Choosing an Occupational Health & Advisory Partner: An Employer’s Checklist

Choosing an occupational health and advisory partner is a decision that affects safety, compliance, claims costs and premium for years. The right partner runs prevention and injury management as one connected system. The wrong one leaves gaps that show up as injuries, delays and avoidable cost.

This is a practical checklist for employers evaluating a partner - what to ask, what to look for, and what to walk away from.

Coverage and access

• Do they offer the full set of services you need - pre-employment medicals, drug and alcohol testing, health surveillance, injury management and advisory?
• Can they deliver in clinic, onsite and via telehealth, so your whole workforce is covered regardless of location?
• Do they have same-day or same-week appointment availability, not just next available?

Standards and compliance

• Is drug and alcohol testing compliant with the relevant Australian Standards (such as AS/NZS 4308 and AS 4760)?
• Are pre-employment medicals matched to the actual role and its physical demands?
• Do they understand industry-specific requirements - rail, commercial driver, aviation, mine-site?

Speed and injury management

• How quickly can a worker be seen after an injury - days or weeks?
• Do they offer early intervention and return-to-work support, not just assessment?
• Can they coordinate with treating practitioners, the employer and the insurer?

Speed matters more than almost anything else. See how same-week assessments and speed to medical care shape claim outcomes and premium.

Reporting and transparency

• Is reporting clear, timely and accessible - can you see status and risk at any time?
• Do they provide data and trends, not just individual results?
• Will they feed learnings from claims back into your prevention program?

Capability and advisory

• Can they advise on program design and ROI, not just transactions?
• Do they have clinical depth - occupational physicians, allied health, rehabilitation?
• Do they understand your industry and its specific risks?

Red flags

• A partner that only does screening, with no injury management capability - you will have a gap between prevention and claims.
• Slow appointment availability dressed up as normal.
• Reporting that arrives late or is hard to interpret.
• No mobile, onsite or telehealth options for a distributed workforce.

Making the decision

The best partner is the one that treats prevention, early intervention and return to work as one connected program - and can prove it with speed, standards and reporting. If you want to benchmark a potential partner against this checklist - or against ours - get in touch.