AUDIT OF A PREEMPLOYMENT RISK IDENTIFICATION FORM

A risk identification form was introduced as part of Southmead Health Services NHS Trust's pre-employment procedure. Its purpose was to allo w occupational health nurses to identify employees with specific occup ational health needs. One hundred employees' risk identification forms were studied and a comparison made between the manager's assessment a nd that or an independent occupational health nurse's assessment based on job title alone. The actual risks involved in the post were identi fied by the employee after 1 month employment, together with an occupa tional health nurse from Southmead NHS Trust. There was a greater agre ement between the managers' assessments and the actual risks identifie d (range 83-100%), than between the independent nurse's assessments an d the actual risks identified (range 59-100%), in all categories other than driving. The sensitivity of the managers' risk assessments were higher than that of the independent nurse in all categories and the po sitive predictive Value of the managers' risk assessments were higher than that of the independent nurse in all but two categories.