Physical Employment Standards (PES) are task or simulation-based activities that represent the demands of a specific job role or occupation. This type of assessment is most often utilized in a “Pre-Employment” or “Return-to-Work” situations where the vocation of an individual is being evaluated by an employer. A PES may be a task simulation for incumbents already possessing the skills required for the essential or critical tasks and/or a predictive “fitness” test for applicants to determine if they have the baseline physical capability to complete the essential or critical job demands safely.
From the employer perspective, it is critical to consider PES since the consequences of employing physically unfit individuals for a physically demanding job can be costly, both in human and economic terms. By instituting PES, an employer can ensure that employees are able to undertake the essential or critical tasks at an agreed upon and acceptable minimum standard of performance. Similarly, PES demonstrate a “duty of care” by decreasing the potential for injury at work and facilitating a selection method that is fair and unbiased, based on ones’ minimum essential ability.
PES assessments have, over recent years’, been developed for many occupations in many industries. However, most employers do not realize that most PES that have been developed to date are in fact NOT legally defendable. Meaning that in a situation where an existing employee fails to meet these standards (i.e. following employee injury or workplace incident), no legal action based on the PES can be taken by the employer. At present, most existing PES merely provide education along with health and/or fitness feedback for the individual being tested.
The frequency by which PES are merely developed from existing standards or information from poorly performed Job Demands analysis’ is very discouraging. Especially since the methodology to develop a defendable PES has been well established in the literature. At Horizon OHS our approach to PES is achieved by simultaneously developing Bona Fide Occupational Requirements (BFOR) and positions us amongst the very few working to develop defendable PES. This means that the resulting BFOR will become the standard for that occupation in the industry and will position our client organization as a developer of best practices for that occupation.
To learn more about PES or to speak with one of our specialist about how the development of PES could benefit your organization, please contact us or download the Bona Fide Occupational Requirement Development White Paper.
