Vocational Ergonomic Assessment in Lombard, Illinois

The vocational rehabilitation professional is uniquely trained and equipped to evaluate the interface between people and the jobs they perform.

The staff at Vocamotive have performed hundreds of job analyses across many lines of occupation from healthcare and office to industry, construction, and transportation.

Vocamotive job analysts are experienced Certified Rehabilitation Counselors and Job Placement Professionals and are Certified in Ergonomics Assessment.

Key Components of Job Analysis

• Identify Essential Functions

• Determine Physical Demand Level consistent with US Department of Labor guidelines

• Identify nonmaterial handling demands

• Quantify repetitive activity

• Identify essential skill, training, and experience requirements

For Workers' Compensation Claims Professionals

Job analysis should be completed early in the life of any lost time claim where there is a potential the injured worker will be released from treatment with restrictions.

It is critical that treating and independent medical examining physicians, as well as physical therapy providers, understand the physical demand levels of the job to which the worker must return.

Accurate job descriptions are also important to functional capacity evaluation (FCE).

The Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (C.R.C.) is the professional of choice to communicate with the physician to clarify post-injury physical capacity and work with the employer to get the injured worker back to work in the same job, modified job, alternative job, or new job with a new employer.

Employers are not always equipped to understand medical issues or how to use this information to make sound return-to-work decisions that benefit both the company and the injured worker, resulting in lost opportunities.

For Employers

Many employers do not have detailed, ADA-compliant job descriptions clearly defining essential job functions, physical demand levels, and nonmaterial handling requirements. Job descriptions should also include essential educational, credential, skill, and experience requirements.

Quality job descriptions aid in recruitment, training, and performance evaluation.

Job descriptions are also critical to decision-making when workers are injured and released to return to work with restrictions or request a reasonable accommodation due to illness or injury.

For Litigators

For defense attorneys, having a good job description can vastly improve litigation management. Assuring accurate understanding of factors affecting return to work, ADA compliance, and reasonable accommodation, helps clarify exposures. Better facts result in better outcomes.

For those representing a plaintiff or petitioner, understanding the position of the client in the workplace, both past and future, is critical to determination of damages.