Occupational Health Assessments

It is a company’s legal duty to ensure that its workers can perform their work duties without endangering the safety of themselves, their co-workers, the public, and/or the environment.

Pre-Placement and Periodic Occupational Health Assessments

Pre-placement and periodic occupational health assessments can be both mandatory (regulatory requirement) and elective (employer requirement) in nature. These assessments are to be used for health and safety purposes to determine the worker’s fitness and/or ability to safely perform a position’s bona fide occupational requirements (BFORs), and if applicable, assist in any necessary accommodation. This is particularly important under safety-sensitive or labour-intensive working conditions. Diseases or disorders increase the risk for the onset of gradual or sudden incapacitation and must be identified and evaluated.

• Pre-Placement Occupational Health Assessments should be completed post-offer of employment once a conditional offer has been made, preferably in writing. This allows an applicant with a disability the right to be considered exclusively on her or his merits during the selection process. Employers are only entitled to information about the applicant’s ability to perform the essential job duties of the position applied for as well as any restrictions that may limit this ability. This practice helps protect the candidate as well as the employer.

• Periodic Occupational Health Assessments when required by provincial occupational health and safety legislation or at the request of the employer. Typically, periodic medical examinations and/or screening tests are required whenever workers are exposed to hazards in the workplace. Some hazards requiring periodic medical surveillance include (but are not limited to) exposure to noise above 85 dB (varies by jurisdiction), silica, asbestos, coal dust, isocyanates, benzene, lead, and mercury. Periodic assessments must be done at a frequency dictated by provincial legislation and are dependent on what workplace hazards workers are exposed to. DriverCheck can perform the required assessments and testing that fulfills provincial reporting obligations back to the worker, the worker’s primary healthcare practitioner, and to the employer or the employer’s joint health and safety committee.

When evaluating a worker’s fitness for work (also known as fitness for duty), it is important to take into consideration the work, the worker, and the workplace. DriverCheck utilizes a variety of highly trained healthcare professionals to facilitate occupational health assessments while considering the purpose of testing, applicable regulatory requirements, as well as employer preferences. Our roster of healthcare professionals includes Registered Nurses (RNs), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPNs), Registered Practical Nurses (RPNs), Nurse Practitioners (NPs), and Physicians.

All medical documentation is reviewed by DriverCheck’s Occupational Health Team against standard operating procedures prior to releasing fitness for duty conclusions.