We have been doing physical demands descriptions (PDD, also known as PDAs) for over 20 years, and our reports invariably get great feedback. They are thorough, objective, concise, and communicate effectively with photos. We MEASURE forces and distances, heights, and reaches. We quantify exposure to awkward postures or static efforts. Our clients use our PDDs to determine how to bring injured workers back to work, and they stand up to arbitration when they need to. So why mess with a good thing?
Our clients also tell us that they want shorter job descriptions that can be used as a starting point for discussion about return-to-work. And they want a report that can be completed faster. A PDD can take up to 4 days (including report writing), for a complicated, non-cyclic job like a mechanic or nurse.
Our new PDP can be done in 12 hours or less, including the report. In fact, most jobs can be assessed in 4-8 hours. We have streamlined our data collection process, so that your background work and the initial interview set the stage, and we can then go out, see the key tasks, measure and photograph them, and get the report finished right away. Feedback so far has been fantastic!
How do we do the PDPs so quickly? With a PDP, we are not completing a repetition analysis. A full PDD for a cyclic, repetitive job would report how many movements per minute are performed by each body part, and what percentage of the cycle a muscle group is active (static muscle contraction). For a non-cyclic job, the PDD would flag body parts that exceed a specific threshold, so you know if some duties require “repetitive” movements. This analysis takes quite a bit of time, and, when you anticipate an argument about whether a job exceeds a worker’s capabilities, the information is necessary. The shorter version also relies more on the interview to identify the key tasks, and we will allow a worker to show us tasks, rather than waiting to see the tasks performed “in real time”. Further, we have set a limit of 10 tasks for a PDP; we work with the client to identify the most demanding and most common tasks, and describe only these in the report. This allows us to cap the report at no more than 2 pages plus an appendix.
Going forward, we’ll be reverting back to the term “Physical Demands Analysis” for our full, detailed reports, and we’ll use the term “Physical Demands Profile” for the shorter, streamlined reports.
Clients who want to have physical demands information for ALL of their jobs could use PDPs. They’ll become an essential component of the return-to-work process, forming the basis of that initial return-to-work plan, and a very useful communication tool for health care providers, supervisors, and the WSIB or insurance carrier. PDPs will also allow us to complete the more detailed physical demands analyses, and ergonomics (risk) assessments only where they are truly value-added.
If this sounds like a service that would work for you, please call us today at 519 623 7733 for a quote.