Fitness for Work

a state of health allowing a person to perform work of a certain quantity and quality.

Soviet law distinguishes the following categories of fitness: fitness for general work (the ability to perform unskilled work under ordinary conditions), fitness for specialized labor (the ability to work in a given occupation under specific conditions, for example, in a factory with hazardous conditions), limited fitness (the ability to perform labor with certain limitations), and disability, both temporary and permanent. All Soviet women aged 16 to 55 and men aged 16 to 60 are presumed to be fit for general work. Fitness for specialized work is determined by a physician in a preliminary medical examination upon entering a new place of work. Periodic medical examinations are conducted at a number of enterprises (the list of industries, occupations, and jobs for which such examinations are mandatory was approved by the Ministry of Public Health of the USSR in 1969).

An evaluation of a person’s fitness is normally made in a health care institution. In the case of prolonged or permanent disability, the evaluation is made by a medical advisory commission or a medical labor commission of experts.