Health plays an important part in our ability to work, especially in the case of ongoing health issues that are a constant factor on work capabilities or capacity.
Evaluating whether an employee is fit for work is a sensitive subject, however, and so work health assessments can be a cause of anxiety for both parties involved. Knowing more about what occupational health assessments involve and what it aims to achieve can help with this.
When are work health assessments carried out?
Work health assessments are usually carried out just before an employee begins in the role, following a return to work after extended absence, or when a promotion or new role in the company demands one.
All three of these scenarios could necessitate a check of the employee’s health to determine if there are any potential obstacles or dangers that could arise.
However, in the case of occupational health assessments for new employees, they should only be carried out after a job has been offered and not as part of the interviewing process. This ensures that you stay compliant with anti-discrimination law, which states that questions about health or disabilities are only legal when there are necessary requirements of the job that can’t be met with ‘reasonable adjustments’, you need to find out if the interviewee has to take part in a selection test, or you’re using ‘positive action’ to recruit a disabled person.
Who carries out a work health assessment?
A work health assessment should only be carried out by trained and professional occupational health advisors or nurses – this isn’t something you can do in-house.
It’s essential that assessments are carried out by a specialist with the right knowledge base, a thorough understanding of confidentiality, and impartiality.
Health Assured has a network of physicians across the UK who are able to step in as occupational health advisors for your business and run effective work health assessments.
What should a work health assessment involve?
In order to be properly effective, a work health assessment has to be thorough. A good assessment will involve a detailed conversation between the employee and a trained health professional that results in a report detailing the employee’s ability to work.
What the conversation entails depends on the nature of the role that the employee is being assessed for, and there may be other elements to the assessment such as a physical check-up, if relevant.
The results of a work health assessment can lead on to one of several next steps:
- The employee is declared fit for work and can continue in their role
- There are ‘reasonable adjustments’ that must be made to make the workplace more suitable for them
- Workplace health rehabilitation is required to get the employee back into working condition
Choosing an occupational health provider
Choosing Health Assured as your provider for occupational health assessments means that your employees will receive specialist assessments from trained and experienced experts.
We also offer telephone consultations in most cases, making health assessments convenient.
Contact us today to learn more about how Health Assured can help your business run effective and compliant health assessments.
