MSK outcomes depend on who's managing the case. OccuSpan makes sure best practice is always on.
You already know what good MSK management looks like — you've seen it when the right coordinator is on the case. The problem is consistency, not evidence. OccuSpan structures every clinical step against the Inherent Requirements of the Job, so the right call isn't left to chance regardless of who's running it.
The clinical spine
Every MSK decision referenced to the role — not to clinical opinion alone
OccuSpan's MSK workflow is built around the Inherent Requirements of the Job (IROJ) document — the clinician-signed record of what a role actually demands: physical loads, environmental conditions, cognitive requirements, and psychosocial flags.
When the IROJ is in the system, every clinical decision downstream is referenced to it — not to a generic fitness standard and not to the RTW coordinator's judgement alone.
IROJ created
Physiotherapist documents the physical, environmental, and psychosocial demands of the role. Clinician-signed, immutable once active.
Pre-employment screen
Candidate is assessed against the documented demands of the specific role, not a generic medical standard. Pass/fail is explicit and defensible.
Fit-for-task assessment
Worker's functional capacity is matched to the IROJ. The threshold is the role's documented demands, not clinical judgement alone.
RTW case management
The return-to-work target is the IROJ. 'Suitable duties' is not a vague concept — it is a defined, documented standard. The RTW coordinator and treating clinician are working toward the same target.
Work hardening program
Conditioning targets are pulled from the IROJ's physical demand ratings. The program ends when the worker can meet the role, not when someone decides they're probably ready.
Re-assessment
Functional capacity is re-tested against the IROJ before full duties are resumed. Re-injury risk is reduced because the target was always the actual role, not light duties that bear no resemblance to the job.
Integrated modules
Every MSK module. One clinical record.
Inherent Requirements of the Job
The clinical spine of every MSK module. The IROJ document defines physical demands, postural tolerances, and environmental exposures for each job role — signed by a clinician and linked to all downstream assessments.
Pre-employment Screening
Functional assessment against the IROJ — no copy-paste of demands. The platform pre-fills assessment forms from the role profile, generates a compliance decision, and archives the full record.
Manual Handling Assessment
NIOSH equation, REBA, RULA, and SNOOK tables calibrated to the task demands in the IROJ. Assessment results link back to the role profile and flag tasks exceeding threshold values.
Ergonomics Assessment
Workstation, process, and environment assessments with corrective action tracking. CAPA items auto-generate from flagged findings and close the loop to the IROJ.
Work Hardening
Graduated conditioning programs with daily activity targets, functional milestones, and clinician sign-off at each stage. Target state always references the IROJ — no subjective end-point guessing.
Return to Work Case Management
Graduated duties plan, insurer correspondence, and treating provider communication all in one case record. The IROJ defines the target return state — the RTW case tracks progress toward it.
Return to work case management — structured from day one
Return to work case management outcomes are highly variable across Australian workplaces. An experienced, diligent RTW coordinator closes the loop every time. A junior, overstretched, or disengaged one often doesn't — not through negligence, but because the system doesn't support them.
OccuSpan structures RTW case management so that every step is prompted, every decision is referenced to the IROJ, and nothing falls through:
- →Injury notification and initial assessment
- →Suitable duties plan (referenced to IROJ, not to "what's available")
- →Treating clinician communication and capacity certificates
- →Graduated return schedule with functional capacity milestones
- →CAPA trigger if the return stalls or re-injury occurs
- →Full case record for WorkCover, insurer, and regulator review
The system makes the right thing the easy thing — for every coordinator, regardless of experience level.
Pre-employment medicals matched to the actual demands of the role
Most pre-employment medical assessments use a generic form. The examining doctor assesses the candidate against a standard health criterion — but rarely knows what the role actually demands.
OccuSpan changes this. When an IROJ is in the system for a job family, the pre-employment medical form is pre-populated with the role's documented physical, environmental, and cognitive demands. The examining doctor is assessing capacity against the job — not a form.
The result: fewer false positives, fewer failed placements, and a pre-employment medical record that is defensible under scrutiny because it is referenced to documented role demands, not a generic checklist.
Supports: pre-employment medical, fitness for duty, post-absence functional assessment, periodic health surveillance.
The clinical spine
Inherent Requirements of the Job — defined once, used everywhere
The IROJ is a clinician-signed document that defines the physical demands, postural tolerances, sensory requirements, and environmental conditions of a job role. It is the single source of truth that every downstream module reads from.
Pre-employment assessments compare candidate function against IROJ demands. RTW programs target the IROJ as the return state. Manual handling assessments flag tasks that exceed IROJ thresholds. No module ever copies or re-enters this data.
IROJ links to
→ PES assessments
→ Manual handling
→ Ergonomic assessments
→ Work hardening programs
→ RTW case management
→ Psychosocial surveys
FAQ
Common questions
What is the IROJ and why is it the clinical spine?
The Inherent Requirements of the Job (IROJ) is a clinician-signed document that captures the physical, sensory, and environmental demands of a job role. Every MSK module in OccuSpan reads from the IROJ — pre-employment screening forms pre-fill from it, RTW target states reference it, and work hardening milestones are calibrated against it. No module copies this data into its own rows.
Does OccuSpan replace our existing injury management system?
Yes — OccuSpan replaces standalone injury management, RTW, and PES tools with an integrated platform. Because all modules share the IROJ spine, clinicians enter demands once and every downstream form is populated automatically.
Which manual handling assessment methods are supported?
OccuSpan supports the NIOSH Lifting Equation, REBA, RULA, and Snook push/pull tables. Results are stored against the task demand record and cross-referenced to the IROJ postural tolerances for the role.
How does work hardening track functional progress?
Each work hardening program has daily activity targets and functional milestones defined at program creation. Clinicians record progress against each milestone, and the platform generates a progress report showing distance from the IROJ target state.
Can we run MSK surveillance at the population level?
Yes. The population health module aggregates NMQ-E musculoskeletal survey data, audiometry, and spirometry results across your workforce. You can view injury trends by job family, site, or ANZSIC code and benchmark against the Safe Work Australia National Data Set.
Ready to consolidate?
Replace your standalone MSK tools
Book a 30-minute demo to see the full MSK workflow — from IROJ creation through pre-employment screening, injury assessment, and return to work.
AS 4308:2023 · AS 4760:2019 · ISO 45003:2021 · Safe Work Australia NDS