Curriculum standards

• Biostatistics
• Environmentally related medical conditions
• Epidemiology
• Occupational and environmental legislation
• Occupational hygiene
• Occupationally related medical conditions
• Primary health care and general medical conditions
• Toxicology

Cardiovascular system

• Occupational contributors to cardiovascular disease, and agents that can precipitate relevant symptoms
• The impact of cardiovascular disease on functioning within a workplace

Common ear conditions

• Ototoxins
• Principles of noise mapping, hierarchy of controls for noise control, and their links to ear protection programs

Common eye conditions

• Occupational impact of impaired vision, including:
  • blindness
  • situations where full colour vision is or isn’t required
• The occupational significance of:
  • restricted visual fields or scotomata
  • squint

Endocrine and gastrointestinal systems

• End-organ effects of obesity and diabetes and their effect on work
• Strategies for the management of:
  • diabetes
  • functional bowel disorders
  • obesity

Immune system

• Common investigations and what information they offer
• Exposures recognised to cause:
  • aplastic anaemia
  • haemolysis
  • leukaemia
• Potential impact of immunosuppression in the workplace
• Special needs of workers who have undergone organ transplantation

Kidney and genitourinary systems

• Issues affecting capacity to work:
  • chronic kidney failure and its treatment
  • continence issues
  • obstructive urinary disorders
  • work-related causes of renal impairment
• Recognised occupational causes of cancer of the genitourinary tract

Mental health

• Appropriate use, purpose, and limitations of neuropsychological tests
• Commonly used psychotropic medications and their side effects
• Treatment of substance abuse

Musculoskeletal

• Functional recovery with joint disorders treated conservatively or with surgical prosthesis
• Recovery of function following:
  • bursal inflammation
  • dislocations
  • fractures
  • ruptures
  • spinal disc pathologies
  • sprains
  • strains
  • tendinopathies
• Recovery of function with use of prosthesis after amputation of part of a limb

Occupational dermatology

• Allergic dermatitis:
  • contact
  • irritant
• Altered skin integrity related to exposure to occupational hazards
• Benign and malignant skin lesions related to occupational exposures, such as UV radiation

Pregnancy and reproductive systems

• Classes of substances recognised to be endocrine disrupters
• Sensitivity to exposure during different stages of pregnancy
• Strategies for managing pregnant workers in the workplace
• Well-recognised teratogens
• Work-related causes of adverse reproductive outcomes

Respiratory and sleep system

• Effects and impacts of:
  • asbestos exposure
  • diving physiology
  • respiratory disease on capacity for work
  • shift work on circadian rhythm and functioning within a working environment
• Effect of occupational and environmental toxins on the respiratory system
• Obstructive sleep apnoea and impact on fitness for work and driving
• Pathophysiological basis and causes of airway inflammation
• Well-recognised causes of occupational asthma and hypersensitivity pneumonitis

Acute care

• Defibrillation
• Fluid resuscitation
• Inotropic support
• Management of acute workplace injuries, such as:
  • burns
  • eye injuries
  • fractures
  • lacerations
• Oxygen delivery and assisted ventilation

Audiology testing

• Pure-tone audiometric testing
• Speech discrimination
• Tuning fork tests:
  • Rinne
  • Weber

Biological monitoring

• Biological effects monitoring
• Biological exposure indices
• Biological exposure monitoring

Cardiovascular testing

• ECG
• Stress tests

Neurological testing

• Neuropsychiatric evaluations

Respiratory testing

• Complex lung function interpretation
• Office based spirometry testing
• Peak flow monitoring
• Tests for sleep apnoea

Screening tools

• Cardiovascular risk scores
• Imaging tools, including the appropriate use, purpose, and limitations of commonly applied imaging, such as:
  • CT scans
  • MRI
  • nuclear medicine scans
  • ultrasound
  • x-ray, including ILO grading systems
• Mental health-related screening tools, such as:
  • Beck Depression Inventory (BDI)
  • Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (DASS)
  • Kessler Psychological Distress Scale (K10)
  • Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE)
• Sleep apnoea scores / screening

Visual screening

• Colour vison testing
• Depth perception
• Office tests for eye functioning / injury
• Task-specific testing, such as lantern tests
• Visual acuity and visual field testing

• Ability to coordinate the management of non-work-related conditions that impact on work capacity
• Knowledge and use of information from global and local organisations influencing occupational and environmental health

Conditions with limited knowledge and/or treatment strategies

• This refers to conditions perceived as having an impact on work, but for which there is limited evidence-based information, such as:
  • building-related illnesses, such as sick building syndrome
  • chronic pain syndromes
  • malingering
  • multiple chemical sensitivity
  • myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) / chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)
  • war-related illnesses

Drugs and alcohol

• Effects of recreational and prescribed drugs on workers undertaking safety-critical tasks
• Medicinal marijuana
• Role of medical review officers and the Australian Medical Review Officers Association (AMROA)
• Toxicology and interpretation of test reports

Extreme environments

• Advice on managing health risks associated with:
  • diving and working in caissons
  • freezing climates
  • high altitude
  • remote environments
  • very hot climates, including deep underground

Infectious diseases

• Food-borne and water-borne infections of local relevance
• Implications of infection and working with others
• Respiratory infectious diseases, such as flu strains

Mental health

• Community resources that may assist recovery of function, such as anger management
• Depression and anxiety and their implications for work
• Implications of substance abuse for work
• Major psychiatric illness and its implications for work
• Mental health concerns, such as those due to accidents, fire, threats, and warfare, and their implication for work, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) within the workplace
• Mental health conditions and standards for safety critical work
• Personality disorder and neurodivergent conditions, and their effects on co-workers, company reputation, and vehicle driving
• Ways to overcome stigma experienced at work by people with psychiatric illness
• Work-related preventive measures for bullying and harassment

Population-specific issues

• Cultural safety-related issues within the workplace
• Normal physiological changes associated with ageing
• National driving standards – Assessing Fitness to Drive and related train driving standards
• National guidelines that determine fitness for roles
• National health promotion guidelines, including:
  • national guidelines on vaccination programs
  • national screening programs for neoplastic diseases
• National Standard for Health Assessment of Rail Safety Workers