Defining rehabilitation goals

For individuals who are working and have sustained injuries on or off the job, a key focus of rehabilitation is restoration of work capacity. Rehabilitation programs that are funded by government or private insurers often have an explicit goal of returning the injured party to previous or comparable levels of employment. In such cases, it is important to identify required job tasks and expected performance levels. Such information creates targeted outcomes for the rehabilitation program. The overall rehabilitation process is guided by the job analysis through a process wherein assessed levels of current functional capacity are compared to the required job performance demands (Loisel et al. 2001). Identified gaps between worker capacity and job demands are then addressed through restorative programs and/or job modification.

Work transition planning

In rehabilitation the job analysis is used to provide information to match the injured worker with tasks that can be safely performed on initial resumption of duties following an absence or time away from regular duties. The job analysis information serves as the foundation for a graduated work resumption process that optimizes productivity and compliments the rehabilitation program and injury recovery. Regular review of the job analysis is used to identify job demands that are suitable to the worker's capacities throughout the recovery process until the worker resumes the pre-injury job or reaches an optimal level of performance in a different job.

Vocational planning

Persons with disabilities who have never worked, or are seeking new careers following catastrophic injury are typically assessed to determine work interests, employment –related skills, and work habits. Analysis of the physical, cognitive, and behavioural demands of the identified jobs of interest allows for matching of interests and capacities to the job requirements, and helps to establish reasonable goals for vocational training and job search.

Job accommodations

Job analyses offer detailed descriptions and identify demands of both essential and non-essential work tasks. This information can be used to help identify the essential and non-essential tasks that a person with a limitation can safely and competently perform, and those tasks that can be performed with modification to the job process or through use of adaptive devices or procedures.

Primary injury prevention

Analysis of jobs from an ergonomic and/or psycho-social demand perspective can be used in a proactive manner to identify potential areas of risk, and to modify jobs as a means of injury prevention (Keyserling et al. 1991, Domanski, Gowan and Leyshon, 2008).

Secondary disability prevention

Analysis of jobs from an ergonomic and/or psycho-social demand perspective can also identify potential areas of risk. Based on this information, jobs can be modified prior to a worker with an injury or disability resuming job tasks to prevent re-injury or new injuries when returning to work.

Fair hiring practices

Job analyses that identify basic skill requirements for safe and competent job performance can serve as a legal and defensible means of screening employees applying to new positions. By clearly establishing job performance requirements, applicants who lack required skills can be denied positions on objective grounds. This may serve to prevent injury, and also establishes clear criteria for job qualification (Rosenblum and Shankar, 2006). Workers with disabilities who satisfy job requirements as identified through the analysis can thereby not be denied employment on grounds of incapacity.