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Document
Excerpts from HealthQuest's Guidelines
HealthQuest’s publication “HEALTHQUEST - A risk management approach for pre-placement health assessment, July 1992" is for pre-placement health assessment, but its concepts should be applicable for all its health assessments including Fitness to Continue assessment.
Excerpts from the HealthQuest publication:
Page 20, Paragraph 4, 2.3 Discrimination issues
The Canadian Human Rights Commission provides helpful guidance on the use of health assessments: “[medical] assessment is relevant only when it measures the capacity of a person to perform the essential components of the job safely, reliably and efficiently”.
Page 22, 2.3 Discrimination issues
Paragraph 1
The potential for misunderstanding is amplified where the health assessor is unfamiliar with the type of work, the work environment or the occupational ramifications of medical conditions (or the medical ramifications of work arrangements).
Paragraph 2
Discrimination in health assessments can be avoided through the following measures:-
Insisting that a thorough job analysis with a statement of health requirements and occupational hazards relevant to the job is prepared prior to the job selection and that it is available to applicants and health assessors; ensuring an appropriate level of professional competence (qualifications, experience, references) in health assessors; and using quality control procedures for health assessments.
Page 38, Paragraph 2, Risk Evaluation or Risk Assessment
When it is proposed that a medical condition or impairment creates a safety or performance risk in particular work contexts, this should be substantiated.
Page 82, 13 Protecting Privacy
All records which contain personal information should be dealt with in accordance with data protection principles endorsed by the NSW privacy Committee. In general terms, this requires:
- Data subject knowledge of, and consent to, the collection of information;
- Data subject knowledge of the purposes for which the personal information is collected and the persons to whom it may be disclosed;
- Openness in information handling policies and practices;
- The right of access by data subjects to data relating to them;
- Secure storage of data;
- Strict limits on the purpose for which personal information may be used or disclosed.
Page 82, 14 Confidentiality – Record Keeping
In cases where some form of screening or medical examination is required, the selected provider is required to forward a recommendation [HealthQuest’s emphasis] to the prospective employer in regard to a potential employee’s health in terms of capacity to perform rather than a medical diagnosis, within the specified period.