Why Organizations Should Utilize Physical Abilities Testing

Worker lifting a box onto a shelf at shoulder height

  • Strains and sprains caused by overexertion are the most common workplace injuries

  • Physical abilities testing can determine a worker’s current fitness to perform their employment duties, reducing the risk of occupational injury

  • Only the essential physical abilities required for the job are assessed, safely and efficiently, by qualified professionals in a clinical setting

The most common injuries sustained at Canadian workplaces are strains and sprains, comprising half of all serious occupational injuries. About 70 percent of disabling injuries are caused by sprains, strains, and wounds, and 1 in 10 workers will experience a Repetitive Strain Injury. While these injuries are costly and affect an employee's physical health, they may also impact the psychological well-being of the worker and their colleagues. This may result in prolonged disability even if the employee has recovered from the physical injury.

Employers have a legal responsibility to protect their employees from occupational risks. In addition to identifying, eliminating, or mitigating risks in the workplace, employers should ensure their worker’s fitness or medical suitability to perform job-related tasks. This can be achieved through a Physical Abilities Test (PAT), which safely mimics the essential physical requirements of the job in a clinical setting to objectively measure an individual’s physical abilities. While PATs are most often administered post-offer/pre-placement, they can also be performed when an employee returns to work after recovering from an injury, or if an employee is transitioning into another role, within the same company, which has different essential duties (also known as bona fide occupational requirements, or BFORs).

Before a PAT can be performed, a Physical Demands Analysis (PDA) is required to determine the BFORs of the specific role. This involves a comprehensive review by a qualified professional to identify essential job functions such as manual handling, dexterity, and positional and mobility demands and outlines physical demand characteristics of work such as strength, frequency, and sustained duration required to perform specific job tasks during a workday. A detailed report will inform the custom physical abilities testing protocol.

Testing protocols based on job-specific PDAs ensure that only physical abilities required for the job are assessed which makes them legally defensible. This is important as PATs can disqualify applicants or prevent employees from performing certain duties. For example, a PAT should not evaluate an employee’s ability to climb stairs if their job does not require it.

PATs can leverage computerized technology programmed to simulate specific tasks, or standard functional testing equipment, such as weights, ladders, or stairs. Tests can include lifting, pushing, carrying, gripping, climbing, and back exercises to measure balance, flexibility, and cardiovascular and/or muscular endurance.

PATs are instrumental in assisting employers in safely placing employees in the right role which may assist in the reduction of occupational injury. At DC, we help employers protect the health of their employees, offering fitness-for-duty assessments including PATs, medicals, audiometric testing, mask fit-testing, PDA development, and vaccinations.

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ABOUT DC

As Canada’s fitness for duty experts, DC’s top priority is the safety of your staff and workplace. Our company-wide goal is to build a safer and healthier world. Founded in 1996, DC is the leading provider of workplace medical testing and assessments in the country serving over 6,400 employers in a variety of industries including transportation, oil & gas, aviation, rail, mining, construction, healthcare, manufacturing, and forestry. DC conducts hundreds of thousands of medical tests annually, offering alcohol and drug testing, COVID-19 testing, occupational health services, medical cannabis review services, medical staffing, and injury management programs. We are constantly striving to be viewed as the educational leader in the fitness for duty sector.