Posted By Paul Leadbetter See the reference to the Farmiloe case under 'Handicapped worker's safety' Paul

Posted By Mark Bywater John, You must follow your obligations under H&S first and foremost. If after all your good work to source suitable alternative footwear has failed, there is a case for finding suitable alternative employment within your organisation for this person. However this is not always possible and ultimately you may find that you have to release the employee to "protect" him from the hazards in the workshop. Not a great scenario for you or the employee, but you must ensure that every avenue is explored before you go down the dismissal route. It might be fair to the employee to explain that this may eventually be the outcome if he cannot wear the PPE or be re-deployed. Regards, Mark

Posted By Alec Wood The fact that it is only he who is at risk is irrelevant in relation to your duty of care towards him. Just go back over what you have done so far, if all the avenues have been tried then maybe the employee needs to become fully aware of the consequences. The misconception that there is any element of choice in the use of PPE is a common one. Alec Wood Samsung Electronics

Posted By Laurie Is there a medical certificate? Laurie

Posted By fats van den raad This problem is one that can end up in a real mess if not handled correctly. Not being sexist at all, but any one who ever had to introduce a footwear policy in an environment of female employees can count themselves very lucky if they havn't come across this problem. One of the main problems is controlling the costs. One lady will report a problem with a specific type of shoe, you deal with it by finding a suitable shoe that is wider fitting, or in some other way accomodates her particular problem (and is normally quite more expensive), and before you know it you have a queue in front of your office of ladies who now claim to have a similar problem. Asking for a medical certificate is not always the answer because the doctors are very unlikely to say that there is nothing wrong with their feet. If you are a SME, you do not always have the services of a company doctor available. Incidently, if someone out there has been successfull in finding a ladies safety shoe that effectively addresses the problem of accomodating corns, bunyons, etc. please let me know.

Posted By John Harrison It's clearly a very common problem across industry and commerce. Just producing a medical certificate I agree is not the whole answer because GP's often do not have sufficient occupational health knowledge and fail repeatedly to provide a clear diagnosis on which one can act. I have on several occasions sent employees back to their GP to ask for clear information on the declared condition so that we can look for a suitable solution, claims of pain in hands, wrists, arms, necks, backs etc. from DSE work are a classic example. Without a proper diagnosis a workplace 'remedy' may end up making things worse. As a result of these postings we have tightened up our policy and rules on PPE wearing, I found the Farmiloe case very useful in this respect.