Posted By Marti Martin Our company recently took on an employee with an existing ULD condition. Just before I took on the H&S role, the boss called in a specialist O.T. Assessor to assess her specific disability and workstation, keyboard, etc. - read the report, followed the recommendations and spent nearly £1000 on all the devices known to mankind to keep her comfy at her desk. She is still not satisfied and we now suspect that she may be 'putting it on' a quite bit, partly because we've discovered that she regularly plays a wind instrument (i.e. flute/recorder) in her spare time and tootles away quite happily without any discomfort (or aids such as wrist-rests, etc!). Does anyone with suitably in-depth experience have any further information or advice in this field that could help us? Should we be suspicious or is this good therapy? Has anyone else had to deal with a similar problem? It's giving me an UHD (upper head disorder!) Thank you. Marti

Posted By David MacFarlane Marti, I agree with Ron. There is no point in spending that kind of money and going to that effort without having some kind of support and training in place. Its much the same as buying a football team new strips and expecting them to play perfectly!!! On the Job training is the key and back that up with first monthly then quarterly audits (all going well) the more feedback and interaction you seek the better. D.

Posted By Christopher Marti Have you thought about bringing back the OT assessor to review the setup and discuss the situation with your employee. Just because he/she recommended some equipment, it doesn't mean that it is right for the employee. I used to work for a University, and identified by pure accident, that some assessors had their own company and recommended their own products. What qualifications did the assessor have? How did your organisation come to be introduced to them? Did your organisation go through access to health? Was this employee employed before coming to your organisation? What was the set up there? Has there been any deteriation in the employees condition since their last employment? If you have an occupational health department, then they should have determined whether the ULD would have an impact on the role that was being considered for this employee? Was this ULD definately declared on their health questionnaire? Have you determined if they actually know how and why they have this equipment and what is expected from them. Perhaps you could ask them to keep a diary of when and under what circumstances they appear to be having a problem. No disrepect, but do you actually know how to use the equipment and what it is for? Is there a probationary period?

Posted By Christopher Hi Marti Apologies, I meant Access to Work. Do as I suggested re the OT assessor. These people are fairly expert in their fields. they would have provided a report. Do you have access to it? This information has been provided to assist the company in complying with its statutory requirements. Although they tend to focus on the physical aspects. Ask her what she considers you could do for her to assist her. HR could try ringing up her previous employers to determine what they provided. 1 HR person to another. If there is nothing else that you can do for her in terms of health and safety then take a deep breath offer her up to HR. Keep notes of everything, and suggest a follow up date to discuss issues with her, and that you would be prepared to come and talk with her before that date if she wishes to contact you. You could always ask a fellow H & S professional or an ergonomist to visit and make an assessment of her workstation and her role. Is anyone else undertaking a similar role? I'm thinking time constraints, benchmarking etc. Was this a new role? How was it graded? Did a previous postholder leave and what was the reason? There are also disability support groups who might be able to assist you. Look up the yellow pages for your area. I have used them in the past and they were excellent. They don't generally like those with disabilities being tarred as wingers, and will provide HR with support and advice to help resolve the issue. You could also contact Access to Work, they may have contact details that they could make available to you. The employees issues may well be genuine, and by the sound of it they have only been in post a relatively short time. A few months is nothing in terms of employment. Of course it may just come down to it, that this is the wrong job for her. However, from the information you have provided then I would suggest that it is too soon to come to that conclusion.