Deciding How Many PDAs You Need

This is a common challenge we experience when helping clients determine what is best for their site. Often times our clients want to minimize costs (and who doesn�t?) by �doubling up� on Physical Demands Assessments (PDAs). This typically involves combining several jobs together under one PDA heading because they are similar.

We encountered this recently while preparing to do some work at a Child Care Centre. One might think an Early Childhood Educator (ECE) is the same all around and try to do one PDA for all regardless of the classroom (infant, toddler, pre-school, kindergarten, etc.). The issue with this is that the physical demands of the infant and toddler rooms were much higher than working with the older children as they have to spend much more time lifting and helping. A kindergarten ECE is rarely going to lift a child except in case of emergency.

The thing to remember as you try to work out how many PDAs you need is the end goal. A PDA is most often used in Return to Work (RTW) cases. In these situations you want these documents to help, not hinder you. A PDA that is specific to the job you are considering offering for RTW will help you quickly and easily see whether it�s suitable or not and whether any modifications are necessary.