Employees and Workplace
Pre-Employment Medical Assessments
Pre-employment medical assessments are essential for successful recruitment and workplace risk management. As a potential employer, you can identify any health issues that may affect a candidate’s ability to safely perform the job for which they are being considered. Following the assessment by an experienced medical practitioner, you will be supplied with a report detailing the candidate’s medical history, clinical examination findings and whether any specific restrictions will need to be applied to the position.
Tailored to you
CHG’s pre-employment medical assessments are available at any of our three locations in Elizabeth Vale, Gillman and Mile End. Regional contractors can be arranged to suit your location. Each assessment will be tailored specifically to your job requirements.
Common options include:
- Detailed occupational and medical history
- Multi-system examination including musculoskeletal, cardiovascular and respiratory
- Urine drug screening
- Audiometry (hearing)
- Spirometry (lung function)
- Visual screening
- Electrocardiography (ECG)
Pre-Employment Psychological Screenings
Pre-employment psychological screenings can help you, as a potential employer, ensure your candidate is the best fit for the role. We also offer return to work suitability assessments, conducted in accordance with equal opportunity legislation, to screen for disorders such as depression, anxiety or personality disorders. Pre-employment psychological screenings can be integrated into medical and functional assessments to help you gain a more complete view of your candidates beyond their physical capabilities.
Tailored to you
CHG’s pre-employment psychological screenings are available at any of our three locations in Elizabeth Vale, Gillman and Mile End. Regional contractors can be arranged to suit your location. Our team will design a psychological assessment that identifies if your candidate has the right personal attributes and skills to succeed in your specific position.
Our screenings can assess:
- Intelligence (numeracy and literacy)
- Emotional intelligence
- Personality traits
- Aptitudes and skills
- Problem solving skills
- Leadership and communication styles
- Adaptability
Pre-Employment Functional Assessments
Pre-employment functional assessments measure your candidate’s ability to meet the physical demands of a job. Using state-of-the-art functional testing equipment known as BTE-ER, we help you understand your candidate’s carrying and lifting capacities, static strength of specific body parts, and their full-body range of motion. This screening can be conducted independently or in conjunction with a medical assessment .
Tailored to you
CHG’s pre-employment functional assessment can be conducted at any of our three locations in Elizabeth Vale, Gillman and Mile End. Regional contractors can be arranged to suit your location. Each assessment is tailored to the specific physical demands of the job you are recruiting for. A detailed job analysis is undertaken by CHG to ensure we understand the work requirements to accurately test a candidate’s suitability and recommend the best option for you.
Common options are:
• Clinical assessment (30 minutes)
• Functional capacity evaluation (45 minutes)
• Long functional capacity evaluation (60 minutes)
Job Analysis
A job analysis objectively assesses the physical, psychological, cognitive, and environmental demands of specific work tasks. CHG typically undertake a job analysis when the physical or psychological demands of a job are unknown, or when it is unclear which workplace duties are suitable for a specific employee.
Develop a job dictionary
Through a job analysis, CHG can help you develop a job dictionary: a compilation of the physical or psychological demands of all positions within your organisation. This can be used to develop effective injury prevention and management programs. CHG job dictionaries are easy to understand, with photographs from your workplace that clearly illustrate relevant work procedures.
Prevent injuries and minimise risk
The CHG therapist conducting the assessment will provide a report containing recommendations to, where relevant:
- Modify tasks or task procedures
- Purchase/install aids or equipment
- Develop a graduated return to work program for a specific injured employee
Ergonomic Assessments
CHG can provide you with specialised services in physical ergonomics, to assess how employees physically interact with their work environment and tasks. With this information, our team of ergonomists can identify potential problems and recommend practical solutions to optimise you or your team’s wellbeing and performance.
Specialist areas include:
- Working postures
- Materials handling
- Repetitive movements
- Work-related musculoskeletal disorders
- Workplace layout
- Safety and health
Tailored to you
Our team of ergonomists perform assessments and subsequent training tailored to your specific onsite requirements, maximising the effectiveness of your team and minimising injury risks.
Service options include:
- Equipment analysis to identify causes or risks of musculoskeletal problems
- Identification of injury risk factors within work systems
- Medico-legal ergonomic assessments
- Manual handling solutions
- Workstation assessments (see below)
- Office ergonomics group training and train-the-trainer presentations
- Prescription of correct seating
Workstation Assessments
The continuous evolution of technology allows us to perform more and more of our office-based tasks from our desks, making us sit for longer periods and hold continuous static positions. Two major causes of aches, pains and injury while at your desk are as a result of:
- Doing the same thing too often with a part of your body (repetitive)
- Holding the same position for too long with a part of your body (static)
Ensuring your office workstations are ergonomically sound can maximise productivity and comfort, while minimising the risk of injury in sedentary jobs. CHG can help you promote and improve working postures of your computer-based office employees with a holistic workstation assessment. Our team of ergonomists will review the physical, cognitive, social, organisational and environmental factors impacting your workstations and provide recommendations for improvements.
We can also provide basic workstation assessor training tailored to your requirements at your workplace.
Noise Surveys
Please see Audiometry Assessments below.
Drug and Alcohol Dependency Assessments (Registrar of Motor Vehicles)
CHG has been approved by the South Australian Government to conduct assessments of drug and alcohol dependency for the purposes of driver licensing. It is the decision of the Licensing Registrar at the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure (Registration and Licensing) to request an assessment. If the Registrar requests an assessment, booking and payment is the responsibility of the individual .
What is involved in a drug and alcohol dependency assessment?
The assessment process is conducted in accordance with the assessment guidelines developed by Drug and Alcohol Services of South Australia (DASSA).
It includes the following:
• Testing related to alcohol or drug assessments, which may include a breathalyser, blood test or urine drug screen
• An assessment by a registered nurse
• A medical examination by a medical practitioner
How long does it take to get my result?
A determination of dependency status takes approximately two weeks (from the appointment date) to process, upon which the Registrar of Motor Vehicles is notified of the outcome. You will also receive a copy of the assessment outcome.
Booking in for an assessment
Drug and alcohol dependency assessments are conducted at our location in Mile End. Bookings are essential. Once payment is received and a booking is made, a confirmation letter will be provided to you detailing where you need to go for your assessment and what you need to bring.
Please note: CHG is a private enterprise and is not a government department. It is your choice to undertake the assessment.
Click here to learn more about Drug and Alcohol Awareness, Screening and Management.
Functional Capacity Assessments
A functional capacity assessment involves a series of standardised tests to evaluate a candidate/employee’s physical capacity for work. Using state-of-the-art functional testing equipment known as BTE-ER, we help you understand your candidate/employee’s carrying, lifting and work demand capacities, static strength of specific body parts, and their full-body range of motion.
Tailored to you
CHG’s functional capacity assessments can be conducted at any of our three locations in Elizabeth Vale, Gillman and Mile End. Regional contractors can be arranged to suit your location. Each assessment is tailored to determine a candidate/employee’s abilities specific to their job to ensure they are suitable for a position, or to facilitate functional recovery.
Employers typically utilise functional capacity assessments for the following:
- During recruitment, to determine a candidate’s ability to perform the work
- Throughout employment, to evaluate the employee’s ongoing suitability to the physical demands of their work
- Post injury, to identify an employee’s capacity
- Throughout rehabilitation, to evaluate the progress of an injured employee and inform their return to work plan/return to normal duties
Psychology (Specialised Psychological Assessments)
With an understanding of the potential impact that mental health issues can have on daily life, CHG’s psychology services can help promote and improve your psychological wellbeing. Additionally, CHG understand that recovering from an injury is about more than the physical impact; addressing personal, emotional and industrial factors, while also managing pain, is a major part of rehabilitation.
Specialised Psychological Assessments
Psychological assessments gather relevant, objective information about an employee’s behaviour, personality and capabilities to assist in the management of work-related injuries, or in response to psychological trauma. All assessments begin with a review of available clinical records and a structured clinical interview regarding medical and personal history.
Our psychologists can make assessments specific to your unique situation, including:
- Assistance with providing a diagnosis
- Evaluating the level of dysfunction associated with a diagnosis
- Determining appropriate treatment options
- Assessing treatment outcomes
- Assessing high or low functioning areas
- Identifying suitable employment options or factors that should be considered in employment
- Assessing psychological fitness for work, including return to work suitability
- Determining whether an employee is a risk to themselves or others
- Identifying vocational interests and abilities
- Assessing personality and intelligence
Upon assessment, CHG’s team of qualified psychologists can provide specialised clinical treatment to assist with a range of individual and workplace needs, including:
Post-injury care and recovery (including post-traumatic stress and pain management)
- Occupational stress and stress management
- Anger management
- Bullying and harassment
- Depression and anxiety
- Fears and phobias
- Drug and alcohol use/abuse
- Family violence and relationship issues
- Counselling
- Critical incident response
- Employee Assistance Programs and Manager Assist Programs
Fitness for Work Assessments
Employers have a duty to provide a safe workplace, with safe systems and procedures. To achieve this, reasonable steps must be taken to ensure all employees are fit for work to minimise any risk to themselves or others.
Fitness for work assessments can assist in this process, helping to determine:
- If an employee with a non-work-related injury or illness can safely perform their role
- On a periodic basis, if an employee is medically and/or physically fit to safely and sustainably carry out their duties
- If an employee is physically and psychologically able to perform their tasks in a manner which does not compromise their safety of the safety of others
- If an employee is affected by drugs or alcohol
Tailored to your needs
CHG’s fitness for work assessment can be conducted at any of our three locations in Elizabeth Vale, Gillman and Mile End. Regional contractors can be arranged to suit your location. Our team of specialists will ensure that the assessment is tailored to determine your employee’s fitness for work specific to their job duties.
Assessment options include:
- Consultation with a medical practitioner or occupational physician
- Functional capacity assessment
- Psychological assessment
- Drug and alcohol assessment
- Multidisciplinary assessment
Executive Health Assessments
For more information click here.
Employee Health Assessments
For more information click here.
Vocational Assessments
Identifying suitable employment and developing realistic occupational goals can help you, or your employee, to find or return to meaningful work. Even with the best treatment and injury management, not all employees are able to return to the same job or workplace following an incident. CHG’s team of psychologists have extensive experience in conducting vocational assessments to identify potential job options in these situations, or to help job seekers find a suitable position.
Tailored to you
Assessments are unique to each situation and can include:
- Clinical evaluations, including interviews
- Evaluation of training or re-training requirements and options
- Review of the employee in terms of:
o Physical, functional and work capacity
o Personal, vocational and educational history
o Cognitive ability and intelligence
o Aptitude
o Competencies
o Work values and motivation
o Job interests or preferences
Written reports to assist your decision-making
A summative report is provided following the assessment, which:
- Outlines vocational options most suited to the employee
- Notes any personal attributes or clinical findings that may impact on the employment process
- Takes into consideration the availability of the recommended positions, including retraining needs and labour market conditions
Independent Medical Examination
CHG has an experienced team of occupational physicians who examine injured individuals and provide independent advice regarding their health status. Our physicians can provide independent expert assessments for return to work, medico-legal and motor vehicle accident claims. We can offer expertise in the wider context of psychosocial, occupational and industrial frameworks.
An independent medical examination (IME) can be performed on its own or as part of an interdisciplinary evaluation, depending on the requirement. IMEs can include the assessment of:
- Occupational medical issues
- Functional capacity
- Activities of daily living
- Reported injuries and disabilities
- An employee’s fitness to perform certain work duties
- The impact an employee’s job role has on their medical condition
- An employee’s capacity for work
- Appropriateness of current treatment
- Recommendations for future treatment
Spirometry (Lung Function) Assessments
Exposure to dust particles, smoke, asbestos and other airborne substances may affect you or your employees’ lung capacity. Likewise, certain pre-existing respiratory conditions may impact a candidate’s ability to safely perform a job. That’s why spirometry assessments (measuring of lung function) are an important part of both pre-employment medical screenings and ongoing personal or employee health monitoring.
Tailored to you
CHG’s spirometry assessments measure the amount (volume) and speed (flow) of air that can be exhaled from the lungs, specific to an individual’s gender, height, age and race. The assessments can be used in establishing baseline respiratory function, monitoring lung function changes over time and diagnosing respiratory conditions. Our spirometry assessments can be conducted at any of our three locations in Elizabeth Vale, Gillman and Mile End, or onsite at your workplace if larger scale screenings are required.
Audiometry (Hearing) Assessments
Long-term exposure to excessive noise can cause permanent damage. Hearing loss remains the most compensated work-related disability in Australia. CHG provides advice to help you manage your noise risk, prevent hearing loss, and measure and monitor you or your employees’ hearing. Our testing, monitoring and management of hearing is overseen by our experienced audiometrists and can be tailored to your needs.
Service options include:
- Noise surveys
- Pre-employment audiometry assessments to establish a baseline level of hearing
- Annual or biennial screening
- Hearing conservation programs
- Tympanometry assessments
- Hearing compensation assessments for noise induced hearing loss evaluation
- Testing specific to licence requirements
- Noise trauma counselling emergency service for sudden noise exposure or acoustic trauma
Audiometry Assessments
Pre-employment audiometry assessment
Establishing a baseline level of hearing is an important step in limiting liability for possible future hearing loss claims. If a loss is indicated, further testing will be performed, and a percentage of hearing loss calculated. These assessments can be included in our standard pre-employment medicals at any of our CHG locations.
Screening audiometry assessment
This is a basic hearing assessment used to give an overall indication of you or your employees’ hearing status. Where a loss of hearing is indicated, our trained specialists can conduct further testing to accurately calculate the percentage of loss. This screening is available at any of our CHG locations or can be arranged onsite as part of a broader employee health assessment.
Noise Surveys
CHG’s noise surveys can identify noise hazards and determine any risks to your employees’ hearing, enabling us to recommend specific solutions and advice for your workplace. It is a mandatory requirement for workplaces to review noise levels at or above 90 decibels and is recommended if levels exceed 85 decibels. Our qualified Noise Control Officer can take samples of noise from all areas using a sound level meter.
Beginning with an initial walkthrough, they will identify ambient noise levels exceeding 80 decibels. If noise levels are 80 decibels or higher, they will recommend that a more extensive and detailed noise survey be performed. The results and analysis of the noise survey are reported back to you with recommendations. CHG’s noise surveys can be paired with the above audiometry assessments to ensure a comprehensive hearing conservation program is established and sustained in your workplace.
Our CHG Noise Control Officer can:
- Identify noise hazards
- Conduct noise assessments
- Identify operational improvements
- Recommend personal hearing protection
- Recommend management action and risk mitigation measures
CHG recommends you consider undertaking a noise survey if your workplace:
- Wants to improve noise management
- Requires benchmark data about noise levels
- Has recently installed new equipment or extended floor space
- Has received any complaints about noise from employees or neighbours
- Wishes to increase noise awareness and provide instruction to employees about ear protection
Skin Cancer Screening
For more information click here.
Activities of Daily Living
The purpose of an Activities of Daily Living assessment (ADL) is to evaluate an individual/employee’s ability to undertake routine, self-care tasks. This evaluation aims to reduce the impact of an injury on an individual/employee, by facilitating their return to normal activity as early as possible. An ADL can also provide employers with an indicator of an employee’s functional capability, to determine their work capacity. ADL assessments are conducted by CHG’s experienced physiotherapists and occupational therapists, typically in the individual/employee’s home.
When is an ADL assessment needed?
An ADL assessment may be required:
- After an individual/employee has suffered a serious injury
- If an individual/employee is struggling to maintain their independence because of their injury
- If there is a risk that an individual/employee’s everyday activities may aggravate their injury
- To plan for an individual/employee’s return home following major surgery
Assist and inform the rehabilitation process
As a part of the Activities of Daily Living assessment, the evaluating therapist can:
- Determine the level of functioning related to personal care, recreational and social activities
- Educate the individual/employee on how to safely perform particular tasks
- Assist increasing functional ability through a graduated home activity program
- Offer recommendations for any equipment or appliances that will assist with daily tasks
- Evaluate whether housing modifications are necessary
Objective assessments for use in legal proceedings
CHG’s multidisciplinary team can compile expert reports to be used in legal proceedings related to the individual/employee’s condition, including in instances related to an individual/employees compensation or motor vehicle accidents (e.g. comprehensive third-party insurance).
Permanent Impairment
Permanent Impairment Assessments (PIA) evaluate whether n individual/employee’s injury has resulted in a permanent impairment, and if so, to what extent.
Evaluate the degree of whole person impairment
If an individual/employee has a permanent impairment resulting from an accident or injury, their compensation case must be reviewed by an accredited impairment assessor. Impairment assessors are medical practitioners who assess injured individual/employees and prepare reports as detailed below. A referral to an impairment assessor is usually made once the injury has stabilised.
CHG PIA reports will outline:
- Whether the injury has reached maximum medical improvement
- Whether the individual/employee’s injury has resulted in an impairment
- Whether the impairment is permanent
- The degree of whole person impairment resulting from the injury
Accredited assessment and reporting
CHG’s occupational physicians and pain management specialists are accredited by ReturnToWorkSA to undertake PIAs. The PIA and report are performed in line with the South Australian Government Return to Work Scheme Impairment Assessment Guidelines, and/or the Injury Scale Value (ISV) for motor vehicle accident claims.