Posted By Bob S Make sure that he does not lose or damage the other eye. Include in the risk assessment that he has only one eye.

Posted By Kenneth Patrick Barrie, The issue is, as Bob has said, that you need to be especially careful to protect the eye. I think you will find that having one eye does not mean you are visually impaired.

Posted By Alan Nicholls Hi Barry In previous employment we had a machine operator with one functioning eye. He was as good as any of the other operators, did not ask for or get any special treatment. Having said that the RA must address the fact that depth perception is a problem, the working environment must be kept tidy and adequate working area. Regards Alan N

Posted By Alan Hewett Barrie, If the person is offered the job and accepts you could then speak to them prior to starting but bear in mind that you may need to make some adjustments to accommodate them prior to them undertaking the full range of duties that you are employing them to do. The person may come under the remit of the Disability Discrimination Act dependant upon factors such as the level of sight in the functioning eye and any impact on their normal day to day activities. The Royal National Institute for the Blind have undertaken assessments for employees with visual impairments previously and there web sight may be a source of information. Again I would speak to the person as soon as it is viable to do so to see if they have any requirements, it may well be that they don't but you should check and involve them in the assessment where possible. As Alan has stated the tidy working area and clear walkways are very relevant. Regards, Alan

Posted By Alan Hoskins Paris v Stepney Borough Council (1950) A Local Authority employed Mr Paris as a garage mechanic. Mr Paris had lost the sight of one eye during the war. In order to loosen a stiff bolt he struck it with a hammer; a piece of metal flew off and struck him in his good eye, causing him to become totally blind. At the time of the accident eye protection was not issued to any employee therefore the Council denied liability for the accident. After the accident, Mr Paris successfully claimed damages for his injury but this was overturned on appeal. Mr Paris then appealed to the House of Lords. The Decision: The probability of such an event was very small, but its consequences were very serious, his employers, knowing of his disability, should have taken extra care to provide goggles for him. The more serious the possible damage, the greater the precautions that should be taken. Stepney Borough Council owed a special duty of care to Mr Paris and had been negligent in failing to supply him with goggles, even though this equipment was not given to other employees. Alan

Posted By Dave B I would also suggest that if there is any risk at all of eye damage from projectiles then protective goggles should be made available and used. Dave

Posted By Kenneth Patrick Colleagues, People with one eye are not visually impaired, they are not registered disabled, they are not partially sighted. So the only relevant comments are from those who remember their course tutors telling them of the extra degree of duty of care, since if you damage the one good eye then you are blind

Posted By Alan Hewett Kenneth, I don't believe that you have to be registered as disabled for the Disability Discrimination Act and its requirements for reasonable adjustments to apply. I interpret the scenario of having full sight in one eye and no sight in the other eye as falling into the DDA's 'grey' area. The test of whether it applies would depend on other factors including the impact on the persons ability to undertake day to day activities (based on the impact without considering the mitigating effects of any treatments). A consideration on this may depend upon whether the person was born with sight in one eye or whether the loss of sight in one eye was due to an incident that occurred later in life. That's only my interpretation and I stand to be corrected, but I think that it is definitely something that Barrie needs to be aware of and may possibly seek further advice on.

Posted By Amanda To add to my colleagues advice I would suggest speaking to the Job Centre - Access to Work Adviser who will help you. I understand this advice is free, however there may be costs incurred in adapting any workplace of which the company will pay a percentage and the rest is covered by 'national funding' Even if you do not appoint this person there may be people in the future who have various disabilities. It is not a grey area if you have a condition which has be long standing and is expected to last for at least a year they are covered by DDA.