Pre-employment Medical Tests

Pre-employment medical tests are all about an individual’s fitness for duty.  In jobs where employees need certain physical or mental attributes it can be helpful to assess their capacity.

Medical testing can be a useful risk management tool.  Testing can help to minimise legal, insurance and OH&S risks by confirming an employee can safely undertake the required tasks.

However, employers need to be careful.  If you plan to use medical examinations as a pre-employment screening technique, think again.

Pre-employment medical tests must relate specifically to the physical or mental attributes required for the job.  If they are not specific to the job, they may not be legally assessed.

An employer must also ensure facilities are in place to allow applicants with a disability a reasonable chance of meeting the fitness criteria.  Only the essential physical aspects of the job can be examined.  And the test can only look at current ability.  Forget about crystal ball-gazing and making assumptions about a candidate’s propensity to perform in the future.

Similarly, family history or previous illness or injury must not be considered by the medical practitioner or employer.  The examiner can only consider their current fitness to perform the specific aspects of the job.

Pre-employment medical tests can come back to bite the employer at a later date.  Results of a medical become a benchmark of health and fitness prior to commencing employment.  Proving claims of unsafe or unhealthy work practices may be easier for an employee whose health deteriorates down the track.

Medical examinations are a significant cost to employers who deem them necessary.  Each employer – and sometimes individual positions within the organisation – requires a specifically tailored examination structure. 

Employers also require a dedicated medical practitioner to perform the examinations.  Increasingly, such doctors are specialising in the industrial arena and therefore come at a higher price.

If employers are truly committed to the need for pre-employment medical tests, they may also need a program of on-going assessment.  If the job really depends on particular physical or mental attributes then it stands to reason on-going testing should form part of that employer’s OH&S policy.

Employers and medical examiners need to be extremely mindful of the law.  Pre-employment medicals come under the spotlight of two pieces of legislation in particular.  Privacy and anti-discrimination law is complex and costly when broken. 

If employers use medical tests they must ensure all applicants are examined.  They must be committed to assessing capacity to perform the critical physical or mental aspects of the task and not engage in discrimination.  They must also ensure the absolute confidentiality of any information they store.

It is in everyone’s interest to maintain a healthy and productive workforce.  Minimising unhealthy practices or exposure to hazardous conditions should be the priority of all employers.  However, employers must not attempt to use pre employment medical examinations as a vehicle for screening the general health of workers.  Leave that for the life insurer.