Safety Tidbit 3.05 - Pre-Employment Physicals

Safety Tidbit 3.05 – Pre-Employment Physicals

Reference:       OSHA Occupational Medicine Webpage

(https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/medicalsurveillance/)

Once you decide it’s time to hire a new employee (replacement, new commitments, expansion), you must protect them. However, you also need to protect your company. I remember my boss telling me in my early days as a consultant: “We don’t want everybody as our client.” This is the case for various reasons: they are vague at explaining the scope, they increase demands once the job has started, or the client just doesn’t pay their bills in a timely fashion. Similarly, as an employer, you need to be selective of your candidates. It’s not just enough to find someone technically competent to do the job; you need to ascertain if they are physically able to perform the work and that they do not have a condition that may be exacerbated by the working conditions.

Medical screening (pre-employment physical) is part of a comprehensive medical surveillance program. The fundamental purpose of screening is early diagnosis and treatment of the individual. A pre-employment physical can save your company in the long run. The physical ensures the employee can perform the tasks necessary to do the job for which they are being hired to do and is not bringing latent physical conditions, a latent physical condition that might take them out of the workplace sometime in the future and most likely at the least opportune time. Obviously having the knowledge ahead of time, based on medical standards, helps to catch those people who maybe haven’t been forthcoming with information because they need a job. It also gives you an impartial means to screen out candidates that might cost your company in future workers’ compensation costs.

Work with an occupational medicine provider to create a custom physical for your business so that you get not only the best quality employees but also a sound knowledge of their health at the start of their employment with your company. Afterall, you hope that your employees will be working with you for a long time.

Hope this was helpful and thanks for reading my Safety Tidbits! Comments and questions are always welcome. ~ Bryan

P.S. If you have an interesting safety or health question please let me know.