What is a Pre Placement Assessment?
Essentially, it's an Occupational Health assessment and management tool that should form part of any recruitment process. It helps ensure that an employee is fit for work and does not constitute a health hazard to others. Pre-placement Occupational Health Assessments are also designed to identify issues and conditions that could require any ongoing advice, supportive management or adjustments.
Pre-placement means exactly that; these are pre-employment health screenings that should only be undertaken once an offer of employment has been made - or if an employee is changing roles, changing their working locations or even their job responsibility - and can take form in several ways.
Ways to conduct Pre Placement Assessments
It could be an Occupational Health questionnaire that is completed by the employee either online or on paper and is remotely assessed by an Occupational Health Advisor, such as ourselves. It can also be a physical assessment test, where an employee's fitness for work and their medical suitability for the role is assessed. In some cases, it can also be baseline testing, as part of an ongoing Health Surveillance programme where we assess items such as drug & alcohol testing, cholesterol or exposure to vibration - to name but a few.
In some cases, some employees can require further investigation. At UKIM, we provide you with a detailed report on an employee's fitness for work within the assessment. We also make recommendations on fitness to carry out the role of employment along with a set of considerations.
What a Pre-Placement Assessment can help to show
- Early identification of any risks that could prevent an employee from undertaking their new role
- Highlight any adjustments that need to be undertaken to assist an employee in their new role
- Provide any recommendations to reduce any identified or potential risks within the workplace
- Extra protection in accordance with The Equality Act 2010 and UK Health and Safety legislation
- A record of detailed health information. For example, where you have had to conduct a hearing test before exposure to a noise hazard to assess their base level of hearing
- Current and ongoing medical conditions
- Any limitation in the tasks the employee can safely carry out.
At UKIM, our unique Pre Placement Assessment service covers the biopsychosocial capability of prospective employees to undertake their work coupled with our digital occupational health system to ensure all of your future employees are medically compatible with the post of employment.
Do you need to organise Occupational Health assessments for employees new to your business? Talk to our team of trained professionals...
