G - Geographical Factor - General
6. It is essential to know geographically where a member can perform duties without significant limitations in effectiveness and/or important health risks to self or others. Three main factors are involved in this area:
a. Climate - Some medical conditions may limit deployment and effective employment in certain climatic zones. For example, some skin diseases may be exacerbated in hot, moist climates, while others may be aggravated in dry, cold climatic conditions. Similarly, certain peripheral vascular diseases are unfavourably affected by cold temperatures typically found in much of Canada during the winter months;
b. Accommodation/Living Conditions - Accommodations can vary throughout the world. It may be acceptable to permit members with certain medical limitations to serve in remote areas of Canada or in foreign countries, provided they are working and living in properly controlled accommodations and have ready access to reasonable messing facilities. Conversely, even in Canada a member may be required to live in the open, work in inclement weather for extended periods and subsist on minimal rations available only at irregular intervals. Every effort should be made to limit or reduce the risk of poor conditions on the health and safety of a member with a known medical condition; and
c. Medical Care Available - Historically, accidental injury, sickness and disease have always depleted military forces to a greater degree than the direct effects of combat. Battles are often sporadic, whereas readiness for combat is an ongoing necessity and the service member is constantly being exposed to disease and injury. Moreover, fully effective medical resources may not be readily available to support these military operations. Whether the situation is an armed conflict or an isolated peacetime posting, the level of medical care required is an important consideration in assessing a member with limitations arising from a known medical condition. The level of medical care required is fundamental to the awarding of an appropriate geographical factor.
Geographical Factors
G1 - assigned to the member who has successfully passed the stringent medical requirements for such unique duty as astronaut training;
G2 - assigned to the member:
a. who has no geographical limitations due to a medical condition; and
b. who is considered healthy and, at most, requires only routine and/or periodic medical services (see definitions in Chapter 2, 4.c.).
G3 - assigned to the member:
a. who is considered fit for field exercises, sea environment, isolated postings and operational taskings for periods up to six (6) months;
b. who has a known requirement for scheduled medical service (see definitions in Chapter 2, 4.c.) by an MO but no more frequently than every six (6) months;
c. whose limitations resulting from a known medical condition do not pose an unacceptable risk to the health and/or safety of the individual or fellow workers in the operational/work environment;
d. who may require and take prescription medications, the unexpected discontinuance (unavailability) of which will not create an unacceptable risk to the member's health and/or safety; and/or
who is considered unfit for one specific military environment (i.e., sea, field, operational taskings or isolated postings), for example, members with sea sickness.
G4 - assigned to the member:
a. who, because of medical limitations inherent to the medical condition itself or because of the unacceptable risk to the health and / or safety of this person or to fellow workers imposed by the operational environment on the medical condition, is considered unfit for two or more specific military environments (i.e., sea, field, operational taskings or isolated postings);
b. who may be on prescription medications, the unexpected discontinuance of which, for even a few days, is considered likely to create an unacceptable risk to the health and / or safety of this person (or to co-workers);
c. who may require close proximity to medical services/ready access to physician-directed medical care; and / or
d. who generally requires scheduled medical care by a MO more frequently than every six (6) months.
G5 - assigned to the member:
a. who requires scheduled specialist medical care more frequently than every six (6) months; and
b. who is considered unfit for field, sea, isolated postings and / or operational taskings.
G6 - assigned to the member who is considered unfit for any work environment.
