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© Copyright 2000 Rogers Media. The following article first appeared in the September 2000 edition of
BENEFITS CANADA magazine.
Testing workers' functional abilities
Abilities evaluations have a place in disability management programs.
By John Sheard
Astonishing as it may seem, each year Canadian employers pay between $11 billion and $12 billion to cover
worker disabilities, about 50% of which is covered by workers' compensation. Ten years ago, the term
"functional abilities evaluation" (FAE) was a secret that only healthcare professionals knew about. Times
have changed and now the term FAE crosses the minds of human resource professionals, occupational health
and safety professionals, benefits managers, company nurses, union representatives and workers alike as a
tool to reduce disability costs.
A functional abilities evaluation is a series of controlled tests which are conducted to measure and
analyze such things as balance, bending/stooping, carrying, mobility, climbing, crawling, crouching,
fingering/handling, grasping, lifting, pulling/pushing, repetitive motion, sitting, squatting, standing and
walking.
At this point, you might be wondering why your company should take the trouble to learn about and use this
relatively new tool. Generally, FAEs have three main purposes:
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Improve the likelihood that the injured or ill worker will be safe in a subsequent task. This is
generally done through a comparison of the worker's capacity and the job's physical demands.
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Assist the injured worker to improve performance by identifying problem areas so that the problems can
be resolved through further therapy, worked around through job modification or accommodated with
adaptive equipment.
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Determine the presence and level of disability so the worker's case can be resolved, through return to
work, accommodation or, in extreme cases, termination due to incapacity.
Functional abilities evaluations are a systematic and proven method of measuring an employee's capacity and
tolerances for meeting the demands of job tasks. FAEs, which are most often carried out by kinesiologists,
are an objective, diagnostic tool for collecting, recording, measuring and analyzing data on the physical
or cognitive abilities of a worker to perform a job both safely and on a dependable basis. Incorporating
FAEs into health and safety and disability management programs can help employers prevent injuries, create
a safer work environment, simplify return-to-work planning, reduce time lost due to injuries and
rehabilitation and manage compensation claims and costs more efficiently and effectively.
The best practices manual for FAEs, entitled Functional Abilities Evaluations: Hiring and Maintaining a
Healthy Workforce, supports the use of FAEs as part of an overall employment policy and/or disability
management program. Data regarding those abilities and a worker's tolerances can then be applied to a
particular job or a range of jobs available in an organization.
In the past, employers have simply guessed or relied on a physician's estimate of a worker's abilities when
they were struggling with the difficult task of returning a worker to the workplace. Today, however, FAEs
are a growing practice in Canada in workers' compensation and other private insurance programs such as
auto, life and disability insurance.
John Sheard is a partner with Work Return Inc. in Toronto. workret@interlog.com.
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