Fitness for Work Evaluation

Assessment of the ability of employees to work without risk to health and safety for themselves and others is the concept of job fitness. The five main criteria, i.e. work capacity, risk of health and safety, ethical indices, economic indicators and indicators of legal, occupational health physician must be considered in assessing fitness for work.
This review article consists of different parts including: occupational fitness evaluation indices, safety and health risk, worker's capacity, legal and moral indices, economical index, evaluation tools, decision making process, consequences and challenges. Naturally, for each of the mentioned indicators there is a tool to assess the sensitivity, specificity and cost-effectiveness.
Consequences of job fitness assessment can range from suitable to unsuitable. Changes in maintenance and adjustment of work or working conditions should be considered in assessing job fitness. But with all the explanations, in many cases an occupational health physician may face problems in decision making for job fitness. He/She may not be able to make a precise decision which is probably due to different causes such as lack of appropriate tools and atandards, worker's malingering, social laws and etc.