Rank: New forum user 
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Hi all
Hope someone can provide a few insights. One of our employees recently had treatment for a detached retina which unfortunately was unsuccessful resulting in him losing sight in the affected eye. He has been told not to take part in contact sports as a knock could provoke a similar condition in the other eye where he is already experiencing some loss of vision.
I am not fully aware of the circumstances as one of my colleagues mentioned this in passing yesterday (the individual has not contacted us to discuss as yet). I'm aware that the employee is under no obligation to discuss health matters with us but what are our responsibilities as his employer.
Obviously we do not want to exacerbate or worsen his condition. He works in a very typical low-risk office environment and spends a significant amount of time using DSE. We will discuss the situation with the employee to see what we can do to make things easier (change workload if required, encourage regular visits to his doctor/ophthalmologist and provide time off for these, provide any additional equipment if necessary and regularly review his condition and review his DSE assessment) but is there anything else we need to do?
Thanks
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Rank: Super forum user 
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You owe this emplyee a sepcial duty of care, there is case law on this - Paris v Stepney Borough Council (1951).
You need to talk to this employee and make sure that the risks are controlled.
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Rank: New forum user
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Thanks for the case law reference, this was very useful.
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Rank: Forum user
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We had an employee that we sent home, (took home as they were not fit to drive), last week as they were suffering from headaches and complaining that their eyes were hurting. They ended up in A&E and came back in the next day having been diagnosed with potential early stage detached retina. Like russt's employee, they carry out a low risk admin function in an office using DSE. On learning this, we immediately carried a DSE assessment, with the only new recommendation being replacing the existing 19 inch monitor with a larger screen. The next morning their new 24 inch monitor was delivered and the feedback from the individual was that they were surprised how much of a difference it made having the larger screen.
In addition to what you are already doing, I would recommend that you review the layout of their workstation.
A close friend lost one eye several years ago as a result of a tumour. People who did not know him, often assumed he was drunk, as he was very clumsy and was always knocking things over. He once explained to me that the problem with only having 1 eye, is that you see everything in 2D, not 3D, which means he can't judge distances, so when reaching for things he ended up either grabbing fresh air in front of the object or knocking it over, saying that one of the hardest things to do was pour cornflakes and milk into a bowl !
Therefore reviewing the layout of the workstation might prove beneficial.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Talk to the person. They must have had time off work, so use the return to work process to broach the issue, sensitively, as they are almost inevitably going to have a number of concerns about their health, future health, ability to work, drive etc.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Do be aware of the 2D vision issue - it does make people appear clumsy and this can lead to accidents where they hurt themselves by misjudging the edges of desks or tables as there is no depth of vision.
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