Pre-employment screening: use or ornament?

Pre-employment screening (PES) in an occupational health department (OHD) in Inner London was evaluated by establishing its resource implications and devising methods to estimate its efficiency and effectiveness. The attitudes of those involved in PES were also examined. While coverage of student nurses applicants was in the region of 100 per cent, only 43 per cent of all other new employees were screened. Student nurse applicants were more likely to be referred to an occupational health nurse or doctor than other employees (45 per cent nurses, 18 per cent others), but only one person had been rejected on health grounds, as a result, during the previous 15 months. The majority of reasons for sickness absence or early retirement could not have been predicted by PES. Opinions as to the purpose of PES varied from employees who in general thought that PES was designed to protect their interests, to managers, who thought it was to protect theirs.