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Physical demands analyses – A municipal initiative to enhance early return to work
1150-20 C 1998
(98FS-31)
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Issue: |
Understanding physical components and risk factors of common municipal jobs in order to determine safe return-to-work for injured workers. |
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Agency: |
City of Burnaby |
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Representative: |
Lana Ho |
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Funding: |
$45,000 |
Context: Accommodating disabled workers and ensuring the safe return-to-work of injured workers is a difficult task not only for management, but for all involved in the process. A clear understanding of the physical demands of tasks can assist with the decision process.
Objective: To develop a comprehensive catalog of Physical Job Demand Analyses (PJDA) for common municipal positions, suitable to assist management and workers to understand the physical components and risk factors of a job, in order to assist appropriate return-to-work placement following injury.
Design: An ergonomics consultant conducted extensive analyses of the physical demands of common municipal positions.
Setting: City of Burnaby, Greater Vancouver Regional District, Corporation of the City of Delta, City of Richmond, and the City of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
Subjects: Workers representing 63 common municipal positions.
Main Outcome Measures: Each PJDA includes: purpose of activities, tools and equipment used, usual methods, administrative issues, activity demand variables, worker decision variables, accommodative considerations, summary of stresses, recommended interventions, and an extensive physical demands chart.
Results: An extensive catalog of Physical Job Demand Analyses for 63 municipal positions, including a prioritized intervention summary was developed. General guidelines for using the PJDAs and a comprehensive legend are included. Two functional evaluation forms for use by physicians and rehabilitation providers were also developed.
Conclusion: The PJDAs will assist occupational health and safety staff, physical/occupational therapists, physicians and rehabilitation counselors to work with management and workers to enable injured workers to return to their jobs or find suitable alternative jobs. It will also provide a good starting point for the development of a formal Disability Management program.