Skipping a Pre-Employment Medical? It could cost you.

Employers: Pre-Employment Medicals can be expensive, time-consuming, and the process can be stressful.
So what happens if you skip it?

What a Pre-Employment Medical Actually Covers

A pre-employment medical isn’t just about checking a blood pressure reading or ticking off a vision test. In high-risk industries, it’s about confirming whether someone is fit to meet the physical and environmental demands of the role. That could mean testing lung function before working around dust, checking hearing before operating heavy machinery, or assessing musculoskeletal health for roles that involve repetitive lifting. These aren’t nice-to-haves. They’re designed to catch issues that could quickly become dangerous — for the worker and for everyone around them.

Risk 1: Increased Workplace Injuries

Imagine this: a new recruit starts on site with an undiagnosed back condition. On their second week, a simple lift turns into a serious injury. Suddenly, not only is that person hurt, but the whole crew’s work is disrupted. Projects fall behind, others pick up the slack, and safety protocols get stretched thin.

And this isn’t hypothetical. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, nearly 500,000 Australians reported a work-related injury or illness in 2021–22. Two-thirds had to take time off, and almost a third ended up on workers’ compensation¹. When one medical could have prevented the injury in the first place, the risk of skipping it becomes crystal clear.

Risk 2: Higher Insurance & Compensation Costs

What looks like a quick saving upfront can snowball into much bigger costs later. Safe Work Australia reports that just six industries — including construction, transport, and warehousing — account for 76% of traumatic injury fatalities and 61% of serious workers’ compensation claims². These are precisely the industries where pre-employment medicals make the most difference.

So, when an incident happens because someone wasn’t properly screened, it’s not just the worker who suffers. Businesses face higher insurance premiums, workers’ comp payouts, and the very real financial drain of downtime.

Risk 3: Operational Disruptions

In high-risk industries, one person’s capacity can affect an entire operation. Picture a haul truck operator unable to pass a medical for fatigue or vision issues — but hired anyway because checks were skipped. Midway through a project, they’re sidelined. Suddenly the haulage schedule collapses, assets sit idle, and deadlines slip.

Safe Work Australia has quantified this. Without workplace injuries and illnesses, Australia could gain $28.6 billion in economic output and 185,500 full-time equivalent jobs, with wages across the board rising by 1.3%³. That’s the opportunity cost of preventable disruption.

Risk 4: Legal & Compliance Issues

Finally, there’s the compliance question. In a high-risk environment, due diligence isn’t optional. If an incident occurs and it emerges that medical checks were skipped, the employer may face negligent hiring claims, regulatory penalties, and reputational fallout⁴. Courts and regulators take a dim view of businesses that can’t demonstrate they took every reasonable step to protect their workforce. A pre-employment medical is one of the clearest ways to show that.

Risk 5: Workplace Culture

Beyond covering yourself legally and ethically, skipping medical checks has a knock-on effect on workplace culture. Put yourself in the shoes of an employee: if you see your employer cutting corners on safety, what does that tell you?

1. Your health and wellbeing aren’t a priority.

2. If they can cut corners, so can you.

The message is clear: safety isn’t taken seriously here. That perception doesn’t just stay in the background; it ripples through the workplace. Even if employees dislike medicals (and many do, since the process can feel stressful), allowing them to be skipped signals that health and safety are optional. Over time, this erodes trust, weakens compliance, and damages your reputation as an employer.

Summary

So, although Pre-Employment Medicals can be expensive, time-consuming, and stressful…. High-risk industries such as mining construction, transport, and oil & gas have unique demands for good reason. One mistake can have huge consequences. One unfit worker can jeopardise an entire crew, delay projects, and in extreme cases can cost a business millions. That’s why Pre-Employment Medicals exist. They’re not just red tape; they’re a safety net.

Plus, if you book through Capability Health, we provide quick turnaround times so that your staff can be on-site ASAP, reducing cost, and ensuring your projects continue to run smoothly. 

Footnotes
Australian Bureau of Statistics. Work-related injuries, Australia, 2021–22. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/labour/earnings-and-working-conditions/work-related-injuries/latest-release

Safe Work Australia. Key WHS statistics: Fatalities and serious claims by industry. Retrieved from https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/insights/key-whs-statistics-australia/latest-release

Safe Work Australia. Economic costs of work-related injuries and illnesses. Retrieved from https://data.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/insights/key-whs-statistics-australia/latest-release

Verified First. Risks of Ignoring Pre-Employment Screening. Retrieved from https://verifiedfirst.com/blog/risks-of-ignoring-pre-employment-screening