Australia National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers 2024 5: Category 3 Track Safety Health Assessment: assess hearing (ability to hear a train horn, with aided audiometry on the better ear, discrimination-in-noise testing and job modification such as escort as options, and gesture communication for workers in hearing protection), vision (better-eye acuity on a standard chart with or without correction, visual fields, no colour vision requirement, spare glasses for contact lens wearers, monitoring of progressive conditions) and musculoskeletal function (the ability to walk on coarse ballast and move rapidly from an oncoming train), together with self-reported conditions that could cause loss of attention or consciousness, applying the criteria in Tables 27 to 30, with review periods set by the health professional and earlier triggered review for serious conditions in younger workers

What does 5 require?

Workers on or near the track outside a controlled environment require a Track Safety Health Assessment, founded on the principle that the worker must be able to see and hear an oncoming train or warning and move out of its way for their own safety; they also receive regular track safety awareness training. The clinical assessment at Pre-placement and periodically covers hearing, vision and mobility, and conditions that cause loss of attention or consciousness, including cardiovascular, neurological, cognitive, seizure and serious psychiatric conditions, are identified by self-report on the questionnaire, with operators ensuring workers know to notify a supervisor or seek a Triggered Health Assessment if they develop a condition that could cause collapse on track, serious injury or illness of eyes, hearing or limbs, a serious brain injury or a cognitive or serious psychiatric condition, and to declare substance misuse under the drug and alcohol program. For hearing, because trains can be quiet and a horn emits about 88 dB at 200 m in the country and 85 dB at 100 m in towns, the criterion is the ability to hear warning sounds in noise, tested by pure tone audiometry with or without hearing aids on the better ear with a safety margin; a failed criterion may be retested after aids are upgraded, Fit for Duty Subject to Review may follow a passed sound discrimination in noise test or a job modification such as constant escort, aided workers have periodic review of hearing and aids, practical on-site tests are not recommended, and workers in hearing protection are communicated with by gesture by the gang supervisor. For vision, acuity relates to the better eye including for monocular workers, measured for each eye without correction then with lenses, on a Snellen, LogMAR or equivalent chart at 6 m (or 3 m by mirror or calibrated chart) with more than two errors on a line counted as failure; stable corrected impairment is Fit for Duty Unconditional with aids worn, no referral is needed where the criteria are met with lenses, contact lens wearers carry spare glasses, progressive conditions are monitored, visual fields are assessed, and there is no colour vision requirement unless another part of the role needs it under the Part 4 protocols. For musculoskeletal function, the only question is whether pain, weakness, instability or other impairment interferes with walking on coarse ballast or moving rapidly from the path of a train including over steep unstable ballast shoulders, with pain's effect on attention also considered, Fit for Duty Subject to Review available on the treating doctor's opinion and the nature of the work, and any wider job demands requiring a separately commissioned assessment. Review periods for diagnosed conditions are generally set by the Authorised Health Professional on severity and stability, with earlier triggered review, focused on the condition and possibly on documents alone, considered for serious conditions in workers under 40. The fitness criteria are in Tables 27 to 30, and assessments may be made by a Category 3-only Authorised Health Professional under medical supervision with declared conditions signed off by a medically trained Authorised Health Professional.