Post-recession hiring and rising workers compensation costs are driving employer interest in physical ability testing, which proponents say reduces the chances of worker injuries by evaluating a potential employee's ability to do the job.

The physical ability or agility evaluations typically are conducted “post offer,” meaning the job applicant's final hiring hinges on their ability to meet the job's functional demands.

Some proponents of the physical ability evaluations also favor applying them to validate that employees returning to work after an injury are ready to take on tasks without reinjuring themselves.

But using the tests to evaluate returning workers after a doctor has cleared them to return to full duty could produce a second opinion contradicting the treating physician's finding that the employee is ready to return to normal duties, said Donald Gonzales, a senior consultant with expertise in absence, health and productivity at Zurich North America in Los Angeles.

“You have to be very careful with that,” said Mr. Gonzales, who is a proponent of using the tests to evaluate new hires.

Employers, including middle-market companies, have increasingly sought his advice on physical ability testing's value because of recent increases in the cost of workers comp insurance coming just as they are starting to hire, Mr. Gonzales said.

Companies that provide the physical ability evaluations typically start with a job description, including its essential functions, provided by the employer. Then they create exercises requiring potential employees to use similar muscle strength, flexibility, balance, stamina and other functions the actual job demands.

If, for example, a job requires workers to push a cart along long aisles of shelving, stopping to climb a ladder and reach for objects to place in the cart, U.S. HealthWorks Medical Group replicates those motions in a clinical setting, said Scott Strickland, national director of therapy services in Valencia, Calif., for the provider of occupational health care and urgent care centers.

Even when potential new hires establish their capability through the physical agility evaluations, they may reveal poor body mechanic skills during the evaluations, Mr. Strickland said. That information can help employers train them to safely complete tasks on the job, he added.

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Several proponents of the physical ability evaluations say they have not seen outcomes statistics proving their effectiveness. But they say it's logical that the screenings improve workplace safety, especially because workers comp observers have long noticed that newly hired employees are more likely to suffer an injury than their experienced counterparts.

“You can make a better assessment where to place that employee and make an informed hiring decision versus hiring someone with a pre-existing condition into a job that exacerbates their condition,” said Ariel Jenkins, senior risk control manager for St. Louis-based Safety National Casualty Corp.

While the concept is still new to many employers, Orange, Calif.-based St. Joseph Health System has conducted “job function testing” for about seven years, said Susan Parke, the employer's director of infection prevention and employee health services.

Doing so required the hospital to develop job function descriptions and job function test requirements for 1,200 employment positions. Now, job applicants wishing to become hospital security guards, for example, must show they have the strength to restrain someone, or in the case of a fire, run up several flights of stairs while carrying gear, Ms. Parke said.

The health system also has used the program to improve its return-to-work outcomes by shortening disability durations, Ms. Parke said.

Previously, the hospital found that when doctors released employees for full duty, some workers hesitated to leave modified duty status for fear of reinjuring themselves. But the evaluations have helped validate when employees are capable of safely returning to the job without the risk of reinjuring themselves, Ms. Parke said.