Definition - What does Fitness to Work mean?

Fitness to work refers to the process of assuring that an employee can complete a task safely without presenting a risk to themselves, their colleagues, the company, or a third party. This term is also related with the impact of sickness and absence of employees in order to assess the possibility of having an employee return to work quickly and safely.

SureHire explains Fitness to Work

Fitness to work assesses the capacity of an individual to perform physical and psychological work tasks according to the demands of the job. This demand may be directly associated with a task (e.g. carrying loads) or may be connected with a location that will make an impact on the individual's health. Therefore, fitness to work considers both the task and location of the work to be done in the assessment.

To determine a proper fitness for work evaluation, the basic principles of the process should be considered:

• The program must be based on risk assessment
• The program should aim to match the health and capacity requirements for the position
• All functional capacity or medical examinations should related to the assessment of the task
• Tests should produce consistent and repeatable results
• Tests should consider and apply equally on all personnel required to do the work
• Tests should be legal in the applicable country
• All tests and examinations should be safe

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