About Guidance for the Medical Evaluation of Public Safety Employees

ACOEM’s guidance is for medical providers who are evaluating public safety employees (such as law enforcement officers, correctional officers, firefighters, EMS personnel) and candidates in order to make medical qualification recommendations.

The purpose of this guidance is to promote the health and safety of public safety employees while ensuring their ability to protect civilian life and property and perform the essential functions of their occupations.

This guidance addresses the nexus between medical conditions and the ability or inability to perform public safety job functions. It is intended to assist medical providers in making individualized medical assessments of the public safety employee’s ability to: 1) perform essential public safety job functions; and 2) perform these functions safely.