A working at heights medical is an assessment by an occupational health practitioner of whether an employee can work at an elevated position — scaffolding, ladders, roofs, platforms, structures — without a medical condition that could cause a fall. On a construction site the result is recorded on the employee's Annexure 3 certificate of fitness.
Because the consequence of a medical event changes completely at height. A dizzy spell on the ground is an inconvenience; on a scaffold it is a fall. The assessment looks for anything that could cause a sudden loss of balance, awareness or grip — and for whether the employee can physically do the climbing and wear the fall-arrest equipment the job needs.
No, and sites need both. Training is a competence certificate from a training provider: the employee knows how to use a harness, inspect equipment and follow a fall protection plan. The medical is a fitness certificate from an occupational health practitioner: the employee's body can safely do the work. One does not stand in for the other.
On construction work, yes. The Construction Regulations, 2014 require the fall protection plan to include a process for evaluating the medical fitness of employees who work at a fall risk position, with records — and every employee on construction work needs an Annexure 3 certificate of fitness specific to the work they do. Outside construction, the employer's duty under the OHS Act to control the risk of a fall makes fitness for height work part of the risk assessment, and most principal contractors and clients require the certificate before anyone goes up.
Often nothing permanent. Blood pressure that is not yet controlled, a recent change of medication, or a blood sugar problem being sorted out usually means temporarily unfit or a restriction until it is managed — then a reassessment. Conditions that cannot be controlled, such as recent unexplained blackouts, are the ones that keep someone on the ground. The certificate states the restriction so the supervisor can plan around it.
On a construction site it forms part of the Annexure 3 certificate, which is renewed every twelve months in practice — the interval principal contractors work to. It should be redone sooner after a health change that affects fitness for height work.
Yes. It can be run as part of an on-site medical day, with the crew assessed in sequence so nobody loses a working day travelling to a clinic.