In Northern Ireland, consideration will be given to the development of a regional Occupational Health Strategy. One important element of the strategy is the way in which the HSC will engage and harness the expertise of all partners with an interest in occupational health. Implementation plans will include mechanisms to involve geneticists, employer and employee representatives and other stakeholders in monitoring developments in genetic screening as they apply to health and safety at work. Where appropriate this will include arrangements to work together with the Department of Health and other Government Departments to address health issues in the workplace. We suggest that these could be used to promote discussion among the various stakeholders over time.
Work is already in hand.
This Code will build on the work of the HGAC in so far as it addresses the collection and use of genetic data. The draft of the Code of Practice will be available later this year and the Data Protection Commissioner will seek views from a wide range of stakeholders. They suggested that this could form part of the further review mentioned in the next paragraph. They also recommended that the Disability Rights Commission should work closely with the Government Department or Agency assigned responsibility for following up the HGAC report and keep this issue under review. Fifth, the HGAC recommended a further review of genetic testing in 5 years time.