Fitness for work means that a person should be in a state which enables them to perform their role competently and in a manner that does not put their health and safety, and that of others at an unacceptable level of risk.
An organisation has a Duty of Care to provide a safe working environment for employees and other persons as far as reasonably practicable. In meeting this Duty an organisation must also consider the possibility of injury or illness which may result from concerns relating to fitness for work and take reasonably practicable steps to protect employees, currently employed or seeking employment, where this risk is, or may, be considered unacceptable.
In other words, while an organisation can take all reasonably practicable steps to prevent work-related injury and illness through the provision of adequate safeguards, on occasions an employee, or potential employee, may have a compromised fitness for work capacity that places them at an unacceptable risk of injury / illness if they were to continue to perform the inherent requirements of their role.
In this InMotion we will explore fitness for work risks and mitigation strategies as well as the key objectives of a fitness for work policy and procedure.