Airside Driver Medicals – UK Guidance

What are airside driver medicals?

Airside driver medicals are required to ensure employees are healthy and fit to DVLA Group 1 standard. This is required for all staff driving vehicles within airside. Airside driver medicals are there to ensure basic medical requirements set by OH and the Department for Transport are met. As a minimum, these include:

• Initial and renewed medical declarations in line with DVLA Group 1 standard;
• Age limit related medical assessments e.g. LGV;
• Relevant medical assessments if DVLA health conditions are reported by the driver;
• Appropriate reviews after driving accidents or incidents at work.

Airside driver medicals need to be renewed every three years, however additional requirements might depend on the results of a risk assessment, the vehicle being driven, health status, previous driving incidents and the airport. The risk assessment should consider a number of factors such as local procedures, environment, and how busy the airfield is, and is the responsibility of the aerodrome operator. If guidance is needed, it can be found in Appendix A and on the HSE website.

If a condition or restriction is placed on the driver by the DVLA, the employer is to inform the aerodrome operator, following which they might suspend or remove the Airside Driving Permit as soon as the medical issue is brought to notice.

More information can be found in the HSE guidance for airside driver permits.

What included in the airside driver medicals?

A general examination will check whether the standards for vision, hearing, colour perception, and overall health, such as cardiovascular and musculoskeletal, are met. This might differ depending on pre-existing health conditions and whether the medical is the first one.

Here at Fusion OH we offer airside driver medicals, along with night worker medicals, safety critical medicals, drug and alcohol screening, and fit for work medicals, among others.

Do you know if your employees need to have airside driver medicals? Have their checks been renewed? If you have any questions or want to enquire about airside driver medicals, please let us know!