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Eddy  
#1 Posted : 02 August 2019 11:10:01(UTC)
Rank: Forum user
Eddy

Hi Folks

Can anyone advise on the above.  Is this a legal requirement?

Hsquared14  
#2 Posted : 02 August 2019 11:15:53(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Hsquared14

Not strictly a legal requirement but I would approach it in the same way as goods vehicle driving and operation of mechanical handling equipment.  You need a reasonable level of fitness, good eyesight and no medical conditions that would need to be reported to DVLA.  Not sure what else you would want to know due to the shortness of your post.

A Kurdziel  
#3 Posted : 02 August 2019 11:19:41(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
A Kurdziel

NO and YES

NO in the sense that there is no specific legislation that says someone operation a MEWP or any other piece of Work Equipment needs a medical check to ensure that they are safe  doing so.

YES because employers must do everything reasonably practicable to ensure the safety and health of their employees and others who might be affected by their work. A risk assessment will establish if there is a foreseeable risk of harm if some who is not medically fit operates a MEWP and it would be reasonably practicable to check that person’s fitness to work, so you probably should be doing some sort of medical check. There might even be industry guidance somewhere suggesting that this is a good and appropriate course of action.

JohnW  
#4 Posted : 02 August 2019 11:46:09(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
JohnW

It is advisable for the business. The worst case scenario would be an accident and the investigation concluded a contributory factor was a medical condition of the operator. The business could be found negligent for not conducting medical checks that would have detected this.
CptBeaky  
#5 Posted : 02 August 2019 12:07:33(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
CptBeaky

I look at it with the same lense as "Are foklift licenses a legal requirement?".

No, but if anything goes wrong you are totally screwed. Gonna be hard to prove the user was fit to use that equipment if you have nothing to prove that you checked. Even then, it goes beyond just letting someone else check for you, you still need to ensure they are safe yourself.

thanks 1 user thanked CptBeaky for this useful post.
JohnW on 02/08/2019(UTC)
Acorns  
#6 Posted : 04 August 2019 16:19:33(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Acorns

being medically fit and being medically fit can be quite different to different roles.  The DVSA medical conditions for drivig licences extends to more than 150 conditions (Something like 163 or 183 if I recall), some may or may not be relevanty to the use of a MEWP/FLT etc.     Just looked at a list where DVSA say if it is notifiable or not, and for the purposes of the OP, one sprang to the front - being deaf is not a notifiable medical condition for DVLA but may well be quite critical for the employer to be aware of and may even decide it meets the 'fit to work' criteria, such as the OP when operating MEWP etc in an industrial environment.  In this instance, perhaps adoptimg the DVSA list could be insufficient.

Roundtuit  
#7 Posted : 04 August 2019 20:18:50(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Roundtuit

conversely a company car driver has to? If unfortunate prove their eyesight at employment Most depends upon what is determined by a business to be "safety critical" some over extend this term for other purposes
Roundtuit  
#8 Posted : 04 August 2019 20:18:50(UTC)
Rank: Super forum user
Roundtuit

conversely a company car driver has to? If unfortunate prove their eyesight at employment Most depends upon what is determined by a business to be "safety critical" some over extend this term for other purposes
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