The predictive capacity of declared musculoskeletal disorder at pre-employment screening.

BACKGROUND: This study was undertaken at a major UK airport in response to management concerns about levels of sickness absence and impaired work capacity in the security department in order to investigate the possibility of achieving reductions through changes in pre-employment screening procedures. AIMS: To determine the predictive capacity of a declared musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) at pre-employment screening.
METHODS: This study was based on the pre-employment health declarations of security workers. Work outcomes measured included sickness absence rates (including total and MSD-related absence), work restriction and ill-health retirement rates. Pre-employment questionnaires (PEQs) were analysed for 594 individuals who joined as security staff from 1993-2002. Those who declared an MSD were compared with those who did not using data from the human resources department and the occupational health records.
RESULTS: Subjects who disclosed MSDs at pre-employment had significantly higher rates of subsequent total absence, MSD-related absence and work restrictions compared with those who did not. Potential confounders included sex, smoking, age and years in employment.
CONCLUSIONS: Pre-employment health screening can predict subsequent work outcomes. It is suggested that greater scrutiny is applied to declarations of an MSD at pre-employment screening in the potentially adverse manual handling environment of airport security work and that more advice is given to management about future risks of sickness absence and impaired work capacity.