Are pre-employment and periodic medical examinations required for workers in Iran?

Yes, for workers whose jobs expose them to occupational disease risks. Article 92 of Iran's Labour Law requires the employer to open a medical file for each such worker and have them examined at least once a year, with the results recorded in the file. Young workers aged 15 to 18 must be examined when hired and at least once a year after that. The Labour Law does not spell out a pre-employment examination for adult workers, so check the current Ministry of Health occupational examination instructions.

Short answer

• Periodic: at least once a year for every worker exposed to occupational disease risks (Article 92), carried out through health centres and recorded in the worker's medical file.
• Pre-employment: required by the Labour Law for young workers (Article 80). For adults the Labour Law does not require it expressly, but pre-employment occupational examinations are used in practice; confirm the current Ministry of Health instruction with the provincial health centre.
• Young workers (15 to 18): examination at hiring by the Social Security Organization and renewal at least yearly, with the doctor's opinion on fitness kept in the file (Articles 80 and 81).
• Pregnancy: if a Social Security Organization doctor finds the work dangerous or difficult, the employer must move the worker to lighter work without loss of pay (Article 77).
• Disease found: if the medical board finds an occupational disease or a risk of one, the employer must move the worker to suitable work without loss of pay, and the Ministry of Labour re-inspects the workplace (Article 92, Notes 1 and 2).
• Penalty: breaching Article 92 is an offence under Article 175, with a fine per worker in multiples of the minimum daily wage.

How the examination system works

Article 92 is short but clear. Units whose workers are exposed to diseases caused by their work must keep a medical file for each worker. They must help the workers get examined through health centres at least once a year and record the results in the file. The Ministry of Health is responsible for the planned control, evaluation and inspection of occupational health and workers' medicine (Article 96, Note 1). It therefore decides what an examination includes.

A 2025 national profile of OSH services describes the chain. OSH experts or companies assess exposures. General practitioners authorised for occupational examinations examine workers based on those exposures. Suspected cases go to occupational medicine specialists, and diagnosed cases enter surveillance and treatment. According to published studies, larger workplaces organise the examinations through their in-house unit: a worker health house from 50 workers, or an occupational health centre with an occupational physician from 500. Smaller employers use authorised occupational examination centres or general practitioners licensed for occupational examinations. A 2016 study states that employers with more than 25 workers must also send the results of the annual check-ups to the Ministry of Health.

Hearing tests are a common example. A 2026 study states that the Ministry of Health examination protocol uses pure tone audiometry to ISO 8253-1, and that the national noise exposure limit is 85 dB(A) over an 8-hour shift. The study compared audiograms from the workers' pre-employment and latest periodic occupational examinations, which shows that both are kept in workers' occupational health records in practice.

What to put in place

Common mistakes

• Examining only office or new staff. The annual duty applies to every exposed worker, including long-serving workers and contract staff on site.
• Generic tests unrelated to exposure. Match the tests to the exposures; the national study notes that examinations not matched to exposures are a known weakness.
• Cutting pay on transfer. Article 92, Note 1 and Article 77 require transfer without loss of pay.

Related on excodex

• Occupational safety and health in Iran: law, authorities and employer duties
• Must an employer in Iran appoint a safety professional or an occupational physician?
• Health surveillance and medical examinations: which tests for which exposure

Standards and further reading

• Labour Law of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1990, Article 92 and Articles 77, 80 and 81: Chapter 4 and Chapter 3, English translation, Iran Data Portal.
• National profile for OSH services in Iran (IRANOSH), BMC Public Health, 2025: PMC11995502.
• OSH measures in micro-scale enterprises, Shiraz, Journal of Occupational Health, 2016: PMC5356967.
• Occupational hearing loss and job stress among industrial workers, Markazi Province, Scientific Reports, 2026: PMC13230754.
• ISO 8253-1, acoustics: audiometric test methods (pure tone air and bone conduction audiometry).

This article is general occupational safety and health information prepared by the excodex editorial team. It does not replace the applicable legislation, standards, manufacturers' instructions or the assessment of a competent OSH professional or occupational physician.