Is It Necessary to Include Blood Group on Employee ID Cards? Seeking Advice from HR Experts

Dear Seniors,

Is it mandatory to mention the employees' blood group on their ID cards? We have a system where medical reports are to be submitted at the time of joining; however, many times the employees do not know their blood groups. Please help.

Dear nancyspice,

Simply work out the logic. Why is it a practice to note down Blood Group and Emergency Contact No in ID Cards? This is because in case of any unfortunate emergency such as an accident, either in the office or outside the office - people simply search the person's pockets and bags, see the ID, and immediately contact the number given there. Knowing the contact number saves time. Now evaluate what benefit knowing the blood group does in this situation - yes, it saves a life!

Regards,
Shikha

Exactly, Shikha. I am in sync with the logic behind, but the issues are:

Is it mandatory to mention the blood groups on employee ID cards? Secondly, since we do not have a process of submitting medical reports during onboarding, many new hires or even existing employees do not know their blood groups. So, is it okay if the blood group is skipped when employees are not aware of them?

Thank you.

Well said, Singh.

Nancy, I think you have not understood what Shikha Singh wants to reveal. Yes, it's mandatory to mention blood groups on employee ID cards because if your employee meets with an accident and requires blood, the hospital staff can quickly identify their blood group using the ID card. This saves time in two ways - eliminating the need to test the patient's blood group and expediting the process of finding a donor, ultimately saving their life.

When issuing the offer letter, ensure that you inform the candidate to specify their blood group upon joining.

Thanks, Malini. You got what I meant.

Nancy, Ravishank, we are not off track. We are just emphasizing that even though it may not be 'mandatory' by law, it is 'very essential'. Hence, Nancy, please make it mandatory in your organization. You are thinking of skipping it because you are not considering it important enough.

If some employees do not know their blood group, just send out a notice saying that each employee must submit their blood group details by a certain date. ID cards will not be issued to employees not submitting details.

Thanks.

Thank you, Singh. 😛😛😛

Thanks to Ravi too. But Ravi, as Singh said, we are not off-track. Nancy, if you are so concerned about this, then make it a policy in your company that a new employee should submit his/her medical certificate at the time of joining, which states his/her physical fitness as well as his/her blood group. We are doing the same in our company. When we found out that few employees didn't know their blood group and just for the sake of an ID card, they started saying O+ve is their blood group. After this incident, we called all the employees for an HR meeting and emphasized the importance of blood group and other details on the ID card. Awareness is always important. So why don't you do the same?

Dear Shikha and Malini,

I understand the importance and reasons for putting the blood group on the ID card, but I wanted to inquire if it could be omitted in cases where people are not aware of their own blood group. Thank you for informing me that it is not mandatory by law because I would prefer to omit it rather than indicate an incorrect blood group for obvious reasons, as mentioned by Ravishank.