Meaningful Occupational Health Assessments: A Guide for a Healthy Workplace

Occupational Health Assessments are crucial for ensuring a safe and successful return to work process. But how do we ensure these assessments are truly meaningful and helpful for the rehab team, worker and workplace?

This blog post will provide insights based on a presentation at the 2025 Occupational Health Physiotherapy Symposium by Gemma Newburn, an Occupational Health Physiotherapist and Managing Director of Injury Doc NZ.

The Quality Occupational Health Assessment: Worker Focused

A quality assessment requires both purpose and context. Don’t just look at what someone can’t do; focus on:

1. Function in Relation to the Job: How does an individual’s ability (or limitation) impact their capacity to perform specific job tasks?
2. What They CAN Do: Focus on abilities and functions they have while considering safety and worker restrictions. These functions or reductions in function can then accurately inform restrictions
3. Tolerances and Restrictions: Identify and clearly document any time-based restrictions or maximal tolerances to certain postures or activities. Identifying the nature of any restrictions or what is causing the restrictions eg: pain, range of motion, weakness, stiffness, coordination, fatigue. Identifying an estimated time frame for any restrictions is also very important for injury management and workplace planning

Assessing a Workers Function: Context is Key

For a truly effective assessment, ensure to consider the following:

• • Context: Understand the purpose of the assessment and relevant background circumstances before you start.
  • History: Review current issues, past injuries, occupational history, and psychosocial factors. Differentiate between injury and non-injury related factors
  • Safety: ensure explanation and consent process is thorough, Always undertake your own risk assessment prior to beginning any physical testing. Consider healing timeframes, pain irritability and other psychosocial factors such as fear or workplace relationships.
  • Reporting: Maintain professional language, clarity, and differentiate facts from subjective client reports.

Assessing Work Demands

When assessing work demands rather than a specific worker, keep the following in mind:

• Be clear about the goals of the assessment and ensure a shared understanding of terminology
• Ensure you have researched the site and prepared for the assessment
• Consider cognitive, social, and physical demands; environmental conditions; and machinery/tools. These can be identified through meetings and interviews with knowledgeable people in the business
• Onsite Observation & Data Collection: Quantify physical demands like weight, force, frequency, duration, and distance. Document and recording focus

Work Task Assessment: Read Easy Reporting

When reporting your findings, following this order provides a clear summary with details then expanded on as appropriate:

1. Role details (hours, schedule)
2. Role overview (purpose)
3. Essential vs nonessential tasks breakdown
4. Environmental factors
5. Machinery/tools/PPE details
6. Cognitive and social demands
7. Task demand details

By following these guidelines, Occupational Health Assessments can be more meaningful and consistent.

For further information on work task assessments and how functional job descriptions improve workplace injury management feel free to reach out to gemma@injurydoc.nz.

If you would like a complimentary assessment template visit our website resources page to download a copy (click here)