Worksite Assessment and Analysis
- Worksite Assessment
- Ergonomic Assessment
- Job Dictionaries
- Job Analysis
- Manual Handling Risk Assessment
Worksite Assessment
This assessment analyses the physical demands of a job, and assesses the physical environment where the job is performed. As trained therapists, we can assess the effect of a task on a worker’s injury, and where necessary liaise with treating health professionals. It is recommended when an injured worker is experiencing difficulty coping with a return to work following an injury, or when the essential job demands of a task are in question prior to establishing a return to work program. The assessment is summarised in a comprehensive report, linking the findings back to the worker involved.
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Ergonomic Assessment
Industry is moving year-by-year from manual tasks to computer-based workstations. While this has been evident in white-collar jobs for decades, increasingly manual industrial jobs are changing to ‘machine-operator’ jobs, which are predominantly sedentary. In a computer-based environment, workstation design is the single biggest factor in determining musculoskeletal health.
As treating therapists, we recognise that identifying and correcting flaws in workstation design can reduce stiffness, soreness and injuries. Ergonomic Assessments are a quick and efficient way of reducing design-related injury risks in a computer-based workplace. As well as identifying structural issues with a workstation, we can provide employees with on-site behavioural advice regarding posture and exercise.
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Job Dictionaries
Job Dictionaries (also known as Job Libraries or Job Banks) are an increasingly popular way of documenting the physical stresses involved with every job performed on a worksite. By identifying and describing the stresses on each part of the body during each part of a job, a workplace can more effectively match the physical abilities of their workers to the physical demands of their jobs. This can be valuable during initial job placement, but also during return-to-work planning following injury.
During return-to-work planning, the same cross-referencing can identify tasks that will allow for the effective rehabilitation of injured workers. This can be particularly effective when liaising with treating Medical Professionals, as the Job Dictionary acts as a user-friendly guide to the specific working environment. Often treating Medical Professionals prescribe work restrictions or return-to-work plans without a full knowledge of the workplace the injured worker is returning to. The Job Dictionary immediately improves this familiarity, allowing more specific and effective return-to-work programs.
Job Dictionaries can also be used as an effective way to induct new employees into their new jobs, by describing the demands of each task before the employee starts.
Traditional Job Dictionaries have consisted of large volumes of written materials detailing all aspects of each job, including weights lifted, distances reached, heights of work surfaces, characteristics of tools, psychosocial interactions, length of task cycle and many other variables. Traditional Job Dictionaries, in addition to the written details, also provide a number of still pictures of the described task. While these documents effectively detail every aspect of every job, their sheer volume has made them less than user-friendly. It is difficult to envisage a rehabilitation provider or an employee reading through such a large document in order to understand the stresses involved.
Smart Health has addressed this problem by designing Video–Based Job Dictionaries. By filming each task on a worksite, we are able to demonstrate the stresses involved in each task in real time, giving a more accurate and user-friendly demonstration of each job. By using Dartfish, a specialized video analysis software package, specific elements of each task can be highlighted and described during the video clip, including joint angles, task duration and risk-associated postures and movements.
Video footage and video analysis can be incorporated into any level of Job Dictionary to enhance its effectiveness and versatility. Even if you have already compiled a written bank of job descriptions, adding video analysis can improve outcomes both in job matching and return-to-work planning.
Please click here to view a sample of Video Job Analysis
While Job Dictionaries describe every task on a worksite, Job Analyses take the same approach to individual jobs. This can be particularly useful during return-to-work planning, where an injured worker’s functional abilities must be matched with the demands of certain jobs, to provide work hardening without re-aggravation.
Smart Health have taken the strengths of traditional Job Analyses and bolstered them with the inclusion of video footage. Video Job Analysis (vJA) shows an entire job cycle in video, edited to highlight potential areas of stress or risk. The incorporation of video footage, combined with the traditional analysis of Critical Physical Demands, gives the clearest possible picture of the demands of the jobs being assessed.
This type of analysis is particularly useful in return-to-work planning when combined with an FCE. The FCE gives an accurate description of functional abilities, which can then be matched to the job demands described in the Job Analysis. This combination can be particularly powerful where a question of work capacity is raised, for example in front of a Medical Panel.
Please click here to view a sample of Video Job Analysis
Manual Handling Risk Assessment
This form of assessment is briefer than the analysis described above, and is recommended by the Australian Safety & Compensation Council (ASCC) as a way of identifying and modifying manual handling risks in the workplace. It involves a comprehensive checklist analysis of the physical stresses of a job, allowing a workplace to identify areas requiring attention.
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