Fitness for work, assessed against the actual work.

Fitness for work is a person’s capacity to perform the inherent requirements of their role safely, physically and psychologically, without risk to themselves or others. A fitness for work assessment evaluates that capacity against the specific demands of the job: the tasks, environment, hours, exposures and psychosocial factors the person will actually face.

Which raises the question that defines whether an assessment is worth anything: fit for what, exactly?

• Pre-placement: before a candidate starts in a physically or psychologically demanding role

• Safety-critical roles: driving, operating plant, working at heights, shift and night work

• Role change: when duties, site or exposures materially change

• Fatigue and shift-work exposure: rosters that create foreseeable fatigue risk

Most assessments certify someone “fit for work” against a template: a job title in the header, a generic medical, a K10 or DASS-21 score with no connection to what the job demands. If the role’s tasks and hazards were never documented, the certificate answers a question nobody asked. WHS legislation requires assessment against the inherent requirements of the role. Medrisk documents them first, then assesses capacity against them.