Hi guys pretty new to the forum, but I know somebody will have the answer. We recently sent our fabbies/welders for annual Health Surveillance. They were asked to complete a HAVS questionnaire. The Company that undertook the Health Surveillance have written to me recommending that two of our guys are referred back for a level 3 assessment. To my mind this purely a commercial decision taken by them based on the answers given. Another point to bear in mind is that both guys are in there 50's and have only been with us for three years. While I do not wish to undermine the practitioners involved I dont particularly want to be sending these guys back at our expense when the results of a level 3 assessment may mean that they have to consider other career options. My question is, as long as I keep these guys informed(they can pay for their own level 3 assessment) do I need to take the recommendation ubnder any current legislation.

Your recruitment processes need to be water tight and yes you can legally refuse to recruit if a person has HAVS and /or another such condition but your systems need to be water tight [repeat water tight]otherwise you are open to all sorts of claims, backlashes and problems And take note of Bob Howden's comments as they are sound Additionally obtaining information about a persons individual health status especially about HAVS at the recruitment stage and ongoing is a very frustrating exercise as in my experience the medical people are very very very defensive of their position as are the individuals themselves Best of luck as this can be a long drawn out and costly exercise and please do not blame H&S as if you recruit properly U have few H&S problems, if any, of this sort