has two access points with the electronic health monitoring system. Medical personnel and employees of the Psychophysiological Support Laboratory have been trained to operate the system, while data of all employees of the Kursk NPP, who are required to undergo the pre-shift health monitoring, have already been put into the system database. The employees received electronic keys to activate the system.