Posted By Annetta Maslen
I would discuss this fully with the employee - as part of a DSE assessment - to establish what her views were; whether her doctor thought that typing could be included in her work; and then take it from there. If she cannot type (i.e. her doctor says this would be harmful) then she shouldn't, but I would be surprised if this were the case. Mostly it is about making sure that the equipment is set up ergonomically; wrist rest etc. as appropriate, but also and most important - agreement to limit the time spent on any repetitive task with rest breaks from that task built into the work programme. Any risk assessment to be rgularly reviewed, with the employee being advised to report any problems IMMEDIATELY to his/her Line Manager.
Hope this helps.

Posted By John Ridd
Consider this: you employ someone with a dodgy back, they didn't disclose this at interview, but then hurt their back when they were asked to do some minor manual handling task. It would seem reasonable (depending on the task) for the employer to claim that they couldn't have foreseen that this work would have presented a risk and therefore should not be held liable. On the other hand, had the candidate, at interview, volunteered information about a previous back injury but was nonetheless employed because the work didn't normally include manual handling, then it would be reasonable in my view to consider the employer negligent if they then asked the worker to carry out a manual handling task without proper safeguards that took account of the previous condition.

The same principles must apply, I would have thought, to your own situation - a detailed DSE risk assessment should be carried out, taking account of the worker's volunteered information. Under the circumstances (for the protection of both worker and employer) it would also seem prudent to obtain an opinion from an Occupational Health Medic. From this information it might be possible to identify a level of keyboard work that this person could safely do; but regular monitoring (health surveillance) of this individual should be carried out and would be the responsibility of the employer.