Hi, I am looking for some advice.

My company have this morning taken on a number of apprentices, a mixture of both joiners and plumbers. During one of the site inductions, one of the apprentice joiners advised the site manager that he suffered from cystic fibrosis.

This was news to both the site manager and myself as we had not been made aware of this prior to this site induction. The HR Manager who interviewed and started the apprentices is off this week on holiday, so at present we have no means of finding out if he had been advised of this prior to today. Regardless however, this was not made known to either of us.

I'm just wondering if anyone has had any similar experience of this?

I'm trying to get my head round how, now that we have given the apprentice the opportunity to come and work for us, we now develop and implement the level of control measures necessary in order not to aggravate the employees health further, whilst still allowing him the opportunity of undertaking an apprenticeship and carrying out the work activities which will be expected of this role.

I have currently contacted our Occ. Health provider for advice and awaiting them to return my call.

Cheers.

If like me when I first encountered this condition you have very little understanding about what it is and how it can affect people, you should have a look at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust website.

My encounter with the condition was with an admin worker so my experience won't probably help much although the one thing I will say is that where a healthy person can continue to work effectively with illnesses such as the common cold, it can have a very different effect on someone who has CF and therefore I guess you will need to put in place a reasonable adjustment which would allow a greater level of absence.

You obviously are going to have to carefully manage all controls relating to respiratory protection including verification that they are a) the most suitable available, b) they are working effectively and c) that they are being used properly by all employees.

Although a young person, I'd fully get him on board in all your discussions from day one as he will have a great deal of understanding about his condition and how to manage it. Depending on his age and the individual, it may also be deemed appropriate to involved his parents in these discussions although as he is over the school leaving age I don't believe you have any legal obligations to do so.

It would be interesting to hear how you manage this problem from a learning point of view.

Hi Doug,

there will be a cf support group website where you'll get lots of info though I think Jeff above will have more practical information and guidance.

Maybe should change interview question - asking HR when you can ask as it should have been disclosed before employment so that you could make reasonable adjustments and get advice prior to starting.

Also as above the Equalities Act has provision for possible sickness absence and hospital appointments etc - guess I'm just repeating what you already know.

Lilian

Hi fscott,

that's what I said - to ask HR when the question could be asked.

You can (and probably good practice to) have the jobs risk assessments present at the interview or the application pack and ask if there is any reason that the person could not do any of these tasks or would require adjustments.

There are certain job roles that there are certain medical conditions prevents the person being employed as this would be a risk to their health so best to know as soon as possible and not have the persons expectations raised. Agree care with all of this, that's why HR should have their input.

If the person has said that they understand the risk assessments and can see no reason for not being able to do the work with the identified risks and it turns out that they have an existing medical condition which would adversely affect them then you are able to terminate their employment on these grounds - if that's what you want to do - or offer them another position.

It's all a bit tricky but where there is just cause H&S legislation will over-rule the Equalities Act but it must be defendable and not just that its too much bother. In my experience it's usually relatively easy to make reasonable adjustments and the majority have worked out well.

Yes, I completely agree Bob and I can assure you, I will be making this point to our HR Manager on his return from holiday on Monday!

Also, thanks for our chat earlier Jeff, again it was appreciated.

Anyway, an update...

I visited the site earlier today and spoke with the apprentice along with the site manager, explaining to him that the company had his best interests at heart, stating that we were seeking to ensure that the conditions he will be working in and the work activities he will be expected to carry out did not contribute or aggravate his existing medical condition.

I also stated that we were trying to gain from him an understanding of his current medical condition, the symptoms he currently suffers from and how he controls these symptoms at present.

To be honest, for such a young person living with the medical condition he is living with, he was a really chatty, positive, young man, very level headed and seemed to be taking his condition in his stride.

He stated that his condition to date hasn't been holding him back, saying he is currently in good physical health - even playing football for a team and is of better fitness than a good few of his team mates who don't suffer from CF. He also stated that he has never been hospitalised as a result of his condition at any point in his life.

At present, I am preparing a Personal Risk Assessment document based upon the information gained from the discussion with the employee which I intend providing a copy of to him to review and comment upon, and as he is under 18, also provide a copy to his parents for same. The main purpose of this document being to explain the condition, it's symptoms and the required control measures to our staff and employees, ensuring that these are implemented and made available on the sites as required.

Needless to say, this will be held as a personal and confidential document, with it only being issued to those to whom it applies, including the site teams where the apprentice is being allocated to.

In addition to the above, I've also now had word back from our Occ. Health provider who has made an appointment for him to visit for a referral at their offices in Glasgow next week.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure I am covering all bases here, but until I can get anymore - professional - advice from our Occ. Health provider, I'm pretty much flying in the dark at present!