I have never completed a formal RA for an occupational health issue apart from a request once from HR for someone who had epilepsy. I think I just used a standard RA form. As a rule any assessment usually comes from Return to Work interview, where it is as you described a process of "Tell me what you think you are capable of..." There is a good argument OH should complete the RA for occupational ill health matters, whether they are in-house or external consultants. In my experience the service provided by OH is very basic and they do no more than the minimum they can get away with. Strange that you can get 36 responses from a vaping thread but none until now about this subject - what does this convey?

RayRapp hit the nail on the head occ health should have some kind of outcome report which identifies issues that an individual has and any type of "restrictions" that are put on them by the occ health professional. They should take into account the risk profile of the individuals work and marry that with the restrictions. He is also right that occ health may need pressing as they seem to generally go with the minimum of information. Its then up to you to manage those restrictions or take a pro-active approach ie muscular-skeletal issue could be assisted by physio arrangements, a stress related issue by counciling ...the list is endless. As far as a risk assessment is concerned, the occ health team have assessed the risk and by putting restrictions in have given you basic controls however these can be supplemented by pro-active initiatives noted [but not exhaustive]. I would not get too hung up about a risk assessment in the usual format but I would put together some type of file on an individual noting Introduction and overview of their duties. Log of Occ Health intervention. [The surveillance will probably increase where issues are detected. Salient information from the outcome reports. Controls put in place. A log of contact and checks on the individual outwith the occ health surveillance - show due diligence. As you yourself noted any modifications to the work area/space/equipment. Any pro-active company paid for treatments to assist the individual. Then these records need to be on the personal file.

With regards the occuaptional health practicioner/nurse it is important that they have a thorough understanding of the workplace, processes and chemicals in use. We ensure that our OH advisers are regularly given site tours and kept abreast of any chances they maybe required to assist with. Then when they are writing a report for the individual (that I will use to base my own RA and guidance on) they can do so in a fashion that is accurate and helpful. This way of working seems to work on my site, but I'm sure there are other methods too.

As someone, a great deal of whose work in my specialised area is concerned with investigation and management of a health problem(funny how they will pay me for helping them once they have a problem but not to ensure the problem does not occur!) the first thing I do is check the original diagnosis. All too often the medical practitioner has reached a diagnosis that may be clinically accurate but occupationally irrelevant. This is usually because no-one within the organisation has properly briefed them. In some cases the treatment that was being applied was actually making the problem worse! Only when I am confident that I have the correct diagnosis can I start to consider the working environment, the health issue and what is reasonably practicable in terms of return to work. Keep in mind that a simple calculation shows that up to 80% of our time is spent away from the workplace and that in many situations non-occupational factors can contribute to the health problem - or even be the sole cause. A good occupational health practitioner can help to ensure that the approach to that individual is realistic. If you were to subscribe to the Occupational Health forum you would find many threads on this topic and the wealth of expertise that exists. Chris

Well they didn't understand the role because I phoned and asked them. He wasn't looking at the full picture taking into account all aspects of the role. Unfortunately I didn't keep the report as I didn't think I would need to prove what he had written. After my heart attack the same adviser informed work that I could return to work without a fazed return as I only sit in an office all day doing health and safety.