Pre-Placement Health Screening

Why this matters commercially

Confirm suitability. Verify the candidate can physically and mentally undertake the specific duties of the role before they hit the payroll. Discovering three weeks into a probation period that someone cannot perform the core functions of their job wastes recruitment costs, management time, and the opportunity cost of having the role unfilled.

Establish a Day One baseline. Create a health record at the point of hire. This is critical evidence if a future industrial injury claim arises. Without a baseline, an employee can argue that a hearing loss or respiratory condition was caused by workplace exposure, even if it pre-dated their employment. A pre-placement record removes that ambiguity.

Stay on the right side of the law. Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 restricts when you can ask health questions during recruitment. You cannot ask health questions before making a conditional offer of employment, except in narrow circumstances. Our process ensures you only screen at the lawful stage, protecting you from discrimination claims that can arise when screening is conducted too early in the recruitment process.

Assess adjustments upfront. If someone needs workplace modifications, you can determine whether they’re reasonable and practical before the start date. This is better for the employer and better for the employee. Starting a job and then discovering adjustments are needed creates avoidable disruption for everyone.

Protect safety-critical operations. For roles involving driving, working at height, operating heavy machinery, or managing hazardous substances, pre-placement assessment is not just prudent. It is a regulatory requirement. Placing someone in a safety-critical role without confirming their fitness puts lives at risk and creates personal liability for directors and safety officers.

Our screening options

1. Online Digital Screening (Fastest)

Best for office-based, administrative, and low-risk roles. The candidate completes a secure online health questionnaire. If nothing flags, a Fitness for Work certificate goes straight to HR. Quick, cost-effective, and scalable for high-volume onboarding. We process hundreds of digital screenings per month for employers running continuous recruitment programmes.

The questionnaire is designed to identify conditions that could affect the candidate’s ability to perform the specific role. It’s not a general health survey. Questions are targeted and proportionate, and the system automatically routes cases that require clinical review to the next tier.

2. Clinical Risk Review

Triggered when the online screening identifies a declared medical condition that might affect role fitness. An OH nurse or doctor reviews the health history against the specific job demands and provides a clinical opinion on capability. In many cases, the condition is perfectly manageable with minor adjustments, and the candidate is cleared. In some cases, specific restrictions or workplace modifications are recommended.

This tier prevents two equally costly mistakes: rejecting capable candidates because of a declared condition that wouldn’t actually affect their work, and placing candidates in roles they genuinely cannot perform safely.

3. Face-to-Face Assessment

Essential for safety-critical roles in construction, engineering, offshore, and transport. Includes physical examination, vision testing, mobility assessment, baseline audiometry and spirometry, and drug and alcohol screening where required. This is a comprehensive medical assessment conducted by an OH physician or specialist nurse, typically completed in a single appointment.

For employers in sectors regulated by HSE, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, or DVLA Group 2 standards, face-to-face assessment is mandatory. Our clinicians are experienced in the specific regulatory requirements for each sector and ensure certificates meet the relevant standards.

Scalability for Large Employers

Pre-placement screening becomes particularly important for organisations running continuous recruitment, government departments, NHS trusts, facilities management companies, and retail chains that onboard hundreds of new starters per year. Our digital screening platform handles high volumes efficiently while maintaining clinical rigour.

The platform integrates with your HR onboarding workflow. Candidates receive a secure link, complete the questionnaire at a time that suits them, and results are processed automatically. Clear cases receive certificates within 24 to 48 hours. Cases requiring clinical review are triaged and escalated without delay.

For employers with multiple role types, we configure different screening pathways for different risk levels. Office roles follow the digital pathway. Warehouse or field roles follow a more comprehensive route. Safety-critical roles proceed directly to face-to-face assessment. One programme, multiple pathways, consistent governance throughout.

The Equality Act and Pre-Placement Screening

Section 60 of the Equality Act 2010 is the legal framework governing when employers can ask health questions during recruitment. The rules are straightforward but frequently misunderstood:

You must not ask health questions before making a conditional offer of employment, unless the questions relate to reasonable adjustments needed for the recruitment process itself, to intrinsic functions of the role, or to monitoring of equality data. All other health questions must wait until after a conditional offer has been made.

Screening conducted at the wrong stage can be challenged as disability discrimination, even if the ultimate hiring decision was unaffected. Our screening process is designed to operate exclusively at the post-conditional-offer stage, with clear documentation at every step. Your recruitment team can proceed with confidence that the process is legally compliant.