Fitness for Task Medical Assessments

Kays Medical

Fitness for Task Medical Assessments

Kays Medical offer a wide variety of fitness for task medicals, some of which can be tailored to your operational needs, particularly for complex high-risk or special operational roles. These interventions are usually periodic in nature and can be offered on both Kays and client sites.

Examples include:

All group 1 car drivers must meet certain parameters of fitness to drive as well possessing appropriate visual acuity standards for safe driving on the road. Where employees are driving on behalf of a business there is arguably a responsibility to ensure that the appropriate fitness to drive parameters are being met.

The HSE publication http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/indg382.pdf asks organisations, are your drivers sufficiently fit and healthy to drive safely and not put themselves or others at risk?

Kays medical can provide appropriate DVLA group 1 licence driver fitness for task assurance medicals, whilst there is no legally defined frequency for this type of intervention, Kays medical would be happy to provide an appropriate intervention based around lifestyle risk factors.

The law requires employers to conduct driver medicals to DVLA Group 2 medical standards for Drivers of large goods vehicles (LGV), passenger carrying vehicles (PCV) which are usually vehicles in excess of 7.5 tonnes’ laden weight or minibuses with more than eight seats.

The prescribed frequency for DVLA Group 2 medicals is every five years after the age of 45 until age 65. Any driver wishing to continue after the age of 65 will need to apply for an annual renewal of their licence and provide a satisfactory medical report.

All initial and subsequent Group 2 licence applications require a medical assessment by a registered medical practitioner (recorded on the D4 form).

Kays Medical would also recommend that you refer an employee for an assessment for fitness to drive if they are off work for more than a month, or if they have declared an illness that could affect their driving. If an employee has a medical condition that could affect their ability to drive, or make them a danger, by law they need to tell the DVLA and their employer about it.

The appointment takes approximately 45 minutes and employees receive their results at the end of their appointment

The DVLA does not have responsibility for licensing workplace transport drivers if they do not drive on public roads, however, it is still implicit in health and safety regulation that organisations should assure employees are medically fit to drive and to ensure safe system of works and management systems are in place to ensure that appropriate fitness standards are attained and maintained by employees.

For most work, medical standards equivalent to the DVLA Group 1 requirements will be appropriate. However more stringent standards may be required, for example when work is undertaken in safety critical environments, where operations involve moving highly toxic or explosive materials, working in a particularly demanding environment, working at night or operating large, heavy vehicles. In these instances, some or all of the medical standards equivalent to Group 2 are usually appropriate.

Physical and mental fitness to drive the vehicle or operate plant is usually undertaken on a periodic basis, more often than not dictated by the appropriate organisational risk assessment.

Kays Medical recommend assessment prior to commencement of driving activity at work, after an absence of more than one month or after a shorter absence if it is likely that the illness has affected the worker’s fitness to operate workplace transport. This provides positive confirmation of fitness to operate workplace transport in these circumstances.

If a GP signs a worker off as fit to return to work, this may not be the same as fitness to operate workplace transport. We also recommend assessment if workplace transport operators, or their employers, suspect that they have developed a condition which may affect their continuing ability to operate workplace transport.

Fitness for driving operations in these circumstances does not have to be verified through a GMC registered Doctor, Kays Medical Specialist Occupational Health advisors are able to assure appropriate driving fitness usually in face to face interventions. The driver medical usually takes around 30 mins.

The Civil Aviation Publication (CAP) 790 ‘Requirement for an Airside Driving Permit (ADP) Scheme’ sets out the requirements for Aerodrome operators in relation to driving airside. As with other safety critical environments, the standard requires aerodrome operators to ensure medical fitness for driving in terms of Apron, Manoeuvring and Runway operations and the specific vehicle type.

Here at Kays medical we provide the necessary Medical Assessment required, usually against the DVLA Group 2 licence criteria. We also ensure colour vision capabilities are met.

Most aerodrome operators require the medical to be undertaken every three years.

Kays medical provide a full range of fitness for task medicals associated with driving activities in the workplace.

According to the HSEs HSG 6 publication employees selected to operate lift trucks should be free from physical defects that might pose a threat to their own health or safety or the safety of others who might be affected by their operation of lift trucks. Fitness for operating should always be judged individually.

It is good practice for all operators and potential operators to be screened for fitness before employment and again at regular intervals in middle age. Examination at age 40 and thereafter at five-yearly intervals up to age 65 is recommended. Operators over 65 should be screened annually.

Examination is also recommended in all cases after an accident or sickness absence of more than one month, or after a shorter period if it appears likely that the illness may affect fitness to operate.

Should any operator or employer suspect or become aware of a condition which might affect ability to operate a lift truck, then examination should also take place.

Kays medical as a matter of risk management recommend annual paper-based driver assessment / declarations as an interim measure between formal 5 yearly or post sickness interventions. Kays medical typically apply Group 2 licence medical requirements for FLT driving, particularly in safety critical operations.

Kays Medical can provide the annual Night Worker Medical Assessment required under the Working Time Directive.

The purpose of a Night Worker Health Assessment is to determine whether a worker is fit to undertake the night work to which he/she has been assigned. Also, it is to determine whether the work will have an effect upon the employee’s health. Kays offer either a simple health questionnaire assessment (minimum requirement) or convenient on-site medical assessments (best practice).

Working in a confined space may be hazardous, it is therefore prudent to determine if employees have any medical conditions which may put them at increased risk within this environment or alternatively if they require adjustments to help ensure that any risks are minimised.

A confined space is defined by the HSE as “a place which is substantially enclosed (though not always entirely), and where serious injury can occur from hazardous substances or conditions within the space or nearby (e.g. lack of oxygen)”.

Kays medical undertake an appropriate assessment for such workers. This can be undertaken on both client nominated sites and at Kays clinic sites.

At any time of the day or night, firefighters need to be ready to perform a range of emergency duties to protect the public or a specific population from the dangers of fire and other risks.

These duties can at times involve extreme physical exertion due to the complex interaction of time critical situations, the need to mobilise heavy equipment, extreme environmental temperatures and having to wear thermally insulating personal protective equipment. Each of these factors combine to increase the demands placed upon the body, in particular the muscular-skeletal and cardio-respiratory systems.

Clearly fire fighters need to be physically, psychologically and medically fit for such duties. Kays Medical provide medical fitness assessments for both new entrants and established fire fighters in a range of occupational settings including aerodromes.

Within the medical assessment process an appropriate fitness test element can also be provided against the risk assessment / criteria set by the employer.

Police officer Entrant / Firearms / Taser Medicals – Kays medical have experience delivering recruitment and periodic Police Officer medicals, aiding to ensure new Police recruits and established officers are physically and psychologically fit for the challenging role of Police officer.

All new Police Officer entrants require a Police Officer Medical. Whilst there is no national prescription for periodic ongoing assessment, Kays Medical have experience providing periodic medicals every 3 years for established officers, with a focus on ensuring that are fit for role particularly for duties such as response driving.

Medicals for specialist Police officer roles can also be undertaken. Authorised Firearms Officers face significant physical and psychological challenges on an ongoing basis in their roles. It is essential that they are physically and psychologically resilient for tough assignments. Kays Medical have experience in examining new entrant and established authorised fire arms officers to the prescribed NPCC Medical standards.

Usually AFO medicals are undertaken annually and through agreement with the appropriate Law Enforcement agency / Police force. AFO medicals would not usually entail completion of the appropriate fitness test. Colour vision screening would normally be assessed as a matter of procedure.

Working at height (WAH) encompasses a wide variety of activities that may pose significant potential risks to the worker particularly if they have underlying health disorder impacting, balance, grip strength, underlying fitness or predisposing to sudden incapacity.

WAH includes working on pylons, with scaffolding, using rope access equipment, work on rooves, plant, equipment, use of ladders and step ladders, cherry pickers, scissor lifts, MEWPS, accessing tower cranes. People who work at height typically include Industrial Abseilers, Riggers, Rooftop workers, telecoms engineers and wind turbine workers.

Kays Medical can provide the Working at Height Medical necessary to help assure fitness to the appropriate work environment. The WAH intervention is typically designed to detect and assess any medical conditions that may compromise safety by creating a risk of falling. The intervention also reviews sudden incapacity risk that may require rescue, in addition it helps assure necessary capability for regular climbing of vertical ladders and for working in hot and/or confined spaces. Extra tests that are working at height specific such as cardiovascular, and agility screening can be included where identified in relevant job needs analysis / workplace risk assessment.

A Safety Critical Worker (SCW) within the Construction Industry Standard is defined as “Where the ill health of an individual may compromise their ability to undertake a task defined as safety critical, thereby posing a significant risk to the health and safety of others”.

Candidates shall not be suffering from medical conditions, or be taking medical treatment likely to cause, sudden loss of consciousness, impairment of awareness or concentration, sudden incapacity, impairment of balance or co-ordination, significant limitation of mobility.

Such medicals are typically undertaken every 2 – 3 years depending on the employers’ risk assessment. Interventions may and may not include health surveillance and new starter elements, plus drug and alcohol testing.

Kays Medical can undertake the necessary intervention either on site or at their own office locations. Where necessary medical outcomes can be uploaded to the appropriate constructing better health database.

People who work around open food while suffering from certain infections (mainly from bacteria and viruses) can contaminate the food or surfaces the food may come into contact with. This can spread infection to other people through the food. These people are often referred to as food handlers.

Under the Food Safety Act there is duty to ensure that food handlers are not suffering from, or are a carrier of a disease likely to be transmitted through food. For example, they have infected wounds, skin infections, sores or diarrhoea.

In such cases these individuals must not be permitted to handle food or enter any food-handling area in any capacity if there is any likelihood of direct or indirect contamination.

Kays medical can help any food business conduct appropriate medical checks designed to ensure employees are fit to handle food on both a periodic and urgent referral basis i.e. following sickness / absence, especially with evidence of an infective process. https://www.food.gov.uk/sites/default/files/media/document/fitnesstoworkguide.pdf

Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is the application of measurement techniques in order to identify damage and irregularities in materials. NDT often provides the only method of obtaining information about the current ‘health’ of process plant. If done well, NDT can provide useful information to assist in the management of plant safety. If inappropriate NDT is applied or NDT is not applied correctly, then the results are likely to give a false impression of the integrity and safety of the plant.

Most NDT techniques require the operators to have good eyesight, particularly near vision. There is recommendation to have visual acuity checked annually. Kays Medical can undertake the necessary visual acuity capability assessment.

If an employer has employees whose colour vision is important for safety-critical purposes, then colour vision testing is crucial in deciding on their fitness for work.

However, in companies where colour vision needs are not associated with safety-critical systems but with product quality, colour vision testing may also prove valuable to avoid costly errors. The differentiation of colour may be a particular requirement of some workplace roles for safety critical purposes e.g. electricians.

Kays medical can provide a variety of colour vision assessments for various workplace applications including the Ishihara plate test, City University test, and the lantern test.

All seafarers must be fit for the job they undertake at sea including during emergencies in accordance with Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) Medical Guidelines.

An ML5 seafarer medical fitness certificate is required when you are:

• The master of a passenger ship that doesn’t go to sea (Class IV or V).
• The master of a commercial vessel that doesn’t go to sea.
• The master or a crew member of a small commercial vessel certificated for Area Category 2 to 6 (no more than 60 miles from a safe haven).
• A crew member or anyone else (e.g. catering staff) who normally works on a domestic passenger ship (Class VI or VIA) that goes to sea.

Kays Medical are able to undertake the appropriate medical at the Liverpool Head Office location and potentially via their associate network at other 3rd party hub locations.

The ML5 is valid for a maximum 5 years from the date of issue or up until the 65th birthday, whichever comes soonest. Over 65 years of age the medical must be completed annually.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/seafarers-medical-certification-guidance

It is Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) policy that all persons working offshore shall be examined periodically and classified as medically fit to work in the offshore environment.

There are specific medical guidelines that set out good practice for assessing the health of those working or intending to work offshore in the UK. The guidelines reflect the approach which assesses the risk a candidate with an underlying medical condition may pose either to themselves or to others.

The guide includes supplementary criteria for assessing the fitness of personnel to undertake in-water EBS training and forms for recording the outcome.

PTS is a system of safer working practices employed within the UK that is designed to ensure the safety of railway workers who are going to work on or near the line. The PTS Courses (which is where any rail maintenance career begins) can only be attended after the successful completion of the PTS Medical and a Drug & Alcohol Test.

These tests are the requirements of Network Rail for obvious safety reasons and are compulsory. A valid PTS Medical and PTS Drug & Alcohol are required throughout your entire rail career.

Kays Medical are equipped to provide the PTS medical at a variety of hub locations plus remotely at requested venues.

When you embark on your chosen rail career, you will be issued with a smartcard, which links you to your account on the Network Rail online database – which is known as Sentinel – which holds details of the holders’ PTS Medical, Drug & Alcohol status and any training courses that have been successfully completed. The PTS medical lasts up to 10 years age dependent.

The medical assessment for PTS certificates must be undertaken by an accredited medical provider who is authorised by “RISQS” under the authority of Network Rail.

Contact Us